Glide Turns Cat Instinct Into a Wordless Metroidvania
GLIDE bets that a Metroidvania can teach itself through observation alone, and its appearance at OIGS 2026, after Yoshida flagged it at BIC 2026, is the clearest signal yet that the wordless design is the pitch rather than a gimmick.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
Solo developer BruteForce showed GLIDE as a playable demo at OSAKA INDIE GAMES SUMMIT 2026, held October 3 and 4 at Congres Square Grand Green Osaka. The Metroidvania puzzle platformer follows a cat in a strange space and carries no text or dialogue at all. It was also among the titles picked up by Shuhei Yoshida at BIC 2026 in Busan in August 2026.
The cat in GLIDE has no need for human language, so the game does not use any. There is no tutorial text and no explanatory writing. When the cat gains a new ability, the screen shows only an icon for the button, and learning what it does means trying it.
Progression leans on the player's own understanding of the environment rather than on the cat growing stronger. Rooms hold glowing orbs, switches, and circuits that carry signals, and taking an item changes how a room works. Stages are inspired by Metroid and The Legend of Zelda. The demo ran to spiked rooms above and below the player.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.