Starless Umbra Pixel Art Action RPG Debuts at BitSummit Punch
The hands-on report and developer interview give the first concrete look at Starless Umbra's combat, co-op, and art direction, positioning it as a solo-developed homage to classic 16-bit RPGs with a personal story.
Reporting from 1 sources: Game Spark.
The pixel-art action RPG Starless Umbra was playable at BitSummit PUNCH in Kyoto. Developer Andrew, a solo US-based creator, showed a demo featuring protagonist Amalia and co-op partner Ilari. The game uses a small color palette and SNES-era pixel art. Local co-op is planned; online play uses Steam Remote Play Together. A full release date was not announced.
BitSummit PUNCH, Japan's largest indie game festival, ran May 22-24 at Kyoto's Miyako Messe. Among the show floor titles was Starless Umbra, a pixel-art action RPG from solo US developer Andrew. The demo showed protagonist Amalia and a second playable character, Ilari, who can be swapped in or played cooperatively on the same device. Combat uses two skills: Stab, a close-range attack that restores SP, and Leap, a jumping attack that consumes SP. Enemies drop materials for equipment upgrades, and HP refills after battle.
Andrew told Game Spark the pixel art combines his own work with edited purchased assets, using the limited rosy42 palette to keep the canvas small. He cited Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and the Final Fantasy series as influences, but said the story-centered on loyalty and past experiences-comes from his own life rather than those games. Local co-op will be the standard mode; the PC version can use Steam Remote Play Together for online play. The Switch version targets one-Joy-Con controls. No release date was given.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.