If ANTONBLAST sounds familiar to you, you may have seen its explosive trailer during the April 2024 Indie World Showcase from Nintendo. From the mind of Tony Grayson and the dev team Summitsphere, you get a Cartoon Network-inspired action platformer that moves at a chaotic pace. With a few months remaining until launch, I got to give the demo a shot at PAX West 2024.

First of all, I want to shout out the ANTONBLAST team and Evan (who stalled while the devs got the demo ready for me–hi, Evan!). Back to business…

ANTONBLAST features Anton and an envious Satan, the antagonist with a deliciously curvaceous bum, from whom you must reclaim your spirits from. You speed, bowl, jump, and smash with a pretty epic hammer, in several colorful and zany levels. Destruction is the name of the game, and after you set of several detonators, you need to escape in a timed “Happy Hour“.

When I picked up the controller, I hit the ground running, literally. The level–Boiler City–was a great introduction to the controls. At first, I felt overwhelmed; however, once I learned to embrace the chaos, that is when the fun truly took shape. There was an element of Crash Bandicoot, and if I lost my three hearts, I respawned not too far back. This let me focus on having fun, smashing and crashing my way across the screen.

One thing I loved about playing the demo was the ability to travel across the two layers of the side-scroller. Once in a while, I had to travel to the background of Boiler City and then return to the forefront of the screen. This added depth to the dynamic gameplay. The level design was cleverly planned out, making the Happy Hour portion enjoyable, even though I stressed about the time crunch.

After completing the level, I was able to try out a boss, the Freako Dragon. The design of this boss was impressive, and the fight was a lot of fun. Each time I died, I returned more knowledgeable, and I made it a little bit farther. He has patterns to memorize, and it felt satisfying smashing his head. Eventually, I made it to phase two, and I couldn’t have been prouder.

When speaking with the dev team, they stated that they wanted to find a new way to put old things together. Instead of hyper focusing on being different, they wanted to simply make sure they “full-assed” the project, and thus ANTONBLAST as we know it was born. I also learned that Anton’s coworker, Annie, was playable, and it did not matter if you played as Annnie or Anton first. This will keep the game from being lopsided while providing significant replay value.

In sum, I was blown away by ANTONBLAST, and the dev team and creator were absolutely amazing to chat with. I wish them the best as they prepare for launch this Fall.

ANTONBLAST is set to release on Steam and the Nintendo Switch on November 12th, 2024.

Check out the trailer if you want to know more about the game. Also, a demo IS available on Steam.

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