BADLAND delivers brutal, beautiful sidescrolling to iOS

New project from ex-RedLynx staff impresses

Whoa. I almost missed BADLAND, an “atmospheric side-scrolling action adventure” that’s being designed for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch by ex-RedLynx (Trials Evolution) developers Johannes Vuorinen and Juhana Myllys, but I’m so glad I didn’t.

Admittedly, things start off a bit slow — if still very pretty — but the collectible items quickly make this footage compelling. Mechanically, I’m reminded of a mash-up between the Lantern Run mode in Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and LocoRoco, if that makes sense.

Seems like a terrific fit for the platform, though some of you will surely be calling for developer Frogmind to consider bringing this elsewhere. Apparently, what’s been shown so far is only a glimpse of what BADLAND actually is. That and the aforementioned genre description have me feeling mighty curious.