The Chinese Room’s newest title gets a wider release
If you’re a fan of narrative games, Dear Esther is known as being one of the classics that paved the way for the genre. Now, its developer The Chinese Room has just announced that they’re re-releasing their newest award-winning title, Little Orpheus, on March 1. The game was originally released in 2020 for Apple Arcade, but will now be available on PC and consoles for the first time. The new definitive edition will not only allow players to revisit the game on their favorite console, but is also an entirely rebuilt, remastered version of Little Orpheus with high-res textures, new animations, and enhanced graphics.
In the game, players take on the role of a Soviet cosmonaut named Comrade Ivan Ivanovich in 1962. While NASA is trying to put a man on the moon, Comrade Ivanovich is lowered into a volcano in his exploration capsule, called Little Orpheus, and is tasked with exploring the center of the Earth, where he finds wonderous locales to explore.
According to The Chinese Room, Little Orpheus was directly inspired by classic movies like Flash Gordon, Sinbad, and The Land that Time Forgot, and will be a suitable adventure experience to newcomers or long-time fans of the genre. Players who pre-order or purchase Little Orpheus on Steam within the first two weeks of its launch date will also receive a free copy of its soundtrack, which also got some awards nods, and was composed by Jessica Curry and Jim Fowler.
As someone who doesn’t have any Apple products, and therefore didn’t have any other way to play this game, I’m super excited to check out Little Orpheus in the next few months. As someone who really adores narrative adventures, The Chinese Room is up there with other studios/publishers like Annapurna, Chucklefish, and Supergiant in terms of the consistency and quality of their games.
Little Orpheus will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Steam, Epic Games Store, and Nintendo Switch on March 1, 2022.
