In between the games that we’re playing, we get quite a lot of review requests or “check-this-out”s on a daily basis over at Nineoverten.com. But sometimes through all that chaff, there would be a particular title that catches my eye and we decide to go and cover that.

Case in point, Black Salt Games‘ and publisher Team 17‘s breakout title for 2023, DREDGE. I’m glad I covered that game; I would be the first to admit the game nearly put me to sleep in the first few minutes BEFORE I tried fishing at night…and you know what happens when you fish at night in DREDGE.

Another example would be Shedworks‘ seminal title from 2021, Sable. Amazing Moebius-inspired graphics aside, that game really needs to be experienced and having zero combat can be really refreshing.

Looking through the backlog of emails earlier this evening, I bumped into one from indie developers Emerald City Games. Based in Canada, they’ve been working on games since 2008 including original IPs (Lionheart and Sacred Seasons) as well as licensed titles such as Star Trek Legends, Tomb Raider Reloaded and Vikings Valhalla.

They are now embarking on an exciting new project in the form of Project Bubblegum; it is a couch co-op beat ’em up action-game for up to 4 players. This new spin on a classic genre includes RPG, puzzle and platforming elements, all rendered in gorgeous 3D graphics. Players will explore multiple planets and experience plenty of drama as they take part in an epic space adventure. The gameplay trailer shows plenty of promise,

This project began with a small team back in 2021 and the team has been taking the time to experiment with different elements and flesh out the gameplay, characters and narrative. This, coupled with tightly tuned controls and mechanics has ECG aiming to bring something different to the table for co-op beat-em-up games.

ECG has just put up a Kickstarter page for Project Bubblegum, and you can head over there to support them: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emeraldcitygames/project-bubblegum. The game is slated for an Early Access release later this year and ECG aims at having a multi-platform release which include PCs and consoles.