Constance

Constance is a hand drawn 2D metroidvania with a big focus on fighting, exploration and maneuverability. If that sounds familiar after the recent success of Hollow Knight: Silksong, well, the developers think so as well, and are very openly admitting that mentioning the buggy smash hit in their marketing drives engagement and visibility. But Constance is far from being a clone, while being similar enough to become a big contender for the metroidvania throne this year.

Originally developed by TV animation studio btf, bildundtonfabrik from Cologne and Berlin, the game studio of the brand has since been spun off as Blue Backpack, taking with it the former management and team. And while btf are no strangers to indie publishing, as they self-published their first hit game Trüberbrook in 2019, this time they got some help from experts. ByteRockers’ Games, indie studio turned successful indie publisher, is on board. Interestingly, not just for Constance: Blue Backpack is also developing a narrative game The Berlin Apartment about living through important points of history in the German capital, releasing just a week before Constance on 17 November. Both titles are co-published by ByteRockers’. And both show the range of Blue Backpack: With a scenic but challenging platformer that takes inspiration from the genre’s greatest on the one side and a very heartfelt narrative inspired by the teams’ home country and history. Surely we’ll hear from them at various awards.