Devolver Digital has picked a fight with Rockstar Games and Take-Two, announcing that its next game will launch directly against Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19 — for less than the price of a coffee.
Developer Doinksoft has officially announced Volvy’s Adventure: Reslimed, a 2D pixel-art action platformer starring Devolver’s magnificently unhinged mascot, Volvy.
And according to Devolver, it—not GTA VI—is apparently “video game’s biggest release on November 19th.”
The publisher isn’t exactly being subtle about who it is targeting.
In its announcement, Devolver encourages “tasteful video game aficionados” to preorder Volvy’s Adventure: Reslimed for 25% off its already tiny US$4.99 price tag, before adding that players could alternatively “buy GTA6 for $100 like some sucker.”
It’s classic Devolver.
Even the reveal trailer feels like something you’d stumble across while channel surfing on a television in GTA V: a deliberately cheap, chaotic commercial selling an increasingly ridiculous product with complete confidence.
The game itself looks considerably more polished than the joke suggests. Reslimed has players travelling across four colourful worlds, collecting onions and fighting enemies using Volvy’s comically oversized hand. That appendage can be used to hover across gaps, grind rails, burrow underground and smash through enemies and obstacles.
Eating enough onions can also transform Volvy into Swolvy, an absurdly muscular version of the character capable of brute-forcing his way through trouble.
Tonally, Volvy’s Adventure feels like somebody blended classic mascot platformers such as Bubsy with the anarchic humour of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, then turned the result into a playable Adult Swim cartoon.
Even the marketing refuses to behave. Devolver claims the remaster was painstakingly recreated by members of the original development team who are “no longer incarcerated,” while redesigned minigames apparently no longer encourage children to smoke cigarettes.
Behind all the nonsense, however, is a genuinely clever marketing move.
November 19 belongs to Rockstar. Every publisher knows it.
So rather than running away from GTA VI, Devolver has planted a US$4.99 pixel platformer directly beside it and declared itself the biggest game of the day.
Your move, Rockstar.
