After years of silence, the highly regarded D-Pad Studio is returning with a completely new game announcement. For now, the studio is being secretive about what the game actually involves.
D-Pad Studio is best known for its action-platformer Owlboy, which was released in 2016, though the studio's first release was in 2013 with twin-stick shooter Savant: Ascent. Since then, the studio has held anniversary livestreams but stayed relatively quiet about future projects.
In a surprise announcement, the studio released a short looping video of a question mark floating in a field. The video is accompanied by text explaining that a new game will be revealed at Gamescom, sometime between August 24 and 28. Information is scarce, but the official confirmation marks the beginning of an exciting time for fans of the studio's past works.
While the post does not include very much information or even show gameplay, there are some notable elements to analyze. For one, there seem to be mountains in the distance and not a floating island in sight. Under the assumption that this is a piece of art related to the new game, it seems unlikely that the project will be set in the same universe as Owlboy since that game heavily featured floating islands. A new world from D-Pad Studio is an exciting prospect since the story and setting are some of the strongest points Owlboy is consistently praised for.
With lots of major developers and publishers skipping Gamescom this year, even Nintendo and Sony, the event could be a good chance for indie games to gain some more exposure. It can be difficult for independently-developed projects to gain a wide audience unless they are lucky enough to score a place in a Nintendo Direct or a State of Play, so indie studios that make it to Gamescom this year have fewer massive publishers to be overshadowed by.
Given that Owlboy balanced storytelling and gameplay, it seems likely that future projects from D-Pad Studio would take a similar approach. There are a lot of indie games with great stories, but the long development times D-Pad Studio allows for its projects lets them show through very well with well-thought-out gameplay and cohesive worlds. Given that the studio's previous game was all the way back in 2016, it seems this new title may have taken a long time to create so far, so hopefully, all the effort will be worth it.
D-Pad Studio's unannounced project will be announced at Gamescom 2022.