Yesterday, 8 August, marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of Momodora. To celebrate, developer Bombservice (aka rdein) shared a few things on Twitter—chief among them, a teaser trailer for a new Momodora game that’s in the works.
The emphasis is on “teaser”. The trailer shows a red pixel-art moon in a cloudy sky slowly being eclipsed, with some coded messages written in a runic language seen in earlier games. Luckily, someone in the YouTube comments has already translated the message: “Deity of Darkness. The Mark of Death. Deities of the Moon Spare Us.” (Thanks, OneEdge_!)
The sky then darkens and two big, red, catlike eyes open, before the trailer cuts away to two people talking about the fact that there’s a new Momodora game coming.
Next, rdein unveiled a new line of Momodora merchandise, created in partnership with The Yetee. The initial selection includes a few different items all based on Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight:
- a t-shirt featuring artwork of the wandering priestess Kaho, designed by PixelEyeBat (expected to ship in September)
- a poster with the key art for Reverie Under the Moonlight
- three enamel pins designed by PixelEyeBat, one for each of the Priestess, the Pardoner, and the Knight (expected to ship in September)
Image source: rdein on Twitter
The third announcement was the console release date for Minoria, a spiritual successor to Momodora that came out on PC last year. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on September 10.
And finally, rdein shared a heartfelt message of thanks to the people who’ve played and supported Momodora over the years:
“Momodora is a series that I started from scraps of failed projects, with no expectations. My only goal back then was to be able to bring one of my characters to life.
“In the beginning I barely knew what I was doing (and honestly, even today…) but I followed my heart and created what I wanted to the best of my abilities.
“If someone like me was able to do it, those out there who dream of their creations can, too. Please keep your spirits up!
“There’s a lot more I could say, but really, I just want to thank everyone who played these games and showed support for the series in these past 10 years.”
– rdein
Image source: rdein on Twitter
The Momodora series has grown a lot over the course of 10 years and four games, starting out as a simple, unpolished (by rdein’s own admission) action platformer before later games experimented with new ideas and more exploration-driven design.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a particular highlight, and not just because it’s the most recent and the most polished. It’s a game that wears its Castlevania inspiration on its sleeve, but subverts that inspiration in fascinating ways through its character designs, worldbuilding, approach to metroidvania level design, and general approach to storytelling.
It’s going to be very interesting to see where the new game takes the series.
