Great Onion Games sidle with Sony
The wonderfully talented developer/publisher Onion Games has offered up a release date for the PS4 and PS5 ports of two of its finest releases, Black Bird and Moon. The two titles, invariably available on PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, will be available to purchase on both PlayStation platforms from December 16, in ports that have been a long time coming.
Idiosyncratic adventure Moon was originally released on PS1 in Japan — way back in 1997 — before making its grand return on Switch in 2019. The “Anti-RPG” casts players as a fairly non-descript RPG NPC, tasked with picking up and restoring the world in the wake of the destruction caused by the game’s “hero.” Essentially, a parody on the tropes of the RPG genre itself, Moon receives plaudits even today for its subversive ideas and sighing, dry comedy. Developer Toby Fox cites the title as one of the key inspirations behind their own topsy-turvy fantasy adventure, Undertale.
Released on PC and Nintendo Switch back in 2018, Black Bird is a gloomy but alluring shmup set within a grim victorian world. The story concerns a lonely young girl who dies a quiet and innocuous death, only to be reborn as the fated bringer of chaos: The Black Bird. While the horizontally scrolling shmup features mechanics and tropes typical of the genre, its unique, almost steampunk style, dismal hues and tones, and melancholic but wholesome narrative won over an army of fans outside of the typical shmup community. You can check out CJ Andriessen’s review of the Switch edition right here.
Black Bird and Moon will arrive on the PlayStation Store for PS4 and PS5 on December 16. Moon will also be released on PC in the future.