Remember Little Orpheus?
Originally released on Apple Arcade back in 2020, Little Orpheus was scheduled to release on consoles and PC on 1st March this year. We reviewed it, actually, before its release was pulled at the final hour. The reason? Its narrative tells the story of a Russian cosmonaut send on a mission to retrieve an atomic bomb. With its release scheduled just days after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, publisher Secret Mode felt the best course of action was to delay it.
It has been mostly silent on the game so far, but finally we have news of a release date. Little Orpheus will be landing on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC on 13th September.
Admittedly, in our review we weren’t so kind to Little Orpheus. Our largest criticism came from its narrative – but developer Chinese Room cannot be held responsible for poor timing and the unfortunate actions of Russia. Almost six months later, the war may still be going on, but the game can’t be held in limbo forever. With it now less fresh in people’s minds – something we’ve sadly had to come to terms with – the themes of Little Orpheus may be less raw for most of us.
This is a colourful side-scrolling adventure game with some wonderful visuals and, even if its not wholly original, there are some nice ideas here. Yes, it’s still about a nuclear bomb, but perhaps we can be slightly more forgiving of that now. If you feel like giving Little Orpheus your time of day, it’ll be available digitally from 13th September.
