Demo, early access release surface for Meduziak

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Announcements by Jack Allin
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Underseas hand-drawn point-and-click indie adventure inspired by genre classics like the Goblins series

Step aside, Freddi Fish. Make way for... the jellyfish! Yes, there's more than one adventure game marine protagonist in the ocean now, the newest being the umbrella-shaped, many-tentacled star of Meduziak, by indie creator Adam Korpusik and Fieldfare Studios.

Meduziak (loosely meaning "jellyfish" in the developer's native Polish) just wants to get his young kids home from kindergarten, but he never could have imagined the kinds of challenges that would await once he picked them up from school. First the bus breaks down in the ocean "desert," then he can't pay the subway fare and must try to earn some money filling in part time at the nearby restaurant. And that is just the beginning of what becomes an "epic journey" to navigate the "underwater world of fun riddles and abstract humour" and get his children back safe and sound.

Inspired by genre classics like the Goblins series, Meduziak is a "laid-back point-and-click adventure" that aims to tell a "silly story" in a whimsical deep sea realm. The colourful hand-painted cartoon graphics and animation are accompanied by original music and "mouth made" sound effects. The eclectic cast of characters, ranging from an artist squid to a barber crab to a wheelchair-bound fish army veteran, speak only through symbolic pictograms to convey objectives and offer clues to the "weird problems" you'll need to overcome. There are plenty of puzzles to solve using the simple one-button interface (Meduziak can hold more than one item in his tentacles at once), as well as a variety of minigames to play, whether to help you progress or simply just for fun.

While the complete version of Meduziak is still a way off, there are a couple different ways to begin playing right away. You can download the free demo, which offers about an hour of gameplay, or you can purchase the early access version. The latter currently offers about twice that amount of play time already, plus immediate access to all new episodes as they're released, with two or three more planned and expected to take about 6-8 months each to finish. Both the demo and early access version can be found on itch.io or the game's official website for Windows PC.