Indie game developer Land & Sea, the team behind Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey, just announced a new title ahead of this year’s Day of the Dev’s showcase during Summer Games Fest. Summerhill is described as a “story-driven puzzle adventure game” that casts you as both a sheepherder and their intrepid canine companion.
If you’ve played the adorably zen Alto series you know what to expect on a vibe level. Summerhill leans hard on the pastoral setting, emphasizing chill puzzle solving at your own pace. The graphics recall the Alto series and other indie standouts like Monument Valley. To that end, the composer behind Monument Valley 2, Todd Baker, is here to deliver a “folk-inspired” soundtrack.
On the gameplay front, the dev promises “fluid herding-based gameplay” and “gentle problem-solving,” along with a narrative mystery regarding the landscape’s ancient past. You’ll also be herding and corralling your sheep along with your trusty dog, all while honing skills to tackle “increasingly more complex puzzles.” The narrative is wordless but the dev promises it’s rife with “themes of duty, companionship and morality.”
“Summerhill is an entirely new IP that aims to build on the themes that we care about most as a studio,” writes Land & Sea founder Harry Nesbitt. “In many ways, sheep herding is in our DNA and we really wanted to do justice to this timeless tradition and tell a story that could only be told in this way.”
There’s no release date yet, as the title is currently in active development, but it’s far enough along for a trailer. This team has been busy lately. Some members, regrouped as Snowman Games, recently launched an exclusive title for Netflix.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/altos-adventure-devs-announce-new-game-and-its-all-about-sheep-herding-210022181.html?src=rss