Nearly two decades after the first game's initial release, Alien Hominid is finally getting a sequel from The Behemoth, the developers behind both the original title and the popular Castle Crashers, one of the best multiplayer games to play at a party. The indie team doesn't seem quite ready to show off gameplay yet, but their cartoonish irreverence is as hilarious as ever in the game's announcement trailer.
Alien Hominid was a zany, wave-based side-scroller that helped to introduce the mainstream gaming market to both indie gaming as a concept and what would become The Behemoth's trademark style. Though ported to PS2 and GameCube in 2004 and added to the Xbox Live Arcade in 2007, it was originally released free online by Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp and artist Dan Paladin in 2002. Throughout that decade, Newgrounds was the foremost creative breeding ground from which numerous indie developers, artists, and more got their start, including the likes of Super Meat Boy creator Edmund McMillen and Game Grumps' Arin Hanson. Of course, it also spawned The Behemoth. Pit People, their most recent title, received mixed reviews, but their most popular title by far is Castle Crashers, which got a PS4 port just last year.
Still at it with the same quirky zeal, The Behemoth has released an announcement trailer for Alien Hominid: Invasion on YouTube, an unexpected successor to the original. There's not much to go on from what little the team has shown so far, but it seems that the titular Alien Hominid will once again be facing off against blocky G-men as they try to foil its extraterrestrial antics. This time, however, the yellow alien menace won't be alone on Earth, as the trailer features a multi-colored crowd of Alien Hominids following in the original's path. Although it's unknown how the Hominid's species will help or hinder players in the full game, lucky attendees of PAX East and EGX Rezzed will evidently be the first to see what Alien Hominid: Invasion has in store.
In a time in which online storefronts suffocate far too many small development teams into bankruptcy with oodles of over-represented AAA blockbusters and nebulous clouds of vaporware, announcements like this are a nice reminder that this past decade in indie gaming won't be the end of an era. It's exciting to see an indie studio like The Behemoth continuing to deliver on its unique vision in the gaming medium in 2020. There's no telling when the next Alien Hominid might come to current or next-gen consoles, but it probably won't be too far off based on The Behemoth's fairly consistent output over the years.
In fact, the golden age of indie development may just be hitting its stride, as this blast from the past is flanked by plenty of this year's most exciting prospects. In the coming months, Spelunky is getting a long-awaited sequel, Disco Elysium is being updated with a free hardcore mode, and the popular Rouge-lite/Metrodivania mashup title Dead Cells is getting its first-ever paid DLC expansion. It almost goes without saying that if Alien Hominid: Invasion ships in 2020, it's going to be in great company.
Source: YouTube