Reader, I used to worry about being insufficiently cool. I no longer have that albatross around my neck, because no matter how cool I get, I will never be cooler than Rebounder – “a precision platformer set in a four-ink, pulp-print world”, created by ATOMIK devs Thirtythree Games, which makes me think of the Mega Drive’s awesome Comix Zone. It casts you as a 2D astronaut who gets around by grabbing, hurling and ‘rebounding’ from explosive alien spores.

The game takes inspiration from Kaizo ROM hacks, on the one hand, and from 19th century printing techniques on the other – a blend of material histories that is verging perilously on being too clever by half, but which looks splendid in motion. Sumptuous, I used to call this kind of thing, before Nic (RPS in peace) told me I was using the word “sumptuous” all the time. The soundtrack, meanwhile, conjures up images of moonwalking crocodiles. I mean, it does for me. Witness the trailer already. I’m off to google “Ben Day dots” and figure out what they have to do with speedrunning.

“You play as a crusty worker at the end of her rope—on a job site on a world very far from here,” the devs explain. “You clock in, tether in, and get to work. Your job responsibilities? Unclear. But people call you rebounder.” The levels consist of “sliding elevators, hallucinogenic milk, cannonball launchers, and razor-sharp thorns”. They are billed as short and secret-filled, with an emphasis on being only as hard as you make them. If I’m reading the blurb correctly, the soundtrack hides a few secrets too.

It’s sumptuous! SUMPTUOUS, Nic. SUMPTUOUS SUMPTUOUS SUMPTUOUS. It’s also currently open to playtest – you can sign up via Steam.