Dlala Studios, the team responsible for the 2020 remake of Battletoads have announce their next project, and it turns out that it is a gorgeous collaboration with Disney in the form of Disney Illusion Island. The game, announced at Disney’s D23 Games Showcase featured the reveal of several titles including TRON Identity, a new game from Amy Hennig’s Skydance New Media team, Marvel World of Heroes, and more, introduced players to the four playable characters, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald, and Goofy, it’s gorgeous art style and a nice tease of exciting gameplay.
The official overview, as issued by Disney reveals the following about Disney Illusion Island:
Join Mickey & Friends on a quest to explore the mysterious island of Monoth and recover three mythical books to save the world from disaster!
Choose your favorite character and unlock special abilities as you perform high-flying platforming feats, solve fun puzzles, and take on epic boss battles.
Run, swim, swing, and jump your way through a beautiful yet mysterious island and discover rich biomes, intriguing characters, and hidden secrets.
Play solo or grab up to three friends to save the island of Monoth in 4-player couch co-op. Team up with friends and utilize unique skills such as Rope Drop, Leap Frog, and a heart gifting hug.
Experience a brand-new Mickey & Friends adventure with hand-drawn animation, an orchestral original score, and authentic voice talents.
Disney Illusion Island is certainly giving off strong Rayman Origins, and Rayman Legends vibes, games developed by Ubisoft using their acclaimed UbiArt engine, but also games that never saw full-scale follow-ups, and the UbiArt engine faded into obscurity. Fans have been clamoring for a game that evokes a similar style to those games, and despite this new title not coming from Ubisoft, fan flames have been stoked once again that games with this unique look and feel might be on the way back. Of course, the game supports four-player cooperative play and so parallels can be drawn in some respects to what Nintendo has achieved with their series of New Super Mario Bros. titles, the most recent of which New Super Mario Bros U, came out as a launch title for the Wii U, before being ported to the Nintendo Switch in Janurary 2019. With a natural audience for a game such as Disney Illusion Island already being present on the Switch, it makes the choice to go exclusive to the platform quite obvious, although there have been no further details about the exclusivity outlined, so it’s possible that players on PlayStation or Xbox consoles, as well as those on PC, may get their hands on the game at some to be determined point after the game’s initial launch date in 2023.
For now, you can look forward to playing Disney Illusion Island on your Nintendo Switch, sometime in 2023.
