Game Rant recently got the chance to get together with the Game Grumps and Fantastic Passion to playSoviet Jump Game, their newretro-style 2D platformerbattle royale. Greg Batha and Arin Hanson represented Game Grumps, while Thom Glunt came in to talk for Fantastic Passion. Over about an hour of Q&A and gameplay together, we were able to get a good sense of how and why the game was made, while some considerable solo play time left a very positive impression as well. One thing stood out aboutSoviet Jump Game: it is simultaneously an amalgam of layers upon layers of references and inspiration, and also something quite unlike any other game out there.
Soviet Jump Gamehas been free to play in early access and will remain so now that it has launched. The game has already drawn in plenty of curious players, in part due to the intricate background lore that came through in the Grumps' promotion and teasers for the title.Soviet Jump Gamepresents itself as an overambitious Russian bootleg game for the Dendy, a fabled knockoffNES clonethat reached legendary popularity in Russia during the early 90’s. According to promotional lore,Soviet Jump Gamewas the long-lost first battle royale ever made, far ahead of its time and lost to the sands of obscurity, only now re-discovered and re-released by Game Grumps.
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Soviet Jump Game
In reality, after the success and critical acclaim ofqueer dating simDream Daddy, the Game Grumps started taking pitches for new games to help develop and promote. As Arin described, they took many pitches, but Thom’sSoviet Jump Gamewas the only one that they fell in love with at first sight. Thom explained that the concept forSoviet Jump Gamecame about through a conversation on how the extremely popular battle royale genre was expanding, and how far its dominance of the gaming industry would ultimately go. He joked that onceTetrishad been made into a battle royale, then every possible genre would have been taken over.
Shortly afterwards,Tetris 99came out. And, as Thom remarked, it was more than just a joke, it was really fun. That’s when he started on working out the details of a retro 2D platformer gone battle royale. As it slowly went from just a design practice to a genuinely viable game, he realized it could actually be made fun, intuitive, and engaging.
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The Russian bootleg aesthetic came from a desire to explore pixel art in a new, relatively untouched direction. To “capture the sexy side of grimy” as Thom put it. Arin explained that expanding the aesthetic to create a story was one of his favorite parts of the project: “Figuring out the narrative and lore behindSoviet Jump Game, this old Dendy game that was found and recreated, it was just a really cool concept. Then as it was being created it was just so much fun…”
Making Something New Out of Nostalgic Ingredients
The end result feels overwhelmingly familiar, yet also provides a gameplay experience that is impossible to find anywhere else. The battle royale formula is now so common that it doesn’t need to be explained, the 2D platforming is classic feeling ‘pick up and play’ material, the powerups are instantly recognizable but take practice to use correctly, the character lineup is chock full of references akin to a Soviet knockoffBroforce, and the music, art, and style blend seamlessly into one holistic wave of nostalgia.
This isn’t to say thatSoviet Jump Gameis old hat. Greg usedShovel KnightandSonic Maniaas examples of games that apply modern game design knowledge to older genres that were left in the dust after the advent of 3D technology, but still had potential.Soviet Jump Gamedoes the same thing. Even though most net code is built for first person shooters, the developers were careful to make the platforming feel good and crisp, while powerups were carefully balanced and the timing of the two giant, spiked “pain walls” that slowly close in from either side of the map was carefully tuned.
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The pacing of each match is spot-on, taking just enough time to allow for exploration and a few skirmishes before the walls close in too close for comfort and a mad scramble for first place begins. While players can enter upper and lower zones through pipes, when thefinal circlecloses in there is a duel option to prevent the last two survivors from being unable to reach each other. Even the glitches fit into gameplay- though they can be removed in the options, a pillar of glitched-out particle effects bursts from each killed player and lingers for a while, indicating danger areas for more experienced fans.
Whether it feels old, new, or both,Soviet Jump Gameis just plain fun. Even during our press event, journalists and developers alike couldn’t help but get into the action, cackling triumphantly with each kill, groaning at defeat, and cheering the last survivor on over the sound of a frantically clicking controller while observing the final duel. The goal was to make a game that was easy to pick up and play, so that no match was too long and players could fit it in as a fun diversion. That goal was clearly reached, and as afree-to-play gamewith the only paid content being cosmetics, it’s easy to seeSoviet Jump Gameenduring for a long time to come.
Soviet Jump Gameis available now on PC.
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