Acclaimed, if notoriously obtuse, Indiana-Jones-esque exploratory platformer La-Mulana and its sequel are being bundled up for a release on Xbox One, PS4, and Switch next year.
La-Mulana began life as a homage to classic MSX-era games, with the original 2005 version only ever officially being released in Japan. However, developer Nigoro eventually rebuild the game from the ground up in 2011, giving it a 16-bit-inspired visual makeover – and it’s this better-known version that’ll be getting the console treatment, alongside Nigoro’s 2018 sequel.
The original La-Mulana casts players as Lemeza Kosugi, a professor of archaeology and occasional whip-wielding adventurer, as he attempts to uncover the secrets of the mysterious ruins of La-Mulana. What follows is an almost entirely open-ended mix of exploration, platforming, puzzle-solving, and boss battling, with players free to approach the game’s trap-filled areas and challenges in pretty much any way they choose.
LA-MULANA 1 & 2 – Announcement Trailer (Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBox One) Watch on YouTube
However, La-Mulana’s lack of hand-holding, combined with its punishing action, challenging riddles, and some fairly obtuse game design – as befitting of its MSX-inspired origins – means that it’s developed a (largely deserved) reputation over the years for being fiendishly impenetrable, as Eurogamer discovered when it reviewed the enhanced PS Vita port in 2015.