Developer Sumo Digital - the developer of recent racing title Team Sonic Racing - has just announced the upcoming release of one of its own original games: 2D beat em-up game Pass the Punch.
Pass the Punch is set a world influenced by 80s and 90s Saturday morning cartoons. The beat em-up game follows the story of Rush, a resident of New Atlas. She will journey to fight against the villains King Crab and Red Velvet who are hellbent on turning the quaint little town’s hangouts into lifeless corporate franchises. It’s up to Rush and her three friends to claim back the city for the people.
Rush is just one of the many residents of New Atlas that can transform into powerful beings with abilities that are based on their day to day activities. For example, Rush is a gym owner who transforms into a lightspeed boxing champion. Her buddy, Claud, is a LARPer whose foam sword transforms him into a badass berserker. Players can choose to fight as Rush, Claud, or the other characters such as Beetle or Wizard to battle King Crab and Red Velvet’s Minions.
Each character has unique combos and moves that players need to learn either solo with an AI or alongside a friend in a two-player local co-op. The game’s title, Pass the Punch, is inspired by the game’s unique mechanic of players complementing each other’s attacks and “passing the punches”, so to speak. Along with the sheer number of character and ability combinations to unlock, Pass the Punch also boasts leaderboards, secrets to discover, and extra content to unlock.
Pass the Punch was created by Sumo Digital employee David Dino. What started initially as just a submission to an in-company game jam soon developed into a fully-fledged game.
“We have an enormous amount of creative talent in each of our seven studios and encourage every member of staff to take part in our game jams," Sumo Digital’s managing director Gary Dunn said in a press statement. "David’s submission stood out for its ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ gameplay and follows in the footsteps of Snake Pass as a game jam concept that became a published product. It’s exciting and rewarding to see our teams’ imaginations deliver unique IP like this!”
Pass the Punch will brawl its way to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in late 2019.
