It's not very often that there's a game from your childhood reappears completely out of the blue. The GSC team recently attended London Games Festival, upon walking in to the room the first game that caught my eye was one such game, Platypus Reclayed. I played the original Platypus as a child on a very basic home PC and have vivid memories of the "˜claymatian' shoot-em-up. I recently dug through some old boxes in my parents back bedroom and was delighted to find my old copy:
Myself and Addy were lucky enough to play through a few levels in couch co-op and the game feels like a stellar modern recreation. The game featured in our top games of London Games Festival and we can't wait to play more later in 2025.
The game is isn't just a simple remaster, it features 4k widescreen, modern gameplay tweaks as well as new content including weapons and more. The games creation is no simple computer animation. Clay models are created by hand and turned into virtual game assets - think Wallace and Gromit.
Platypus Reclayed returns 23 years after the original's launch and original creator, Anthony Flack is at the helm. We were very lucky to catch up with Anthony about the game and what's in store.
Platypus Reclayed interview
I loved Platypus as a child, I couldn't believe I was seeing it reborn at London Games Fest. For our readers who haven't heard of the original, tell us a bit about the Platypus
Platypus is an old-school, side-scrolling arcade shooter for one or two players with graphics all made from clay. The original game was not the first game I ever made, but it was my first to be published and sold. It was a natural extension of the stop-motion animation I had been doing at film school, and later in TV commercials, and the games I used to make on my home computer when I was younger. "¨
The GSC crew got their hands on with Platypus at London Games Festival and its art style is ever so impressive. Tell us about how you create the clay models and bring them to life.
It's all done in my garage with a light, a camera and a whole lot of clay. Each element is photographed separately, cut out by hand and turned into game assets using Photoshop. I don't use many sculpting tools apart from my hands and occasionally a knife, plus the end of a pen to make the bullet holes with. I also quite often use Lego to make stands and armatures for the models for when they need to rotate, since it's easy to construct something on the spot. It's pretty low-tech really! It's been fun to do things the old way again.
You're the original creator of the game, what are your favourite games personally and how have they shaped your journey into game development?
I have been a games fan since the early 1980s and there have been far too many to list. At first, it was arcade games and home computer games. The early years of arcade gaming was a magical time; groundbreaking things were appearing in the local arcades on a near-weekly basis. I would go to the arcades all the time, even if I had no money, just to watch. Arcade games were everywhere in those days. As soon as I got access to a computer I started trying to make my own. Platypus was mostly inspired by those early arcade games, in particular Capcom's 1942.
23 years is a long time since the original, why are you bringing Platypus back now?
Well, we didn't have the rights to the game for a long time. I thought I was done with it, but people never stopped asking me about it. Seeing how much positive feeling there was for the game even after such a long time made me want to do something for the fans, and do it properly. So we bought the rights back and I set to work, and now at last here it is. "¨
The game is launching on all major consoles from the off, something that isn't common for indies. What was the decision behind launching on all?
It is difficult for a small team to manage an all-formats release, and fortunately I have some very experienced people to help me with that otherwise it would be hopeless. Our marketing person strongly urged us to do everything at the same time if we could, because we don't have the budget to run separate marketing campaigns for each version individually. It makes sense, but I can also see why many Indies don't.
Lastly, when can we expect to get our hands on Platypus Reclayed?
Release date hasn't been announced yet, but it will be ready later this year.
Platypus Reclayed will release on Steam, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation later this year. We will be following the game closely until it's launch.
You can wishlist on Steam now and find the developers on X or Bluesky. You can also join their Discord where development progress is being shared as well as an insight into bringing the "˜claymatian' to life.
