Constance is an upcoming indie Metroidvania game developed in Germany, set to release in 2025.
The game features a unique artistic style and magical gameplay mechanics that distinguish it from other titles in the genre.
Character and Mechanics
Players control the titular character Constance, who wields a large paintbrush as her primary tool and weapon, striving to escape from a colorful but decaying inner-world, created by her declining mental health. The gameplay incorporates innovative mechanics centered around painting and color manipulation:
- Constance can transform into a paint splotch to climb walls.
- Her paintbrush can be used to alter the environment.
- Color-based puzzles and platforming challenges are core to the gameplay.
- Estimated length: 8-10 hours
Gameplay Features
- Become Paint: Utilize paint based mechanics to experience a constant state of flow – dive into the ground and walls, slice through the air and enemies!
- Wield Your Brush: Become stronger by unlocking new techniques with your brush that aid you in defeating threatening foes, overcoming platform challenges, solving complex puzzles and advancing your progress.
- Discover Yourself: Explore a variety of unique biomes, countless secrets, multiple paths, characters, side quests and collectibles in Constance’s non-linear interconnected inner-world!
- Strive For Balance: Using your brush techniques will corrupt your paint. If you become fully corrupted, negative effects await you, so be wary!
- Get Inspired: Use inspirations that you find on your travels to sketch in your journal. Your sketches enhance and customize Constance’s capabilities. By gathering materials, you can upgrade your sketches into even stronger artworks.
- Choice in Death: Upon death, choose how to continue your journey. Do you want to persevere through the challenge, for a price? Or do you return to a safe-point and explore other unbeaten paths?
- Rich Imagined World: The inner-world is strongly connected to Constance’s mental health journey, with each biome and its unique set of enemies and characters representing different aspects of her psyche and personal history.
- Interactive Backstory: Experience playable flashbacks about personal struggle, creativity, work-life-balance, and inner purpose. Step into Constance’s socks to uncover her past!
Visual Style
The game boasts a distinctive hand-painted aesthetic with:
- Charming character models.
- Vibrant, colorful environments.
- A whimsical, fairy tale-like atmosphere.
Gamescom Experience & Reception
We had the opportunity to play Constance at Gamescom 2024, where the game received positive feedback for its creative mechanics and engaging gameplay. We were impressed by the fluidity of movement and the clever integration of painting into the gameplay. It also looks pretty polished already. Cannot wait to get my hands on it.
Release:
Will be available on PC, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series late 2025.
