Upcoming metroidvania Uruc had me sitting up in my chair pretty quickly: Its debut trailer begins with flash cuts of horrible masses of worms before showing our protagonist—who I initially parsed as a banana slug, but who actually seems to be some manner of sable or fox with no limbs—an incongruously cute little guy in the grand tradition of incongruously cute metroidvania protagonists. We then see that this little guy is up against militaristic mecha straight out of Ghost in the Shell or Metal Gear, rampaging across a dead or dying world of industrial hulks and unnerving statuary. I’m in.
Uruc is being created by a first time developer, Stefan Haasbroek, who is also a progressive metal artist—his most recent EP has about as prog metal a name as you can get: “Spectral Tardigrade Mole Station.” It helps explain how the music in Uruc’s trailer was so affecting, but also the whole thing has this inherent progginess that I’m really digging. That key art of the worm-fox basking in an open wasteland? Pretty proggy. Oh, it’s about a little creature caught amidst war and horror beyond its ken? Are we talking about a game, or a concept album here.
PCG contributor Jon Bolding observed that “Somebody played Rain World too much and now it’s everybody’s problem,” and you can definitely see the Rain World influence in the wee fox guy’s distinctive shape, as well as the very particular horror of being an animal trapped in the ruins of a civilization it doesn’t understand. But Uruc is giving me the vibe of a more traditional metroidvania—at least going off what little material we have so far—than Rain World’s unique blend of survival elements.
I’m in love with the look and sound of Uruc, with anime-inspired mecha of the more Armored Core, “technology is dehumanizing” variety seemingly marooned on or assaulting (or both) an ancient, dead world whose blasted vistas and strange monuments remind me of the art of H.R. Geiger and Zdzisław Beksiński (or Scorn, a game heavily inspired by both artists).
True cosmic horror is being confronted with something beyond your powers of reason and deduction, like an ant exploring a circuit board, and it’s a feeling few games have ever evoked in me. Uruc really seems like it has that secret sauce, and I’m eager to play it. The game currently has no release window or presence on Steam or itch.io, but Haasbroek is crowdfunding for the game via BackaBuddy, and you can also follow the developer on YouTube or Bandcamp.