Fantastic Arcade: Sword & Sworcery EP

Recently, we spent time in Austin, Texas at Fantastic Fest. In addition to being the country's best genre film festival (read: geek/horror/sci-fi/Asian/shock), they've added a Fantastic Arcade element that highlights the weird and wacky games out there, particularly in the independent games arena. We'll be presenting those for you right here.

Let's talk about awesome. Are you ready? Sword & Sworcery is a game set to be the premiere release from superbrothers, and while it is still "hip deep in the creation process," according to creator Craig D. Adams, we can report that it is entirely awesome, and manages to pluck both the "nostalgia" and "radass" chords on our heartstrings. 

Sword & Sworcery EP was definitely one of the standouts from Fantastic Arcade, and it's managed to turn the future of iPhone / iPad gaming into something to be seriously excited about. iPhone games have begun to stagnate in the world of imitative puzzle solvers, but S&S EP pushes the boundaries beyond the glass screen, and the presentation is retro-tastic, yet somehow more futuristic than any other portable games in recent memory, while remaining completely drool-worthy.

Craig D. Adams is the artists and brains behind S&S EP, and superbrothers is his company. "It's like Super Mario Bro. without the Mario, I figured," he told us. He's also partnered with indie developers Capybara Games (or just Capy), the team behind Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes on the DS, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes HD on XBLA and PSN, and the munching Critter Crunch for the PSN and iPhone. Musician Jim Guthrie will be providing the soundtrack, and you can catch some of his tunes, with sequences from the game, at the bottom of this post.

So what exactly is this game? Not a lot has been revealed, but it definitely has a swashbuckling brand of magic going on. There are scenes in the trailer of a cigar chomping businessman intermixed with a sword and shield-bearing hero, but does this guy send you back in time? Are you him? Is he your nemesis? Is it a blend of both worlds? The game features innovative gameplay where you rotate the iPad / iPhone vertically to enter attack mode, tapping on sword or shield icons as needed. Tap your finger on the screen to guide your character throughout, and you'll notice a throwback to the days ofKing's Quest.

Plus, you'll notice there's an EP in the title, referring to an extended play record, and some of the game screens show an old-school vinyl record next to a needle arm. There's both a Side A and a Side B in the game, although how this integrates itself into the gameplay, we aren't sure yet. Basically, all we know is that it looks incredible, and is best described as a 21st century take on an old-school adventure game. At least, that's how Craig described it to us. This is front and center on our games radar right now, and whenever we find out more, we'll let you know. Until then, we'll patiently play the waiting game while putting these videos on repeat.