Minecraft developer Mojang is stepping into the publishing business with their first 3rd party title Cobalt.
Okay, that picture on the right there is a bit misleading. Cobalt isn’t just Minecraft in the future – as much as that idea might appeal to some, myself included – but a side scrolling action game all about robots. Rolling robots, to be specific. The game is being developed by Oxeye Game Studios, a side studio founded by one of Mojang’s current employees Jens ‘jeb’ Bergenstein. The game’s soundtrack is being composed by one Mattias ‘Anosou’ Häggström, who is currently working on the soundtrack for Mojang’s second title, Scrolls.
The game’s story sees protagonist, a robotic munchkin called Agent Cobalt, exploring a lost colonization ship and the planet it orbits. The ship, called the Trunkopia, apparently vanished shortly after its first subspace jump only to return with all kind of nastiness on board. So, essentially we’re talking Event Horizon with cute robots. I’m sold.
Judging by the trailer the game seems to be an eclectic mix of puzzles and action with copious amounts of slow mo thrown in for good measure. Agent Cobalt appears to spend as much time rolling around on the ground like a clunky, metal Sonic The Hedgehog as he/she/it spends jumping, hacking various computers, and launching rockets all over the place.
Mojang seems to see the new project as a collaboration rather than a traditional publisher-developer deal, claiming that from the company’s inception its wanted to work with other indie game studios that shares its philosophy on game design. Namely, “staying close to the community and treating [their products] as a service.”
Cobalt will be arriving this fall on Windows, followed by versions for Mac and Linux.
