Lucky is back! For those of you who didn’t know, Super Lucky’s Tale for Xbox One and Windows 10 is a remake of the original Lucky’s Tale for Oculus Rift. The game features the cute fox, Lucky, who jumps and runs through a colorful world under the tutelage and rivalry of Master Mittens, the ninja cat.

The game had already caught our eye E3 earlier this year, and now I’ve been Lucky enough to actually try it at Gamescom 2017.

For some gameplay footage from the Gamescom demo, check out this video by IGN:

A super fox and a ninja cat

At the beginning of the demo, you encounter a strange cat named Master Mittens who is a ninja that wants to battle you. The cat deems you not yet worthy of the fight, though, so you first have to traverse a small level and complete various tasks before you can face him. I couldn’t help but smile at the old-school vibe of the game; for me it felt a lot like Conker’s Bad Fur Day, not because of the mature content, but because of the controls, the style and humor of the game (though of course this part was a lot less sexual).

Your basic move set is jumping, digging and tail-whacking, which is fairly standard for the jump and run genre. You can collect coins and hearts along the way, too, adding an extra challenge to each level.

The goal of the demo was to activate a big stone statue. To do that, you had to ring a bell. This bell could only be rung by three smaller stone statues, but they had all lost their heads, meaning you had to find their heads and place them back on their bodies. The first was right on your way to the statue, while you had to search the area and find secret passages to bring the others back. This is where I think the game shines. You run around, find hidden passages, solve little puzzles, all while avoiding danger on the way.

It focuses on the strengths of jump and run genre

When I look at other games that have tried the same but failed, I feel confident that Super Lucky’s Tale is going in the right direction. Yes, it might not be the prettiest game or the toughest game (that award must be reserved for Cuphead), but it gets the overall tone and gameplay right. It was one of the titles at Gamescom that really drew me in. I could just relax for 15 minutes: the simple and playful soundtrack, visuals and gameplay took me to another world.

Although I feel this is mostly intended for a younger audience, I still appreciate it a lot as a solid jump and run title. Super Lucky’s Tale does a lot right and will surely keep you entertained with its beautiful art style, wacky characters, and fun puzzles.

Keep an eye on this one as it’s going to release on November 7th, 2017.

If you’ll excuse me now, I need to go train my Meow-Lin.