Buck’s first original game is a fantastical take on Minesweeper

Anyone that’s ever played the old-school logic puzzle game Minesweeper on a family computer will find some similarities in Buck’s latest game – which is like Minesweeper, Buck says, but “with the procedurally drawn, grid-based, mazes of a dungeon crawler”. The game, made in collaboration with audio studio Antfood, is the very first from Buck (the global creative company which, like It’s Nice That, is part of Residence) and features playful art and hand-drawn animation.

Let’s! Revolution! is a fantasy adventure game in spirit, inviting players to dethrone a medieval King exploiting the land of Beedbom. Players flip tiles to uncover a hidden path, collecting items and skills on their quest. While the project riffs on the simple game of Minesweeper, Buck brings further depth visually – by bringing detailed worlds to an ordinarily 2D format – and in the gameplay itself, through additional layers of problem solving.

Audiences can play as one of six characters; each comes with its own unique set of basic rules, meaning by changing your character, you adapt your strategy. “With this game, we strove to create something anyone who loves Buck animation can pick up and enjoy, while also satisfying expectations of depth for the genre,” says creative director Michael Highland. “Ultimately, we surprised ourselves with just how far the starting rules of the game could be stretched.”

Buck utilises hand-drawn animations to realise the world of Beedom, which feel light and serene as well as bubbly and fun. “I’ve always loved the idea of presenting bleak and dismal concepts in colourful and bright packages – in dreaming up the art style of Let’s! Revolution!, we took inspiration from the weird, playful and whimsical vibes of Katamari Damacy, Studio Ghibli, and Moebius,” says Emily Suvanvej, art director at Buck. The game also uses its fantasy setting for real-life commentary, by featuring “satirical nods to modern life”, a release explains.

Like the all-ages approach Buck takes to visuals, Let’s! Revolution! aims to keep the pressure out of gameplay, by focusing on problem solving “rather than complex stats or probabilities”, the release continues. The game features a low initial skill barrier and a range of difficulty settings.