Playable prologue offers first taste of Apopia: Sugar Coated Tale

Written by Jack Allin — August 14, 2021 at 10:29

Anything sugar coated is usually concealing a bit of bite underneath. This is certainly true of Apopia: Sugar Coated Tale, an upcoming cartoon-styled adventure from two-man Hong Kongese indie studio Quillo Games that hides a lot of darkness beneath its charming exterior. 

Players control Mai, a wild-haired young woman who becomes separated from her mother on a hike and stumbles into an abyss, only to wake up with amnesia in a rabbit world called Yogurt. With her is a "mutant cat" she names Nico, and with no idea how she got here or how to get home, Mai decides to follow the feline through this bizarre fantasy world ruled with an iron fist by a dictactor appropriately known only as "Boss." If she's ever to escape this place and piece together the "dark and blurry memories" experienced in her dreams, Mai will need to make friends (or foes) with the creatures she encounters in her travels, "solving puzzles and outsmarting enemies in minigames" along the way. 

Inspired by fairy tales and nineties cartoons, the keyboard- or gamepad-controlled Apopia features a lovely hand-painted art style and whimsical sense of humour, but dig a little deeper and you'll discover "dark mysteries" that explore sensitive themes like growing up, childhood trauma and self-acceptance. While awake, Mai will do mostly typical adventurey things and meet a variety of furry critters, including the dimwitted thugs Bigg and Littoo, a trio of swordless musketeers, and Moly the anti-bullying crusader and rightful princess of this realm. When Mai goes to sleep, however, the whole world darkens and the aesthetic shifts to something much rougher and more ominous, forcing the young protagonist to face increasingly unsettling fears and "defeat dark bosses in rhythm games." Only by doing so can she begin to "discover the truth about [her] family and identity."

While the full helping of Apopia: Sugar Coated Tale isn't due on Steam until sometime next year, you can have a free sample taste right away as the first part of the game is available now in a playable prologue for Windows and Mac.