Among all of the indies we’ve played and championed over the last few weeks during PAX and SXSW season, one truly stood out with its bold use of bright pink and undeniably cool style, which has kept it occupying my brain space since I played it. At SXSW Sydney 2024, I checked out Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, a “Y2K girly-pop arena-style movement shooter where standing still is not an option.” The faster you go, the more damage you deal, and the more you heal, making for a completely frantic experience that holds up incredibly well in the gameplay department.
So the story goes, a mining company is attempting to destroy an ecosystem for profit; they want to drain your world of The Love, a natural force that is keeping the planet alive and kicking. You have to destroy robotic drones to heal The Oasis, releasing The Love back into the environment. The narrative is delivered via a shiny pink flip-phone, with an FMV character leading you along the journey, which feels right at home with the retro vibes of the rest of the experience.
In real terms, Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop! has you blasting robots to pieces, combining old-school FPS mechanics found in 90s shooters like DOOM and Quake, except instead of shooting demons in the dark depths of hell, you’re smashing them to pieces in pink, blue and green buildings with checkered floor tiles and giant pink hearts appearing as a sort of dramatic target reticule on foes.
“I was nodding my head and tapping my toes the whole time, shooting enemies into smithereens of hearts and pink confetti, loving every second.”
It’s incredibly satisfying seeing the combo meter on the right of the screen tick up, as you continue to move as quickly as possible in order to cause damage and heal yourself. Slowing down means a good chance of death, so you quickly need to find a rhythm that involves you darting around arenas, wasting robots and then promptly bouncing to the next. It’s a mouse and keyboard experience, like the good ol’ days of shooters, but there are some shortcuts added for those more controller-minded; for example, pressing TAB has you immediately lock on to the nearest enemy, allowing you to focus your blast on them.
Incolatus has a dress-up component, because duh, and you can drag fabrics and colours onto your arms to change the look of your first-person character. Faeries you’ll meet on your journey allow you to gather more materials and ornaments for your guns. Wave hopping also captures the feel of the classic bunny hop, adding a modern slam, dash and double jump so that you have even more fluidity. When it’s all tied together, it makes for a thrilling time, one that I’m eager to master when the game eventually releases.
It’s all so over-the-top and colourful that it can be a total assault on the senses, but the hyper-pink aesthetic certainly makes it stand out in a crowded genre. Only a few minutes with Incolatus and you immediately know what kind of zany experience you’re in for, but the gunplay feels good too, as does the fast, slick movement and pumping Girlypop soundtrack. I was nodding my head and tapping my toes the whole time, shooting enemies into smithereens of hearts and pink confetti, loving every second.
Developed by a talented team of two developers in Western Australia, Funny Fintan Softwords is onto something special here, with Incolatus originally created as a school project in tenth grade but now expanded into a full-time project supported by Screen Australia and Screenwest. The future of our games industry is looking bright (pink) with young talents like these honing their craft.
Incolatus: Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is on Steam, so make sure you Wishlist it today.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
