PAX Aus 2024 Highlight – Frogreign

Posted on October 14, 2024

Frogreign is an upcoming 2D action-platformer developed by Arkanpixel supported by Screen Australia’s Games Production Fund where you play as a frog prince on a quest to rescue his sister. To accomplish his mission, he can attack foes with his sword and swing through dungeons with his tongue as a grappling hook. I was fortunately able to experience a slice of this promising title at PAX Aus 2024 and get an idea of what to look forward to. It isn’t easy being green…

In the short demo available, I swung through a dungeon, avoiding spikes and foes and finding 5 collectables hidden around the area. Rill, the player character, can use his tongue to grapple foes and loose physics objects, as well as attach to the ceiling and swing across gaps. The tongue grappling hook gave me a great sense of freedom, with virtually any surface being grapple-able and giving me lots of options for succeeding in its platforming challenges.

The developers have confirmed that they intend to lean into this sense of freedom and want to reward speedrunners who use the game’s mechanics to get through the game as fast as possible. Any bugs that make players unintentionally skip content will be patched, but exploits that must be intentionally sought out will remain to incentivise experimentation.

Despite the aesthetic similarities to games like Hollow Knight, Arkanpixel stresses that it would not be accurate to describe Frogreign as a Metroidvania-style platformer. Although you do unlock new abilities to solve puzzles, they likened the game more to The Legend of Zelda series, where the game is separated into multiple distinct dungeon areas, and where the overworld expands with the new abilities the player acquires, but you do not return to completed dungeons.

Frogreign also boasts some gorgeous production values, from what we have seen. The retro pixel art style is wonderfully detailed, with the way that your wisp companion Lumi lights up the surroundings being particularly stunning. The game also includes a musical score by Alejandro Pérez Heinze, a composer who worked on Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

No release window for the game has yet been confirmed. For those of you who want to be alerted for new details, Frogreign can be wishlisted on Steam.