Do you remember, or do you even know, about the Game Boy Camera? It's exactly as it sounds, a little camera attached to an original Game Boy cartridge that you could plug in and take photos with. You could even get a printer! The aesthetic therewithin is a particular one, utilising a tiny 128x128 pixel sensor, the end result being an incredibly dithered and pixelated yet charming look. There are few games that capture such a vibe, but O EMPIRE! WARD OFF THY ROT, a game about carrying a cursed object through an abandoned world, might just manage to.

Specifically, it comes across as if miniature, stop-motion sets are being filmed from a bird's-eye view (you can have a gander in the teaser trailer below, but a big seizure warning is in order). As cute as I might make that sound, the feeling is more one of dread, a tilt shift effecting lightly obfuscating sections of the world until you approach them. In O EMPIRE! WARD OFF THY ROT (a title that one must capitalise on every occasion), you are a lone traveller, who for some reason has to take a cursed object… somewhere, all the while attempting to survive whatever comes your way.

The world isn't barren, but it certainly isn't filled with life, and it sounds like the journey will be long: "The game is a slow, journey-driven survival experience focused on travel rather than combat. Stamina and supplies must be managed as you traverse long distances on foot through ruins, roads and bleak terrain," explains the game's Steam page. "Knowing when to push forward or retreat is central to progression."

A tension also appears to come from the very object you have to carry, as it can influence your movement and decision-making, "becoming increasingly difficult to carry." Your progress is also dictated by how much you have travelled, what resources you've acquired, and your endurance over time, all of which adds up to a fine balancing act. I'm curious as to how this plays out in practice, the trailer also shows something related to the ability to equip rings, I'm just not entirely sure what that means.

O EMPIRE! WARD OFF THY ROT doesn't have a release date, but you can wishlist it on Steam in the meantime.