It’s not often that we see video games venture into the realms of parody, but Toadman Studios and Sold Out have today revealed Minimal Affect, a comic sci-fi action RPG that quite obviously riffs off the Mass Effect series.
Coming to consoles and PC in 2021, the game is a love letter to the genre. The game follows the crew of the Star Alliance Balding Eagle on their maiden adventure, which quickly turns into a quest to save the galaxy and get stuck into a lot of third-person cover shooting action RPG gaming. From the brief snippets shown in the trailer, it actually looks like a pretty competent spin on that style of gameplay.
Minial Affect has also got a cartoon art style to it that’s somewhat reminiscent of Netflix animated series Final Space, and from the announcement trailer there’s a fair chance that the series has some of the same irreverent sense of humour. What are the odds on them lampooning the dissatisfaction many players felt at the original ending to Mass Effect 3?
Rasmus Davidsson, Creative Director on ​Minimal Affect​ said, “​Minimal Affect​ is our homage to some of the greatest sci-fi RPGs, movies, and shows that we absolutely love. While the story is ridiculous, the gameplay certainly is not – this is a fully fledged action-RPG created in the art-style of adult animation you know and love. It’s a super galactic tale of space adventure, comedy and questionable morality.”
Let’s hope they can pull it off, because this style of pastiche is as rare as hen’s teeth in the games industry.
Source: press release
