Announcements of new Ukrainian games at Ukrainian Games Festival 2024 are not over yet. Meet Comix Zero, a Ukrainian soulslike platformer from Bear Games, which takes place on the pages of a comic book.

“Comix Zero is a Souls-like action & exploration RPG set on the living pages of a vividly illustrated comic book universe. The game is a tribute to 2000s dark fantasy comics, old-school cult classics like Comix Zone and Streets of Rage, and challenging modern Souls-likes. As Zero, you will explore a beautiful yet brutal open world, crush enemies in epic battles, and uncover more than a few ugly secrets — secrets that sometimes hide just behind the corner of the page…” reads the game’s description on Steam.

The authors promise the opportunity to explore a non-linear open and semi-open world (hello, metroidvania), a strategic combat system, numerous deaths, and the atmosphere of a real dark fantasy.

Comix Zero is not the first game to be stylized as a comic book, it’s worth mentioning Void Bastards, Fury Unleashed, Damsel, Liberated, Framed, the above-mentioned Comix Zone, and, of course, XIII, but it seems to be the first game of this kind to be created by Ukrainian developers.

Comix Zero is being developed by the Kharkiv-based studio Bear games, which has been making mostly casual custom projects for over 20 years. Interestingly, the founder and director of the studio, Mykhailo Bear Kharkivskyi, is a former professional Counter-Strike player.

Comix Zero has not yet received a trailer or release date, but the game already has a Steam page, so add it to your wishlist. The game is planned to have Ukrainian text localization, the voice acting will be in English only.