Sidescrolling lost-world adventure Little Orpheus finally lands on PC in September

Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture devs The Chinese Room are bringing their postponed cosmonaut adventure Little Orpheus to PC on September 13th. The game had originally been due to launch on March 1st but was delayed. Little Orpheus stars a Soviet Russian character, and the devs wanted to review its content before release out of sensitivity to the conflict in Ukraine. Check out the trailer below.

In Little Orpheus, you’ll guide a spaceman through the bowels and bladders of the Earth. Publishers Secret Mode say that they’ve fully combed through Little Orpheus together with The Chinese Room to prepare it for release. “We are confident that the game does not contain material that should offend or harm and that Little Orpheus can release without any changes to its content,” they said.

The Chinese Room credit the inspiration for Little Orpheus’ subterranean journey to classic adventure flicks such as Flash Gordon, Sinbad and The Land That Time Forgot. It does look like a treat for the oculars, with environments themed around defunct civilisations, undersea realms, and prehistoric jungle. There’s plenty of massive dinos and jellyfish to gawp at while you’re steering your little Sixties cosmonaut bloke away from them and out of danger. Expect a longer-than-a-movie play time of around three to four hours.

The game was delayed so close to its release on PC earlier this year that Brendan managed to review Little Orpheus for RPS back in February. He didn’t think there was enough tension. “It has taken the seeds of classic cine-plats like Prince of Persia and blossomed them into a gorgeous bouquet of jaunts,” he said, “minus the frustrating and unreadable obstacles that turn completing an otherwise short adventure into a lengthy gauntlet of trial and error (hello, Another World).”

Little Orpheus is out on Steam on September 13th. No word on how much it costs yet, but it’s also coming to consoles.