14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft showed quite a few different games at its Gamescom 2013 booth, allowing visitors to try out many big titles but also quite a few independent efforts and smaller games, including Max: The Cursed Brotherhood.
While the first game in the series, Max and the Magic Marker, was a hand-drawn 2D affair, The Cursed Brotherhood is a full-fledged 2.5D puzzle platformer.
Max, after coming back from school, finds his annoying brother messing with his stuff. After a quick search on the Internet, he finds a so-called spell that can make his brother disappear. As you can imagine, this actually works and Max's brother is transported into another world.
After jumping in as well, in order to rescue his brother, Max finds that he has just one weapon – his trusty Marker, which he can combine with certain spells to pull off all sorts of new tricks.
Basically, these spells allows the marker to interact with different elements, such as earth, water, and so on. This interaction can only happen in predetermined spots, and Max can generate rock pillars to act as platforms, or jets of water that can transport him to new areas.
Besides solving puzzles and using platforms to get around, Max will also be greeted by different enemies that can hurt his fragile body. He can use the marker for violent purposes, so he must rely on his brain to devise solutions for getting around enemies, as well as his legs to help him run away.
This fragility is quite welcome and adds a sense of urgency to Max's quest.
The graphics look quite impressive, as does the soundtrack, and for the Xbox One version of the game, the team at Press Play wants to further improve the visuals of the game and to perhaps add a few more features, depending on how much time they have with the next-gen system.
Max: The Cursed Brotherhood is out in 2014 for Xbox One and Xbox 360.