Unusual platformer The Bridge hits PS4, PS3 & PS Vita tomorrow

Two game creators. Four years of development. One shared passion obsession. The Bridge is finally available for PlayStation platforms tomorrow 18th August.

Not exactly Newton’s theory of gravity

The Bridge opens to a scene where an unnamed character is sleeping under a tree. At this point, the only available action is to rotate the direction of gravity – the common theme throughout The Bridge. Like with Isaac Newton, an apple falls from the tree to wake our sleeping protagonist, and the journey begins.

The Bridge is an unconventional platformer (if you would even call it that), because there is no jump button. Instead, you must navigate through the puzzle structures by only walking and applying the unusual mechanic of gravity rotation. But the gravity manipulation doesn’t stop there – throughout The Bridge you will encounter gravitational vortexes, inverted gravity, objects having gravitational vectors that are different than your own, and more.

M. C. Escher’s Impossible World

Some have described The Bridge as “M. C. Escher: The Game.” Escher is the artist who created famous works around impossible reality and gravity such as Waterfall and Relativity.

Whenever I look at these drawings, I imagine myself walking around inside of these mysterious and surreal worlds. I knew that a videogame was the only medium where this could truly be achieved, so I created The Bridge in the spirit of an M. C. Escher drawing in order to bring these impossible worlds to life.

Hand drawn, black-and-white artwork

Mario Castañeda was the sole artist of The Bridge, hand drawing the entire game in a black-and-white lithographic art style. When I started the project, I had a clear vision in that I wanted the entire game to look and feel like you were inside of an M. C. Escher drawing. I felt that having authentic visuals in Escher’s classic monochromatic style was the only way to truly marry the impossible architecture that comprises the puzzles in The Bridge with the surreal visual aesthetics.

When Mario showed me his initial mock-up for the protagonist, I knew that the style was perfect and that we both had the exact same vision for the game, and we spent the next four years creating it.

Critically-acclaimed

Throughout The Bridge’s development, it has received over 16 awards and nominations, including The Escapist’s choice for Best Platformer of 2013, Best Gameplay Winner and Best Art Direction Winner at the Indie Game Challenge, Best Art Winner and Best Gameplay nominee at the Unity awards, in addition to being featured in the PAX 10, IGF, IndieCade, and more. Destructoid said that the Bridge is “one of the best puzzle games I’ve played in years… The Bridge is an experience that I haven’t had since P.B. Winterbottom and Braid, and it gives both of them a run for their money.”

The Bridge will be available on 18th August, and it will feature Cross-Buy, Cross-Save and include shared trophies between PS3, PS4 and PS Vita.

It’s been an incredible journey for Mario and myself to turn our dream for a game into a reality and finally bring it to PlayStation platforms. I’m really happy that you all can be a part of that. If you have any questions, I’ll respond in the comments section.