Pumpkin Jack Melds MediEvil, Jak and Daxter, and A Spoopy Scarecrow

I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for that classic style PS1/2 cartoony action-adventure game. My first real console was a PS1, and I remember spending hours collecting all the hidden eggs and gemstones in Spyro the Dragon. Unfortunately, it’s a style of game that seems to have faded into the past. Those open-level adventure games have evolved into open-world. Somewhere along the way, they lost a lot of their cartoony color.

Luckily, indie developer Nicolas Meyssonnier also has a passion for cartoony hijinks. With Pumpkin Jack, he seeks to rekindle the spark that carried games like MediEvil and Ratchet and Clank. Playing as Jack the Pumpkin Lord, you’re summoned by the Devil himself to deliver mayhem on the all too peaceful lands of Boredom Kingdom. You’ll run, jump, hack, and slash your way through knights and beasts alike in your quest to make the world a little less samey.

Now if the graphics look a bit dated, keep in mind that this is an indie project. Nicolas Meyssonnier has this to say about his love and inspiration behind Pumpkin Jack:

I started developing Pumpkin Jack as a spare-time project in 2016 while studying at the University. I was inspired by old PlayStation platformers I played in my childhood, such as Ratchet & Clank and most importantly Jak & Daxter, and I figured that the market lacked inspiring 3D platformers. Since I was always attracted by dark and spooky atmospheres like the ones we can see in MediEvil, I decided to create my own game which further developed into an exciting full-time project.

As a gamer, I’m always searching for new ways to improve Pumpkin Jack and diversify the gameplay as much as possible. Learning from the old classics such as Jak & Daxter and new platformers such as A Hat in Time, I try to create a mix of stimulating battles, innovative puzzles and challenging platforming in eerie Halloween-themed environments. I thrive on feedback, so do not hesitate to join me on my journey and help make this game the best of his time by joining my official Pumpkin Jack Twitter and Discord channels.

If you’re down with the classics, you won’t have to wait until Pumpkin Jack releases in Q4 2020 to give it a shot. If you head on over to Steam, you can try out the free demo right now. So why not give it a shot? You might just learn that this is your jam.