New Blip: Bat Boy

Video game fans have long known that baseball bats can be used for much more than batting baseballs. We've grabbed them in Double Dragon and turned them against our fat-headed foes, imagined the adventures of Captain Baseball Bat Boy while murdering well-deserving ne'er-do-wells in Max Payne 2, and scrambled to the top of arcade leaderboards as the eponymous Ninja Baseball Bat Man. Now it's time to wreck shop as a platforming hero in Bat Boy, from Sonzai Games and X Plus Games. Bat Boy's teammates have been subjected to the Trials of Darkness by Lord Vicious (no relation), and Bat Boy sets out to rescue them, using his baseball bat to bash baddies, send guard-pigs tumbling into other enemies, deflect projectiles, and smash through destructible blocks in a variety of retro-styled environments. Boss battles pit Bat Boy against his brainwashed buddies in a baseball batting brouhaha.

The game is coming to PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox S/X later this year. A demo is available via Steam.

To find more promising 2D games currently under development, be sure to check out our 2D Watchlist.