The fourth title from developer The Behemoth had, to this point, been title “Game 4,” straight and to the point. The company has finally gotten around designating a proper name: Pit People. The next release from the independent company takes a signficant genre turn from its predecessors, but promises to have the same stylistic insanity, if the recently released trailer is to be believed.
Unlike the run-and-gun Alien Hominid and platforming Castle Crashers and BattleBlock Theater, Pit People will be turn-based, emphasizing strategy over frantic gameplay. Well, that’s not entirely true. Frantic gameplay is a Behemoth trademark, and it’s not going anywhere, even in a turn-based environment.
The new trailer reveals a world in which absurdity and anachronisms run rampant. The game takes place in an “apocalyptic wonderland,” which seems like the perfect descriptor. Uzis and swords find their way to the same battlefield, along the giant green blobs falling from the sky (more on that in a second).
Will Stamper, who was also involved in BattleBlock Theater, returns to narrate. He’s both insufferable and a source of comic relief. Your characters can hear him, and he will react to your actions. He’s omnipresent, but not omnipotent, and he adds another absurd element to a game that threatens to redefine the word. He may or may not have something to do with the falling space bear that’s on a collision course with the planet, in the process drenching it with his green blood.
A release date has not been announced, but co-op and 2v2 multiplayer will also be available. It might not be a marquee title, but it’s one to keep an eye out for when it comes out on Xbox One and Steam.
