Headlander is the next game from Double Fine and it’s a metroidvania inspired by bizarre 1970s science fiction. It has you playing as the last remaining human ever, but there’s a catch – all that’s left of you is a head.
Luckily, as this head, you aren’t doomed to dwell in a safe locker like the disembodied heads of presidents and celebrities in Futurama. Instead, you have a special helmet that allows you to fly around and attack yourself onto various robotic bodies, making use of their unique abilities.
You see, Headlander takes place in a “world of automation, a utopia gone wrong in which all of humanity have transferred their minds into robotic imposter bodies and are ruled by a deranged computer.” You have to navigate this odd world while investigating your own fractured past.
Being published by Adult Swim, the appeal in Headlander is not just this bizarre set-up, but also the comedy it enables. As you’ll see in the trailer above, some of the bodies you can control include horses, disco divas, and dogs as well as more familiar humanoid types. Some can run fast, some fire laser guns, others can punch through steel, and it’s these various abilities you’ll need to use to progress, just like in any other metroidvania.
At the moment, Headlander is penned for an arrival on PC and consoles in 2016. More details should hopefully arrive on the game’s website.
