Gimmick! 2 finally shows off its gameplay in a new trailer

Clear River Games has released a trailer giving us a first look at the gameplay of Gimmick 2. Brace yourself. It looks like about what you’d expect. Gimmick!-y, if you will.

The trailer opens with the 8-bit graphics of the NES version before Switching to the more bubbly graphics of the sequel. The gameplay looks very reminiscent of the original, which based itself around its impressive physics. It was maddening. It wasn’t easy to learn, hard to master. It was hard to learn and seemingly impossible to master.

Gimmick! 2 may ease that somewhat. There seems to be more focus on puzzles and combat than there was in the 1992 original. It obviously still prides itself on punishing platforming, as there is a sequence in the trailer that shows the main character – who I’m just now learning is named Yokai Yumetaro – dying repeatedly.

The trailer also comes with the announcement that David Wise is scoring the game. Wise is best known for his work with Rare where he crafted inappropriately good music for games like Battletoads and Donkey Kong Country.

The art style shown off is just okay. It works. It’s not awful. It isn’t stylish. It has personality in some places and lacks it in others. An alternative would have been to continue with the original’s 8-bit graphics, but I admit that might be trite and predictable. But between predictable and just okay, I would have leaned toward the former. But that’s me.

Gimmick! 2 is set to release this year on PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.