Earlier in October, Devolver Digital announced the launch of Big Fan Games, a new publishing label aiming to elevate video game projects that used licensed IP in creative ways.
At the time, it was secretive about early plans for this label, but now, its first project has been announced: Tron: Catalyst. There’s no bigger partner than Disney, and this announcement outlines the scale of projects that Big Fan Games aims to produce.
Tron: Catalyst is in development at Bithell Games (John Wick Hex, Tron: Identity) in collaboration with Disney Games. As described, it’s a “thrilling, story-driven isometric action game set in the world of Disney’s TRON” and aims to continue the narrative threads laid out in Tron: Identity.
In this adventure, you are Exo, a program who have the ability to initiate time loops within The Grid. Wielding this power, Exo takes on the “overlords of a crumbling Grid” while evading enemy forces. You’ll need to fight on-foot and on a Light Cycle to complete each of the game’s missions, and also learn from your mistakes in rogue-lite fashion.
There does actually appear to be some shades of Hades in this game, but perhaps that’s reading too much into its real-time action combat and top down view. Regardless of inspiration, there’s plenty of eye-catching details in this new Tron adaptation – in its aesthetics, snappy combat, and its Light Cycle races.
The Tron film franchise may have gone awry with the fumbling of a direct sequel to Tron: Legacy, but it’s always been pretty well-represented in games. Many fans discovered it via its appearances in Kingdom Hearts, and Bithell’s previous adaptation, Tron: Identity, was also very well-received. It’s a rich franchise to play within, and there’s plenty of potential in expanding it further.
We’ll learn more about this new adaptation in the coming months, as Tron: Catalyst is set to release for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch in 2025. In the meantime, we expect we’ll also hear much more about the plans of Big Fan Games, and other major IP adaptations in the works.
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By Leah J. Williams 14 October 2024
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