This gorgeous indie game takes inspiration from Paper Mario – and is built by 2 people!

Shut up and take my money! That was my first thought upon watching the trailer for Flynt Buckler Wakes the Sleepy Castle, a new indie game developed by a two-man team that takes inspiration from the Paper Mario series.

The gorgeous RPG follows the adventures of fairytale hero Flynt Buckler, who must band together with other storybook characters to stop an evil corporation from exploiting their world of its untapped resources and cheap labour. It's a classic RPG that will feature turn-based combat and is said to lean into the "cartoony charm" of what the genre is known for. 

"Dive into twisted tales from sweeping sci-fi to noir murder mystery – one moment you’ll be fleeing Lovecraftian terrors, and the next you’ll be up against villainous versions of the three little pigs – the rules are always changing!" reads the game description. "Battles are lively, spoils are abundant, and surprises are around every corner in the scattered storybook worlds of Flynt Buckler!"

Check out the trailer for Flynt Buckler Wakes the Sleepy Castle below:

Anyone that has played the original Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64 or its superior sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, on the GameCube will immediately recognise the art style and gameplay. With Nintendo always looking to innovate, the traditional turn-based formula has remained but has usually been hampered by another gimmick. As such, indie developers have been taking the classic formula into their own hands, with Bug Fables in 2019 being one of the most prolific to do so, and now Flynt Buckler being the latest. 

As someone that grew up adoring the Paper Mario series, the game stood out to me immediately for its quirky animations, vivid colours and jazzy soundtrack. I'll be certainly backing the game on Kickstarter once the project launches on November 1st, 2022. 

Flynt Buckler Wakes the Sleepy Castle is to aiming to launch in late 2023 across PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC. Let's hope it meets its fundraising goal. 

Meanwhile, Nintendo recently released the first trailer for the Super Mario Bros. Movie and while the internet is already opposed to Chris Pratt's voice, it's Jack Black as Bowser that looks to steal the film.