Frebbventure Alliance Key Art
Image: AlmyriganHero

One of the perks of writing for this site is that they let me just ramble about my latest obsessions. That, right now, would be Frebbventure Alliance, which launched on Sunday. The latest from almost unknown solo indie developer AlmyriganHero (aka Almy The Alien), who previously charmed my socks off with the offbeat, slightly janky, very ambitious Frebbventure back in 2023.

Let's get this out of the way - this is not the next hyper-polished Silksong. This is the kind of slightly scrappy, wildly enthusiastic game design endemic in the Sonic fangame scene, where the developer first surfaced. Expect the occasional rough edge, camera issue, and an enthusiastic but unprofessional soundtrack. And yet despite all that, this is entirely my jam. Turns out, I'm just a sucker for earnest exercises in excess.

The Frebbventure series are classic Big 2D Adventure platformers. Take a silly character (a stretchy cat-thing named Frebb Flimpus, armed with a cartoon mallet and a rocket launcher) and send him out through a weird world full of weirder creatures, meeting friends and enemies along the way. And as is the case with so many things inspired by Sonic, what starts as whimsical and cartoonish gradually escalates into extraterrestrial political scheming and then into full Dragon Ball Z-inspired high-stakes action.

I don't want to spoil just how absurd the first game got (you should play it yourself), but the sequel picks up a few months after it left off, with the heroes trying to put the world back together after a narrowly averted apocalypse. Frebbventure Alliance - at least from what I've played so far - feels like a serious step up over the first, with consistently good sprite art, significantly better music, more tonally consistent writing, and some smart level design accommodating for some slightly Smash Bros inspired combat, including a LOT of big multi-phase setpiece boss fights.

There's also nine wildly different playable characters (including a Rayman-esque clown creature and a small alien in a big mech), which you pick two to tag-team between. Each pairing gives each level a lot of replay value as their movement and combat skills really determine your playstyle. Each character also has three extra unlockable movesets, because this is the kind of game that just doesn't know how to stop. You can feel the developer's enthusiasm in every part of the design - everything has to be the coolest thing yet, even if it strains a bit at the edges.

It took me 13 hours to complete the entire story of the original Frebbventure, plus poke around the optional challenge modes beyond that. So far, I'm 8 hours into the sequel, and I'm guessing around halfway done. This one has some real meat on its bones, and I reckon I've had my money's worth already, especially if the endgame here is halfway as bombastic as its predecessor.

Frebbventure Alliance is out now for £11.79/$14, but I'd recommend playing the original game (£11/$13) first, given the story-heavy nature of the series. Demos of both the first and second games are available from SAGE - the Sonic Amateur Games Expo - where the games first debuted. Go check them out - they've got my most enthusiastic oddball recommendation.