It’s all cults and charming co-workers in Knuckle Sandwich’s new trailer

A shitty job is a rite of passage. You move away from home, maybe go to college, and get a lame job to pay all those pesky bills and rent. Juggling the taxing reality of ten-page essays and “clopening shifts” (in which you work a closing and opening shift… in a row) becomes second nature. Your colleagues often become the confidants you so desperately need, the voids for bemoaning the woes of being a young, broke, and most of all bored adult.

Such is the theme of Knuckle Sandwich, the latest in a recent slew of quirky JRPG-inspired games, this time developed by Australian developer Andrew Brophy. In Knuckle Sandwich, the mundanity of everyday life within the RPG is the Persona-esque twist to set it apart. In a new trailer, the unassuming protagonist’s co-workers—and potential adventure companions—are introduced in full force. There’s the raven-haired and talkative Echo, rosy-cheeked Thea, and the awkward bespectacled lone boy of the trio: Dolus. All three equipped with showing the new kid around town, and reassuring his insecurities of finding things to do, even if he’s stuck in a dead end job.

With moving to a new to city and passing time with a mundane job at a rundown diner, life in the aptly named Bright City can seem, well, not so bright. To add to it, Bright City is the recent host to numerous dark horrors: people are going missing, eerie cults potentially behind it, and here is the new citizen, stuck right in the middle of it, whether he likes it or not.

psychedelic-visualized turn-based battles

With the introduction to more characters, Knuckle Sandwich’s latest trailer also shows a bit more of what players can expect. As the player traverses the colorful environments of Bright City (boasted as “hella pleasant” by Brophy himself), soundtracked to the delightful Super Nintendo-inspired score by composer Gyms. From its puppy-less Puppy Shops to its indiscernible dialogue (think Okami meets Simlish) and psychedelic-visualized turn-based battles, Knuckle Sandwich is a personality-driven RPG, with autobiographical qualities to boot. Recently greenlit on Steam this past autumn, the game is still without an official release date.

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Follow development of Knuckle Sandwich on Brophy’s frequently updated devlog or website.