Finding your circulation in Bō: Journey of the Teal Lotus, out July 17

Hi PlayStation community— I’m Chris Stair, the artistic director of Squid Shock Studios, and I’m excited to have an opportunity to share some insight into our first match, Bō: Journey of the Teal Lotus, a hand-drawn action-platformer coming out on PlayStation 5 on July 17. Some of the great ideas for Bō are the 2D action-exploration matches I grew off playing. I adore the question and mystery that come with exploration, the joy of discovering new skills, and the sense of satisfaction when you figure out how to use the abilities you’ve discovered to find a secret way. There are also some truly memorable traversals in some of my favorite genre games, such as blasting yourself off enemies, or running forward through a tower hall. In Bō: Journey of the Teal Lotus, we wanted to make a motion and combat system with its own unique, fulfilling rhythm—something that can make you feeling like you’ve entered a “flow” state when everything comes together—and wanted to talk a bit more about that with you now.
Bō is n’t capable of doing a double jump by default, so one technique you’ll need to learn early on is what we call the Bump. When Bō strikes an item or an army with the Equinox Staff while flying, you’ll glow purple, giving you the ability to perform a mid-air climb. You’ll shine once more and be able to do a second bounce after hitting something once more after that second leap, and so on.
You’ll usually combine this with Bō’s Pogo shift to get even more subscribers. If you press down and hit an image while you’re on the origin, you’ll not only immediately jump up and get some height, but you’ll restore your jump ability too, enabling you to do another mid-air leap right afterwards. And you can continue to be blasted and purged as long as there are no objects or monsters to strike, staying as low as you can as the tempo. It turns into a small activity of its own. You’ll eventually discover additional traversal abilities that make it possible to hurl or strongly fly through the air. We hope that as you play and become familiar with your abilities, you’ll start to see opportunities for all of these things to coexist with one another ( enemy spawns during a boss battle, seemingly incidental environmental objects, curious platform placement ) and develop a really rewarding groove.
These skills are n’t just for action, they power your combat capabilities, too. The mystic Tea Kettle, which you first encounter from Asahi, a rabbit tentaihana ( a sprite-like being ) who plays a central role in your entire journey, is one of the key components of the action. You’ll pour some power into the pan to make some drink when you use your Equinox Staff, including when you Bump or Pogo. You can then use that drink in a variety of ways, including restoring your health ( if you can get a moment of peace ) or summoning one of the Daruma Dolls you’ve collected, which will destroy some of the game’s most prominent problems. Popular tea is particularly loved by the Daruma Dolls. A Daruma’s assault will be more devastating the hotter your tea is when you summon them. And you can heat up your tea kettle as much as you may, as you probably already know. So we made a real effort to integrate combat prowess and aerial agility. This concept was the basis for our design for B’s environments and fights. With an island of rivals who serve as your way, apparently insurmountable crevasses with. Boss battles where you’re building momentum and bouncing higher and higher off small foes with a potent Daruma Doll strike. All with the intention of making learning it relatively simple but challenging and rewarding.
While we took a lot of our inspiration from 2D action-exploration games, the world and the gameplay also heavily influenced by Japanese customs and folklore. The story of Princess Kaguya and Momotaro serves as inspiration for the character of B. Many of the yokai and monsters B fights are retelling our own inventive take on classic folktales, such as your encounter with the massive Hashihime who guards B’s world. B powers up the Daruma Dolls by locating ink to draw additional eyes, which in our real world is related to achieving goals and good fortune. Additionally, B has the ability to collect and equip a variety of Omamori, which give you bonuses to customize your gameplay.
There’s a lot more for you to explore and many more ways to find your flow for yourself, waiting in Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. We hope you’ll play the PlayStation 5 game on July 17th.