snowman – BIG

Snowman, the Toronto-based studio behind two of the best mobile games, Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey, has teased its next title, Laya’s Horizon.

Though very little beyond a brief teaser has been revealed, the game is part of Netflix’s gaming initiative. This means it will be free to all Netflix subscribers when it releases.

The trailer shows off a 3D seaside landscape with simple visuals and scenery. In fact, Laya’s Horizon‘s art direction seems to have a lot in common with the indie developer’s endless-running Alto series, at least in terms of aesthetics. Check out the windmills, hot air balloons and rolling landscapes, and you’ll see what I mean. We also catch a glimpse of what seems to be the game’s cape-adorning main character, Laya, perched on the top of a mountain.

Laya’s Horizon‘s release date is unknown, but the trailer states that the game is “coming soon.”

Though Netflix’s gaming platform likely hasn’t yet hit the level of popularity the streaming service has aimed for, Netflix Games now offers a library of over 40 premium Android and iOS titles. All of the titles are free to download and play for subscribers and don’t include ads or microtransactions.

MobileSyrup will have more on Laya’s Horizon in the coming weeks.

Image credit: Snowman

During Netflix’s ‘Geeked Week’ stream, Toronto-based Snowman revealed its next mobile title, Lucky Luna, a side-scroller with an emphasis on exploration.

Snowman describes the title as a “vertically scrolling platformer/dungeon crawler” with “no jump button.” In Lucky Luna, players swipe left and right to move their character, Luna, through a side-scrolling dungeon that features various paths, secrets and traps.

Throughout the game, you’ll learn new environment-based mechanics that open up new exploration possibilities, all while collecting as many pearls as possible in each stage.

On the visual side, the title seems to adopt a retro pixel art aesthetic that has a lot in common with Celeste (check out the screenshots above).

Similar to Alto’s Adventure/Odyssey, the Lucky Luna also features an “Endless Mode” that creates a procedurally generated environment for each run. Andrew Schimmel, an associate producer at Snowman, says that Lucky Luna’s overall direction is inspired by the Japanese folktale, ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.’

The game will launch on iOS/Android and Netflix’s game streaming platform later this summer (anyone with a Netflix subscription will get it for free).