Bommy is a new video game currently in development by a popular animation YouTube Cas van de Pol who is known for his silly, cartoonish recaps of films, shows, and video games, most viewed titles including The Lion King, Mario, and Inside Out recaps, all of which together have amassed around 138 million views.
His distinct, charming art style mixed with crude, referential humor and smooth animation has made his recaps and other projects popular online. This style carries over to his two new projects: Bommy, a competitive platform-fighting game featuring bunnies as playable characters and a short animated series about a gnome trying to keep his tower-style house under city regulations.
I signed up for Bommy’s preview on steam and was able to try it out on local mode (although it also includes multiplayer mode). I played it on PC against my brother—he used keyboard controls while I used a PS5 controller.
The gameplay shares clear similarities with Super Smash Bros: Players can either drain their opponent’s health using bombs or knock them off the map after landing enough hits. There’s also a light crafting element somewhat similar to Fortnite, allowing players to place simple blocks around or beneath themselves using limited materials. There’s also different ‘power-ups’ that spawn around which you can collect, including items like large missiles or enhanced bombs.
That said, Bommy is much simpler than these major titles. It’s a 2D game with an easy premise to follow, making it accessible to new players. Since the game is still under development, I did encounter a few bugs, like the game crashing or glitching for a split second. The controls also seemed to play out differently between the keyboard and controller, with the controller feeling a lot smoother when building and aiming.
The game’s biggest strength, however, is its personality. Cas Van De Pol’s humor, character design, and artistic style makes itself clear to viewers. The many different maps available (some clearly inspired by Super Smash Bros) as well as the home screen backgrounds show off his signature aesthetic.
The playable characters stand off the most. Most are cartoon rabbits, though there are some unique additions like a duck and a strange globby character. Each character has distinct quirks, sound effects, personalities, and a few short animations that can be triggered as taunts during matches. These animations are often random, silly, and filled with pop culture references. My favorite character is probably the photorealistic bunny that has a clock animation in reference to the Mad Hatter from Alice of Wonderland. Players are able to unlock these characters as well as other accessories through a gambling mechanic; a Plinko Board game with different awards at the bottom the ball may reach.
While Bommy does have some rough edges that will likely be patched as development continues, its biggest appeal is its identity. The art style, humor and expressive characters clearly reflects Cas van de Pol’s creative vision. It’s clear that both this game and his other projects have been a major focus for him recently.
If there’s anything you can expect from any of his works, whether they be short recaps, episodes, or games, is that they’ll be funny, entertaining, original, and distinctly his.
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