In a year that is already full of oddities, one Twitter account is aiming to add to the weirdness. Twitter user Dril has announced that he is developing a video game, and from the early looks of it, it seems just as wacky and irreverent as the user's posts.
Dril, under the username "wint," is a Twitter user known for his absurd, avante garde sense of humor. The mysterious poster has been on Twitter since September 2008, and in that time, he has amassed over 1.6 million followers. The internet loves its memes, so the Twitter community has obviously grown fond of Dril's bizarre sense of humor, to the point where he even released a book compiling many of his most popular Tweets. Today, he has announced his next commercial project, as he has began development of a video game.
In a post on his newly-revamped Patreon account, Dril explains some context behind this new gaming endeavor. In the year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Dril has begun working on an elaborate 2D platformer with a retro-inspired art style. A brief gameplay clip on the official Patreon shows an acrobatic cop speeding through a set of levels, dodging projectiles, suplexing enemies, and quickly jumping from place to place. As for the premise, it's about as odd as one would expect; in a world ran by influencers and Hollywood execs, a silent, currently unnamed protagonist discovers the secrets of immortality. What this oddball story entails will be discovered on a later date.
Alongside the announcement of his game, Dril has revamped his Patreon account to feature two official tiers for backing this title. The $3-a-month tier gives access to a development journal and will add one's name to the game's credits. The $6-a-month tier features those same perks, streams, and access to a demo once one becomes available. Both of these perks are on top of all existing Patreon content, making for a surprisingly decent value for such an unusual subscription. Using Patreon to raise money for the game instead of following the many success stories of Kickstarter is an interesting but understandable choice, as the price of entry is much more palpable on a monthly service.
The gameplay clip posted on Dril's Patreon does look like it has potential. As absurd as the premise, art-style, and creator are, sometimes absurdity can make for one-of-a-kind games. Titles like Katamari Damacy may look bizarre from the sidelines, but they can still stand out as fun experiences in their own right. At the same time, Dril is also a new, unproven developer, and creating an enjoyable game on one's first try is no easy feat. No matter how it turns out in the end, Dril's game is shaping up to be something truly interesting, for better or worse.