Waltz and Jam: Everything We Know

Waltz and Jam is a new indie game with an inviting art style. The game takes place in what can only be assumed is the afterlife. As the friendly ghost, Waltz, you will need to explore the area around you for a ticket to move on. The game mixes in several different gameplay styles to create a fun loop. While there is a demo available for you to try, the game hasn't had many announcements since it was revealed, making much of its contents a mystery. Below we take a look at everything we know about Waltz and Jam.

What is Waltz and Jam?

Waltz and Jam is a 3D indie platformer set in the afterlife. It is a mash-up of a normal platformer and The Legend of Zelda, where you move through various levels and find items to help you along the way. The main pull is the unique but cutesy art style that sets it apart from other games in the genre. Everything from the main duo to the monsters has an inviting design. The game features a variety of different levels and interesting puzzles for you to overcome.

Story

The story of Waltz and Jam is rather simple. The game starts when Waltz awakens in a strange land, in fact this land just happens to be a graveyard. There to greet him is the mysterious dog-like creature Jam. The two go to meet Low, another strange creature that is supposed to have a ticket for Waltz. Sadly, Low has misplaced this item and tasks the duo with going to find it. Along the way, the duo must explore a variety of areas and even meet a few other NPCs to ask for help. At the end of the quest, it seems that the ticket Waltz collects will lead to one of two places: Uptown or Undertown.

There are seven areas in the game, each with its own unique story. By venturing through each of them, you will get every piece of your ticket together. The journey is stated to be adorable, so it likely won't lean into any horror themes. In fact, even the scarier parts of the game, like being chased, are made to be easy to stomach for young children. The story itself seems to just be there to push along the narrative, with the real shining star of the game being the gameplay.

Gameplay

The gameplay is where Waltz and Jam truly shine. The game has you play as Waltz but use Jam to solve various puzzles. As Waltz, you can move around the 3D landscape; jumping will be a priority. You will need to move from area to area, and there are plenty of places to take damage. For instance, you only have four hearts starting out, and if you miss a jump and fall into a hole, you lose a heart. Likewise, if you find an enemy and it hits you, you take damage.

The first few enemies are easy to defeat as they stun themselves shortly after appearing.  All you have to do from there is have Waltz jump on them, and they will be defeated. You will quickly obtain your first item, a sword. From there own out, you can actually attack enemies, and you will encounter more aggressive foes.  There are also boss enemies that the duo will need to take on, and more fun items to find like a spring-loaded boxing glove.

There are also plenty of obstacles to keep you busy. You will need to jump over incoming bullets and use Jam to solve puzzles. Most of the time, this involves simple things like having Jam become a rope. He is also able to push objects to make progress easier. As you move through all seven of the levels you will need to overcome areas that are increasingly more hard to navigate. As a tip, you should use a controller with this game, as using a keyboard and mouse is quite hard.

While the game does allow you to do so, it doesn't work well, and you will get a notice to plug up a controller before you start playing.  It's not yet known how long the game is expected to be, but there does seem to be a good bit of replay value. It does seem like there may be a couple of different endings as there are two different ticket types, but this isn't confirmed as of yet.

Developer

Waltz and Jam is developed by Flyway Games, Inc. a small indie studio. Previously, the studio has created Trinity Survivors, a roguelike action game with a two-player cooperative co-op. While this is quite different in gameplay style, the game did receive mostly positive reviews. Outside of this, the studio hasn't worked on any other games outside of an upcoming RTS called Commander Quest. The developer themselves has been rather quiet around the game, outside of the announcement and dropping a demo.

Trailer

There is only a viewable trailer through Steam, but we recommend you head that way anyway, as there is an available demo. In the trailer on Steam, you can see Waltz and Jam making their way through several different areas. A few different allies and enemies are also on display, as well as some different ways to make your way through levels. If you want to get a good feel for the tone of the game, then the Steam trailer is your best bet.

Platforms and Editions

As of right now, Waltz and Jam is only slated for release on Steam, and the developers haven't mentioned any other platforms. Their previous game also didn't make it off of PC. The game does work with any type of controller that can be connected to your PC. There also don't seem to be any other editions of the game planned for release.