BETWEEN QUITO, NEW YORK & PORTLAND, AUGUST 27, 2024 - As part of today’s Panic Game Showcase, developers Julián Cordero and Sebastián Valbuena as well as publisher Panic, are excited to reveal a new trailer for their slice-of-life adventure despelote and share an updated release window of early 2025 for the game.
Set in Quito, Ecuador in the year 2001, a young boy named Julián spends his days kicking around a soccer ball as Ecuador is on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup. There is a huge air of excitement around him and his community, as he gets into mischief with friends, explores the neighborhood, and gets to know the people of Quito.
“We're so excited to show you what we've been working on these past few years!” says Julian Cordero, creative director. “While putting together the ending we discovered some great ways to tie everything together, and we're feeling really good about it, along with finishing up our recreation of Quito."
Learn more about the team making despelote by watching the latest Panic Games Showcase!
despelote will release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox X|S, Epic Games Store, and Steam in early 2025.
About despelote
despelote is a soccer game about people. Get immersed in the streets and parks of Quito through the eyes and ears of eight year old Julián. Dribble, pass and shoot your soccer ball around town, and see what happens when you kick it someone's way. Feel the city change as Ecuador comes closer than ever to qualifying for the World Cup.
Features:
- A bittersweet and sometimes dreamy semi-autobiographical tale of youth.
- Explore a dense town space at your leisure, full of activities, interactions, and mischief to get up to.
- A physics-based soccer ball that feels good to kick around in a first-person perspective.
- A vibrant world full of characters that have funny, and genuine conversations.
- Photos and audio recorded on location in Ecuador are used to create a strong sense of place.
For more information on despelote, visit despelote.game. Follow them on Twitter.
For special interview requests, get in touch with pr@popagenda.co
Find the game on Steam.
Find the game on the Epic Games Store.
Find the game on PlayStation.
About the despelote team
Julián Cordero is a game designer born and raised in Quito, Ecuador and based in NYC. When he started playing with the idea of making a game about his experiences with soccer growing up, he approached Sebastián Valbuena, an animator and musician based in Quito. Together, they set out to make a game that captures the city’s culture and atmosphere as honestly as they could. The team has grown throughout the years, with Gabe Cuzzillo joining as a producer to help consolidate the project’s vision, and Ian Berman and Niall Tessier-Lavigne helping out with sound design and programming.
About Panic Inc.
Founded in 1999, Panic is an ancient startup in Portland, Oregon that loves to make nice things and bring people everyday joy. Originally — and still — a Mac app developer, Panic has also become a highly-focused video game publisher that helped release games like Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game into the world, with much more on the horizon including Big Walk, despelote, and Time Flies. And in the ultimate spirit of creating products that bring joy, Panic has also created its very own handheld video game system: Playdate.
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