Developer: Purple Lamp Studios
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Switch
Tested on: PC
Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – Review
With a company history spanning over a century, and the largest entertainment catalog ever, it’s unavoidable that there are some oddities in Disney’s inventory. One such example is Epic Mickey, a Wii game from 2010 that was simultaneously a love letter to the early years of Disney animation and a more mature, darker exploration of the personality of the company’s mascot, Mickey Mouse. Mickey certainly isn’t a stranger to video games -just look at Kingdom Hearts– but Epic Mickey hits differently. It was successful enough to warrant a sequel in 2012, and now a remake, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. Now, Disney has a bit of a reputation concerning unnecessary remakes, especially when it comes to its live-action adaptations of animated classics. Does the same apply to video games or is Rebrushed a welcome improvement on the original?
Story
When you think of animated Disney characters, who are the first ones to come to mind? Chances are that Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are at the top of your list. With a century of animation behind it, however, Disney’s catalog holds a ton of characters that didn’t necessarily stick in the collective consciousness, like Horace Horsecollar or Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. These characters may not be at the forefront of Disney anymore, but they live happy lives inside of a magical painting created by the wizard Yen Sid. That is, until Mickey Mouse accidentally spills paint thinner onto the painting, creating the Blot. Our hero initially pretends nothing has happened, but Sid’s magic mirror drags Mickey into the painting. The mouse must now defeat the Blot and return the world to its former glory, restoring the green pastures where his former cartoon pals were hoping to live out their retirements.
Graphics
Giving Epic Mickey’s visuals an update alone is reason enough for Rebrushed to exist. This is a gorgeous-looking game that combines 3D visuals with the aesthetics of 1930’s Disney cartoons. The Wii wasn’t exactly a graphical powerhouse, and Rebrushed definitely takes advantage of both the higher resolution and improved lighting effects that have been developed over the last decade. Rebrushed isn’t a game that aims to be as photorealistic as possible, of course, but within the limitations of its cartoon aesthetics, we can’t imagine this world and its inhabitants looking any better. The icing on the cake is the buttery smooth performance.
Sound
Unfortunately, the appeal of a new coat of paint isn’t reflected in Rebrushed’s audio. While we do enjoy the game’s music, which fits in with the overall aesthetics, Rebrushed misses a massive opportunity by not adding voice acting. Except for Yen Sid, the cast responds by squeaks and growls, and it’s distracting and diminishing. Back in 2010, the decision for this approach was made due to budgetary reasons. Rebrushed provided the perfect opportunity to rectify this… but it didn’t. Rebrushed isn’t a dialogue-heavy game per se, but most of it is well-written, and voice acting really would have driven things home here.
Gameplay
Thin away Rebrushed’s layer of Golden Age Disney cartoons, and beneath it, you’ll find a competent 3D platformer that aims to set itself apart through a choice-driven morality system. In Rebrushed, you take control of Mickey Mouse, as you make your way through a world filled with obscure cartoon characters. It’s up to the mouse to decide whether he wants to do good by painting the world around him, or if he’d rather make the morally less sound choice of simply erasing things to not have to deal with them. The core gameplay loop sees Mickey alternating between a 3D overworld and 2D mini-levels inspired by classic cartoons. There are hidden collectibles to be found and puzzles that need to be solved by using Mickey’s unique world-altering abilities with paint and thinner.
Admittedly, it’s weird for an unambiguously good-natured and upbeat character like Mickey to use paint thinner to remove characters from existence, but it’s part of what makes Rebrushed such an interesting game in the first place. Granted, the choices that you need to make aren’t exactly ethical dilemmas, but often boil down to things like choosing between beating an enemy or grabbing a treasure chest. It’s intriguing in theory but the idea could have been fleshed out more. From what we understand, the original concept of Epic Mickey pushed things a lot further, to the point that Mickey’s appearance would change depending on your moral choices. It’s a shame that Rebrushed didn’t return to this original concept and presented us with a version closer to what was envisioned by the original director, Deus Ex’s Warren Spector. Which inevitably brings us to what has actually been changed in the remake.
One of Rebrushed’s main selling points is that Epic Mickey’s gameplay has been optimized for modern audiences. We’ve never played the original Wii game, so we can’t outright compare the old version to the newer one. The reason we never got to grips with that original were, in fact, the notoriously sluggish motion controls, and fortunately, they are nowhere to be seen here. Instead, a brand new control scheme was implemented. Mickey’s movement speed was increased, with our hero now able to sprint, dash, and even perform a ground pound. The 2D segments were redesigned to accommodate the new movement options, but by and large, Rebrushed aims to stick as close to the original as possible otherwise. Developer Purple Lamp did implement a plethora of smaller QoL improvements, like fixing the notoriously fiddly camera. These ultimately should make Rebrushed more enjoyable to play, but they don’t change the overall flow and pacing of the game.
That means that some of the odd design choices from a decade ago persist in Rebrushed. It’s not always clear where you should go next, for example, and if you miss certain objectives, you’ll never be able to complete them without restarting the game entirely. Side missions lack depth and more often than not boil down to simple fetch quests. Puzzles are often a bit too simple for our liking. In fact, we found that Rebrushed was lacking in challenge altogether. Not that we’d expect a game starring Mickey Mouse to bring us Dark Souls levels of difficulty, but perhaps it would’ve probably been better if Rebrushed was a bit more Cuphead and a bit less Disney Magical World 2.
It doesn’t help that Rebrushed is a fairly short game, although we can probably chalk that up to the game’s age as well. It took us around 10 hours to complete the main story. Of course, there are multiple endings here, as well as hidden collectibles, so there definitely is a good amount of replay value. Combined with the high production value and QoL improvements, this makes the €60 price tag seem very reasonable, especially when taking the Disney license into account. Still, this is essentially an old Wii game that has been fitted onto modern platforms, so it’s not entirely unreasonable to expect more when it comes to bang for your buck. We understand the game’s pricing, but perhaps this is one to wait on a sale for.
Conclusion
Whether you are a fan of the original Wii game or are completely new to the world of Epic Mickey, Rebrushed is worth a look at if you’re a Disney fan, if only because it pays homage to characters otherwise forgotten. The QoL improvements and new control scheme help with making the game more palatable for modern audiences, although Rebrushed’s tendency to stick to the original’s design choices prevents the game from realizing its full potential. Here’s hoping that Rebrushed serves as a showcase for a potential sequel that fully capitalizes on what the series could be. As it stands, Rebrushed is a good platformer though, albeit not an exceptional one.
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