Through The Looking-Mural

In my first 15 minutes of the upcoming action game from Battletoads (2020) and Disney Illusion Island developer Dlala Studios, I pick up a sword named Slash Gordon, then a magic gun named Dragon Thee Dallion, and meet this world's Sleeping Beauty. However, her name isn’t Princess Aurora; it’s Bri, presumably short for Briar Rose, but she’s awake and sounds a lot like Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek. In other words, in my first 15 minutes of Murals, Dlala is already cooking up something fun and funny in that, “Oh, that’s right. They’re based in England,” kind of way.

“We definitely don’t abide by the rule that everyone always says, ‘You should never make a game for yourselves’,” Dlala CEO and Murals director and co-writer Aj Grand-Scrutton tells me. “I feel we always just make a game for ourselves.”

Grand-Scrutton says he and fellow Murals writer Kelsey Abbott, the studio’s lead writer, have no idea if Dragon Thee Dallion will be a relevant reference in two years (editor’s note: Megan Thee Stallion will always be relevant) but it’s funny now and that’s enough. Similarly, the two had to explain to a 20-year-old quality assurance tester that “Slash Gordon” is a pun on “Flash Gordon.”

“It’s about what makes us laugh,” Grand-Scrutton says. “It’s our ‘Stupid Game’ rule. If somebody’s sitting there playing the game and they suddenly go, ‘Oh, this stupid game,’ we’re like, ‘Yep, it’s landed.’ That’s what we want. It’s our favorite reaction. ‘What a stupid game, I love this.’”

Though I don’t say that out loud in my demo, those feelings are present throughout my hour with the game. It constantly makes me chuckle, constantly engages my brain to recognize a pop culture reference, and constantly reminds me why Dlala games are such a treat to play.