Indie game studio ExceptioNULL Games today announced the February 14th release date for Election Year Knockout. Fight to become president in a ludicrous alternate reality where elections are decided exclusively through boxing.
The studio has also announced a public beta for the game on their website, available now.
Immediately apparent is the game’s sense of humor. Witty and playfully-animated cartoon caricatures of famous politicians from both sides of the aisle line up to defend their territories against the player’s new third party. The characters quip and joke in reaction to how well the player is performing. As each region of the United States gets conquered, players add to their increasingly absurd party names. The campaign culminates in a final boss battle against President Donald Thump in the White House.
“We’re a small team with the shared goal of making everyone laugh,” said Ben Ritter, the game’s lead designer. “Things have gotten a little too serious these days. Over the last year and a half, we’ve built something that legitimately brings people together with a smile.”
Election Year Knockout has two modes of play. Casual Mode allows players to experience the game’s jocular story with one-finger controls and easier fights, while Classic Mode recreates the frenetic challenge of the NES and Wii-era PunchOut games without any compromises to playability.
The game revolutionizes the long-dormant puzzle boxing genre with updated mechanics and precise, reactive controls not commonly found in other mobile games. “I do believe we’ve created a control scheme that hasn’t been seen on phones before,” Ritter continued. “It really is the full experience you could only get from a gamepad in the past.”
The game will be free to download on Google Play and the App Store on February 14th, just in time for election season.
