Ratalaika just bundled three of its indie platformers together

Ratalaika Games is releasing the Unusual Friends Bundle on March 20. The collection brings three of its previously published indie platformers to Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. The package includes Prisonela DX, Bumballon, and Cat Souls. The three games originally launched as standalone titles over the past few years.

Ratalaika Games is a prolific publisher in the indie space. They specialize in porting small PC games to consoles. These ports usually cost under five dollars. Achievement hunters know them well. Their releases often include very accessible platinum trophies or 1000 Gamerscore completions. This bundle packages three of their recent catalog titles into a single purchase.

All three games are 2D pixel-art platformers, but they handle the genre differently. Prisonela DX (originally released in early 2024) focuses on short, randomized levels. The "DX" implies an upgrade from a previous version. The game drops players into a hardcore platforming environment. The levels are full of buzzsaws, spikes, and guards.

Randomized punishment

The core loop of Prisonela DX is built around its random level generation. You start a run, and the game selects one of its 80 available micro-levels. If you miss a jump and hit a saw blade, you do not just restart that same level. The game immediately warps you to a completely different stage. You cannot rely on muscle memory to brute-force a tricky jump. You just have to read the room and react. It is basically a speedrunner's nightmare. This is either genius or madness. Possibly both.

Using death as a tool

Cat Souls takes a different approach to failure. Developed by 9Ratones and Angelo Gamedev, it released in 2023. The premise plays on the old myth about feline mortality, but caps the player at seven lives instead of nine. When the cat dies, a spirit remains at the exact spot of death. Players can then use that spirit as a solid platform on their next attempt.

This turns intentional deaths into a puzzle mechanic. You might need to throw yourself onto a bed of spikes just so your next life can use the resulting ghost to cross a wide gap. You have to look at a high ledge, realize you cannot reach it, and deliberately jump into a pit so your ghost forms a stepping stone.

The game has 45 levels and a strict time limit for each stage. The timer adds an extra layer of stress to the process of strategically killing your character. Later stages introduce gravity-flipping crystals and color-palette shifts.

Speed and momentum

The final game in the collection is Bumballon. It originally launched on PC in 2021 and later migrated to consoles. It stars a small, spherical creature on a quest to rescue Princess Moon. The gameplay revolves around momentum. You launch the character through tight, scrolling environments.

You have to collect gems and avoid environmental hazards. The physics-based movement requires bouncing off enemies and navigating corridors at high speeds. The game is split into 35 levels across seven distinct worlds. The art style leans heavily on 16-bit aesthetics, with bright, saturated colors and parallax scrolling backgrounds.

The Unusual Friends Bundle is rated Everyone 10+ due to mild blood and fantasy violence. Buying all three games separately on digital storefronts currently costs around $15. The bundle prices them together for $11.99. Sometimes you just want to spend a Tuesday evening bouncing a balloon off a wall, and this collection obliges.