Frankfurt, Germany - - February 2, 2021: German indie developer Common Colors announced that a free demo for their 2D adventure game PRIM launches for Windows, Mac and Linux on February 2nd via Steam, itch.io and GameJolt. Players control Prim, Death’s daughter, who must escape the Realm of the Dead against her father’s will to save a human boy. Being inspired by Tim Burton’s animated films, PRIM’s hand drawn, black and white world is inhabited by all kinds of creepy-but-cute creatures, such as Prim’s sidekick, an eye with spider legs.

Despite being a classical, puzzle-heavy point-and-click at heart, PRIM makes use of the genre’s many modern perks, such as HD graphics, a one-click interface, fast travel and item hot spots. In the full game (planned release: 2022), there will also be a deck-building card game about the Underworld’s most popular sport: casketball! The aforementioned spider eye sidekick not only enables Prim to reach places she cannot go herself with its tininess and climbing skills, it can also crawl into Prim’s eye socket and “become her eye”, so that she is able to spot hidden magical items surrounding her.

Although the tone of PRIM’s writing includes a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor, the game’s story about a father learning to let go and a girl trying to find her place in the world is often emotional and full of melancholy, which is underlined by a Danny Elfman-ish, orchestral soundtrack.

Whereas the full game is supposed to have a playtime of 6-8 hours, the demo offers a 30-60 minutes glimpse into the Realm of the Dead. It is fully voiced in English and German and comes with texts in seven languages (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese).

But what about that ominous sub-headline, you ask? Well, Common Colors are not your typical indie game developer. (On the other hand, what’s a typical indie anyway?) Jonas Fisch (34), the company’s founder, teaches English and Philosophy at a German high school. Since 2016, he has published three small adventure games and PRIM is his first full-length title. To make it a reality, he teamed up with a group of freelancers from all over the world. “Since I played ‘Day of the Tentacle’ as a kid, I’d been dreaming of making such a game myself,” said Fisch. “The fact that I’m actually doing it now proves that dreams actually can come true. I mean, I started out in 2016 with no knowledge about how to make a game. Dear dreamers, if I can do it, you can, too!”