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​‘Little Orpheus’ From The Chinese Room Launches Today on Apple Arcade

ByDave Stopher

Jun 12, 2020

An impossible adventure awaits in Little Orpheus, the brand-new adventure from award-winning studio The Chinese Room, a Sumo Digital Studio, available from today exclusively on Apple Arcade.

From the BAFTA-winning team behind Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and Dear Esther, Little Orpheus is a side-scrolling adventure game about one comrade’s journey to the centre of the Earth.

The year is 1962. NASA are trying to put a man on the moon but in a remote corner of Siberia, a Soviet cosmonaut is heading in the other direction. Ivan Ivanovich is dropped into an extinct volcano in his exploration capsule, Little Orpheus, to explore the centre of the earth.

Ivan vanishes, emerging three years later claiming to have saved the world. In a top-secret bunker, he is debriefed by the fearsome General Yurkovoi. Little Orpheus casts players as Ivan as he recounts an adventure beyond belief: a tale of lost civilizations, undersea kingdoms, and prehistoric jungles deep below the Earth’s crust.

Brought to you in glorious technicolour with visuals inspired by a bygone era of adventure, Little Orpheus is a serialised adventure inspired by classic movies like Flash Gordon, Sinbad and The Land That Time Forgot.

“Little Orpheus is about the power of story-telling and our limitless imaginations,” said Dan Pinchbeck, creative director and founder of The Chinese Room and writer for Little Orpheus. “Our team is very proud and excited to finally be able to put Ivan’s tale into the hands of players.”

Little Orpheus features a beautiful soundtrack composed by BAFTA-winner and The Chinese Room co-founder Jessica Curry, and Jim Fowler.

“The Chinese Room is a studio celebrated for its unique story-telling ability, visual artistry and magnificent soundtracks,” said Gary Dunn, Sumo Digital’s Managing Director. “When Sumo Digital acquired the studio in 2018 we knew what they were capable of as a creative force and Little Orpheus is a perfect example of what makes this team so special.”

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture was a critical hit for The Chinese Room in 2015, winning three BAFTA Game Awards for the studio. In 2017 the studio released its first virtual reality title, So Let Us Melt.

Apple Arcade is a ground-breaking game subscription service within the App Store, offering users unlimited access to the entire catalogue of more than 100+ games, all playable across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV.