Epic Mickey was a franchise developed originally in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii. The original game was developed by Junction Point Studios who developed both Epic Mickey titles before officially closing down by Disney. The publisher was none other than Disney Interactive who at the
time were publishing Disney games left and right. Despite it's Wii exclusivity, the game was well received for its creativity and its usage of the Disney character. It received praises for its gameplay in terms of its raw platforming but the usage of motion controls were poorly executed. Despite that as
mentioned the game did well to receive a sequel called Epic Mickey 2: The power of two(2012) which was released in Multiple platforms and also acted as the last time Epic Mickey saw the light of day.
A decade later, Epic Mickey is considered a classic Disney game and in fact its considered as one of the best. Purple Lamp Studios developers of the SpongeBob games since 2020 took the work of remastering the game in 2024. Epic Mickey Rebrushed was first revealed in February 2024 during Nintendo's Partner Direct.
The game was being published by THQ Nordic and it was being developed in Unreal Engine 4. Unlike the original Epic Mickey, Rebrushed has seen way more positive feedback from players and critics alike. The fun platforming is still there, the narrative and use of Old Disney is nostalgic and appreciated. Last but not least there
are no longer motion controls which took away some of the magic and momentum of the game.
The game was released in September 2024 in the following forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Collector's limited Edition
Included the game, postcards, steelcase, vintage tin sign, costume packs, 28cm Mickey Statue & Oswald Keychain
Story of the Game
One night Mickey Mouse woke up and he was mysteriusly lured in to his mirror. It turned out the mirror was a portal to the almighty wizard Yen Sid's workshop. Mickey saw the wizard during his work, where he used a magic painbrush in order to
create a magic world for all the forgoten Disney characters. The world was made to represent Disneyland. Satisfied and tired for his progress, Yen Sid lets his brush and headed to bed. Mickey being curious to what master Yen Sid was doing grapped
the brush and started using it. This backfired as he accidentally created a monster which tried to attack him. Panicked and scared by the monster, Mickey uses a thinner in order to erase it. During the encounter he spills both the Thinner and the paint on
Sid's model. The wizard heard the noise comming from downstairs and went to see what happened. Mickey got scared and rushed back to the mirror before encountering the wizard. Yen Sid was not aware of what happened to his project and thus he stopped working on it
labeling it,the Wasteland.
After many decades, Mickey been through plenty of adventures and rose to fame(Animations and movies.) However, the past came to haunt him. The monster Mickey created back in Yen Sid's tower came out of the Wasterland's model and came through the mirror in order to
take Mickey with him into the Wastelannd. Mickey woke up strapped to a table in a laboratory inside the Dark beauty castle(Oswalds home). He was trapped there by the Mad Doctor(from 1993) who was planning on retrieving Mickey Mouse's heart. Turns out Characters
who ended up in the wastelands also do not have a heart. Mickey manages to escape whilst Oswald was spoted spying on them. Mickey was then attacked by Shadow Bolt the same monster he created and dragged him to this world. Mickey spots the wizards paintbrush which
he grabs and scares the monster away. Mickey the comes across Gus, the leader of the Gremlins who came to help Mickey. He also explains Mickey how to use the paintbrush.
Gus asks Mickey to join him in order to escape the Wastelands. He thinks the best way to find a solution to their problem is to pay a visit to Oswald, as he is the leader of Wasteland. On his way there, Mickey learns that the Wasteland is inhabited by the all the forgotten Disney
characters who stopped appearing in the animated films/series. The all seemed to be aware of Mickey and pleased ro see him despite being forgotten and lost to time. In Mean Street, Mickey comes across the iconic statue of Walt Disney and Mickey, however, Mickey is replaced with Oswald.
Oswald was created by Walt Disney prior to Mickey, however Walt didnt have the rights to the character and thus he was replaced by Mickey. As the two continue their adventure in Wasteland to get to Mickeyjunk Mountain where Oswald is, Gus tells Mickey that the way the hero deals with
certain situations it would effect Wasteland. For example, if Mickey chooses to feed the Captain Hook droid to the crocodile bot then the crew will no longer have a captain to follow, where as if he chooses to spare it, then Hook and Pete will have many more encounters in the future.
Mickey's journey to the Wasteland does not conlcude with his inevitable encounter with Osawld, in fact its just the beginning as Shadow Bolt is still bringing havoc around Wasteland.
Thoughts on the story
I was always interested in this game for a long time because its an old disney game and its popular amongs the good disney games. However it being on Wii was the main issue for me. I was planning on getting Epic Mickey 2 for the PS Vita multiple times in the past but luckily the remaster was announced
which literally changed my plans. Epic Mickey Rebrushed has a unique 'edgy' narrative which honestly in 2024 standards thats fresh and completely unexpected. Mickey Mouse goes through some slightly violent visual things throughout the game. I personally loved how the used old classic background characters
as the NPCs. Their interactions with Mickey, claimming that they were the background dancer on that frame or they were the main victim in that film was really smart. Moreover, the way the developers managed to bring both Oswald and Mickey in one story was really smart and nice. Oswald feels hatred towards Mickey and
Mickey has no idea who this rabbit is. I was also a huge fan of the idea of the game's world changing based on your actions. For example, Mickey can either break the chandelier in the library to break the wall behind the throne, or he can light up the crystal in order to reveal the secret path. Mickey can choose to help
putting together the droinds of Donald, Daisy and Goofy or leave their heads trapped away. Even with boss encounters Mickey can either use the Paint to change them positevely or use the thinner to cease their existence. Decisions not only affect the gameplay but also the narrative of the game as it includes multiple endings.
Gameplay
The game is an action platformer that places the player in the shoes of Mickey Mouse, the well known Disney mascot himself. Mickey manuvers around in 3D spaces
and is able to reach high places through his jumping which is very light. The players can use double jump to reach even greater heights. Mickey also posseses a
spin attack with his brush. This mellee attack does not damage enemies but allow Mickey to trigger the levers and interact with objects around him. Using the spin
attack whilst on air allows Mickey to spin once more and reach even greater heights.
During combat Mickey can use his paintbrush in order to deal with enemies. The brush has two types of modes. Using the Paint(blue) and using the Thinner(green).
When spraying an enemy with paint the mob will have a change of heart. Instead of attacking Mickey, the blue sprayed enemy will become Mickeys partner and fight alongside him.
An enemy sprayed with the thinner will simply cease to exist. They will be completely erased from the Wasteland. During Combat Mickey can use his brush in the environment in order
to deal with enemies. For example, using the thinner on the ground will remove the ground and throw the enemies into their deaths.
Whilst progressing in the story, Mickey will receive three new skills. The Television spawns a Tv that will cause all the nearby enemies to be hypnotise by the transmiting signals.
It can also be used to power up electrick devices. The anvil painting can squash any enemy found underneath it. It can also be used to hold triggers down(preassure points) and to be
even be used as a stepping stone for Mickey to Jump higher. Last but not least, the clock painting will temporarily freeze time for everyone. Mickeys life is depicted top left.
Each time the player gets hit, he loses a life heart. Every hit causes Mickey to lose one life unless its fall to the death.
In each world, Mickey moves around restoring or erasing things from around the world. The player can move from world to world using the Projector screens. The projector screens are
2D levels that require the player to platform from point A to point B until he reach the end point. Around the world the player can break alot of interactable objects that will drop tickets(this game's currency)
heart points when missing a life and ink botlles based on the one currently missing. The player can never run out of ink as bottles can be found everywhere and they always refill at least one when completely spent.
There's no game over as the moment Mickey completely dies, he respawns to the previous check point.
Thoughts on the Gameplay
Epic Mickey has a simple and nice gameplay that can make it easy for everyone to play. In terms of platforming the game is really nice and fun. The way the player can combine double jumping with the spin attack allows for some
nice skips with precision platforming. Both 3D and 2D works really well for the game and re well designed. The usage of the brush is very good and smart. It made me want to thinner everything and then fix them again just to see what
was hidden behind each wall. The game's decisions were a fun mechanism that allowed me to play in multiple ways. For example, there had been plenty of times where i chose one path but then tried to do the alternative path. For example,
i would solve the puzzle first and then i would freed the gremlin who would ve unlocked the same path. The enemy variety was decent and each boss encounter different and memorable. I didnt have any issue for the gameplay of the game.
I would argue that the abilities of Clock, Anvil and Tv are useless outside of puzzle solving.
Post Game Content
As mentioned in the narrative, the game includes multiple endings and thus once the players beat the game once they can replay it in order to achieve the alternative endnig. Whilst on his adventure Mickey can go through multiple side quests. The hero
can choose to help the NPCs with their small requests. Most of the quests are usually fetch quests or find something and bring it back. In a similar way, mechadroids who represent Donald, Daisy and Goofy had their parts taken away and they all request the mouse's
help to collect them and bring them back in order for them to put themselves together. In Mean street, there's the cinema/theatre where the NPC will reward Mickey with multiple awards each time Mickey retrieves a film. These films are 2D stages that the
player can play and collect the awards(films) from within. Mickey mouse is also a huge fan of pins. There is a total of 112 pins and come in four different styles. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Special. The pins dont add anything to the gameplay and they re simply there as
collectables. Most can be found in chests around the worlds whilst others are rewards from sidequest. Whilst in their adventure, the player can save other Gremlins that are kept in prisoned. These gremlins will help the player on their mission, reward them for
rescuing and offer more to do. Last but not least, the developers added 156 concept Artworks. The player can collect the art pieces from around the world.. They re represented as a piece of paper with a drawn mickey mouse emblem and a pencil.
Sound and Graphics
Epic Mickey's main difference in the visual department is the fact that the game swapped engine from Gamebryo to Unreal Engine 4 and it looks fantastick. The character models look very good and its always easy to understand whats on the screen.
The cutscenes are separated in two forms. Ingame cutscenes and classic handrawned animation. The world design is amazing, it looks exactly how a wasteland would look and each area looks unique. From a forgotten theme park all the way to
a mountain filled old Mickey mouse merchadise. The 2D levels are all based on different old classic Mickey Mouse cartoons and have gimmicks based on the episodes themselves. The characters are all filled with various animations and are very well detailed.
The world has highlighted areas that the player can use the thinner to make them dissappear or paint to make them reappear. Dissappeared areas will still have a seethrough glow to form the outlines of an area.
On the sound department the game doesnt dissapoint. All the music was compose by the American composer James Dooley. He created alot of originals OSTs but he also arranged and remixed alot of classic Disney soundtracks. After all the game does visit alot
of forgotten Disney worlds. Epic Mickeys audio design hides alot of details. For example, the decisions made by Mickey alter the audio of the world around him. If Mickey uses the paint to restore most of the things around him will cause the audio to be more
cheerful and melodical where as if the Mickey abuses the Thinner, the melody will be more slow and melancholic. At the same time, each time Mickey slowly sneaks by, each time his right foot moves forward you can hear a tiny piano note playing. The main bad thing
about the audio of the game, is the fact that it has zero voice acting. In 2010 that was fine but in 2024 its unexcusable. The heroes usually make noices but none are voice acting.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, i wasnt disappointed at all with Epic Mickey. I was really captivated by the narrative of the game. Unlike anything i met before, this game took a more "dark" approach where the Mickey instead of always being cheerful and respectfull is more mischievous and
menacing. He created a mess and then tried to forget everything until the consequences of his actions caught up to him. The way the Wasteland was created and included characters like Oswald was pretty smart and enjoyable. The main problem of the narrative was the fact that the game
did not include voice acting. Gameplay wise the game combines really good 3D and 2D platforming sections. The game's combat relies on the usage of both paint and thinner. Paint to make enemies allies and thinner to kill the enemies. The environment also includes alot of areas that can
be thinned out or painted to existence in order to reach them. It does contain alot of things to do in the game such as collectables to acquire and ofcourse multiple endings to be found.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
