Elliot & Ko is a Paper Mario inspired game about cute animal friends exploring! This slice-of-life platforming game is about interacting with many areas each with their own lovable anthropomorphic animals to meet and puzzles to solve. The sole developer is Jacob, with the help of Angel who has done some wonderful concept art and designs for the characters and the architecture. The game is still in very early development but is planned for PC and mobile on both iOS and Android.

We here at myPotatoGames would like to thank Jacob for taking the time to answers our many questions about Elliot & Ko and we are very excited to share everything with you down below!

Meet the Elliot & Ko Team

Play as Elliot, accompanied by Ko, and meet new friends along your journey. Some characters are sassy, some are anxious, some neurotic, but all tend to be charming and friendly (in their own right), and always ready to chat. There’s a big focus on interactions and dialog so you’ll really enjoy talking to these quirky villagers.

Elliot: a sleepy sheep boy. They recently learned to count to 50, enjoys 12-hour naps, and is a little too hard on themselves.

Ko: a frosty deer that loves the cold (see t-shirt), relaxing, and eating food. He tends to be very quiet but certainly isn’t unfriendly!

Nettles: the cutest little bird witch around. She has too many plants, makes plans and immediately forgets about them, is a huge nerd, and wants you to like her boots and books.

Lily: a precious little frog that loves to skip around. More will be revealed about her at a later date.

Milk: loves Boba tea and growing her little garden. She grew up rather sheltered and became materialistic. However, she wants a chance to change and leave behind the boring daily grinds of the city.

Your Adventure Begins…

In the prologue, you are in an ‘origami ocean’ in a lovely papercraft boat sailing toward the main town to the east. During this time, you will be given small challenges and taught the basics of controls, mechanics, and turn-based battles. When you reach the dock, you’ll enter the hub world. This Victorian area is a sophisticated town in beautiful pastel colors where posh aristo-cats live. Jacob continues to narrate the intro: “Its residents all take to the two little explorers quite quickly, if not in kindness at least in attention. Various interactions with the townspeople will set off plots and (side)quests throughout the game, including setting the first chapter in motion with the sprawling, dark, industrialized metropolis hidden beneath, unseen and unheard, an unspoken secret. Surely it’s nothing sinister, but a sign that the perfection and high society whimsical life above is not without its costs.“

Four Areas, Four Very Different Environmental Designs

Among the other residents, in the pastel town you will meet Meringue; a lazy cat that picks fights with the sailor rabbit down by the harbor. You’ll also meet his sister Muffin who owns her own little bakery. They are both very sassy and very rich.

This industrialized metropolis has very glamorous and large skyscrapers, with a heavy cyberpunk theme. Elliot and Ko quickly discover that many of the little workers here seem overworked.

There are currently two other worlds with two more chapters that Jacob is working on: a train that will lead you through a western canyon and directly into space, and a little snow-covered village. This mysterious and naturalistic town houses spirits and hidden ruins. The people that you will meet here aren’t immediately willing or able to speak with you. Below you’ll see images of the area-in-progress with snowflakes, steps made of ice, and northern lights.

Battles, Quests, and Items

When you meet Lily, Nettles, and Milk, they will join you on your adventure and even in battle. You can choose your own party of three at all times. Each party member will have their own unique abilities. Re-enter past areas or keep checking out the hub world to discover new ways to use your partners’ abilities and gain access to new areas you weren’t able to reach before. Don’t forget to frequently speak to all of the NPCs for quests and other things to do, as well as shopping for supplies. These items include crafting materials and new abilities. You can also forage for items or receive them from enemy-drops.

Jacob emphasizes that the battles themselves will not be either repetitive nor a grind. You’ll be able to do microgames to pull off special moves and therefore should be plenty unique, fun, and engaging. Each battle may even have different conditions to fulfill. If enemy drops are wearing you down, the developer plans on creating cute little couriers that are more than willing to come and fetch any excess baggage you may want dropped off back in town. Jacob says he plans on having these couriers be adorable little puppies that come to you by parachute.

For More Information

To learn more about Elliot & Ko’s development and progress, you can follow along on Twitter here and the Discord channel here. We wish Jacob all the best and can’t wait for the finished product of this adorable game and sweet/charming art style.