Infestation 88; Bloodthirsty Mickey Mouse Horror Game Announced [Update: Renamed]

Source: Nightmare Forge

i

Update

In the wake of accusations of supporting Nazism, the game's developers decided to instantly change its title - according to the developers, referring to the year in which the action takes place - 1988 - to Infestation: Origins. An official announcement reads:

At the same time, developers from Nightmare Forge remained deaf to player accusations that the published trailer contains elements developed using ElevenLabs' AI model (character voices) and assets from the Unity Store.

Original news (January 2)

Yesterday, the oldest version of Mickey Mouse, which made its debut in the 1928 animated film Steamboat Willie, became available in the public domain. This means that Disney has lost the copyright to this incarnation of the character and now anyone can create their own designs with it. We didn't have to wait long for the first of them - as Nightmare Forge has just announced a game called Infestation 88.

1. It will be a cooperative horror game. Players will take on the role of exterminators, who are to be summoned to various locations, where their task will be to eliminate the nightmarish version of Mickey Mouse and the obedient hordes of bloodthirsty mice.
2. The game is designed mainly with four-player teams in mind, but there will also be an option for solo play.
3. The game is heading for PC only for now and will be sold on Steam.
4. The release is expected to take place later this year.

It should be explained here that only the Mickey Mouse version from Steamboat Willie has entered the public domain. It does not have many of the classic elements with which the character is associated, such as red shorts or white gloves, so creators wishing to use it in their projects without Disney's permission must stick to the 1928 design and at most make their own changes to it.

It is worth mentioning that Infestation 88 is not the only announced project that wants to make use of the change in Mickey Mouse's legal status. A horror movie titled Mickey's Horror is to premiere in March.

We are also curious to see what the developers of the promising FPS Mouse will do, whose visual style is heavily modeled on Steamboat Willie. Developers will now be able to quietly add Mickey Mouse to their game, although it remains to be seen whether they will choose to do so.

1. Infestation 88 on Steam

Forgotten Mickey Mania

The current situation was a painful reminder that you can't officially play Mickey Mania on any of today's platforms. This is an exquisite platformer that was released in 1994 for 16-bit consoles (and later for PSX as Mickey's Wild Adventure). It was the first title designed by David Jaffe, the father of the God of War series,

Mickey Mania's story traces the history of this character and the first level was a black and white location based specifically on Steamboat Willie.

In recent years, many re-releases or refreshed versions of old Disney platformer games have been released. Just to mention Castle of Illusion HD, Gargoyles Remastered, DuckTales Remastered or the Disney Classic Games Collection bundle. Therefore, we hope that sooner or later also Mickey Mania will be transferred to modern platforms.