Cletus Clay is shaping up to be a tight little 2D brawler; more so than the videos really capture. The game follows the exploits of Cletus and Emmett, whose livestock has been unjustly stolen by alien influences. Keeping with the dignified reputation rednecks have as cultural emissaries, Cletus and Emmett go on a booze-fuelled campaign of revenge and livestock liberation.

Actual Interview Quote:
“It’s not booze, it’s tonic! It replenishes
your health. If you get enough of it,
you get…happy.”

The game is built on a “competitive co-op” system whereby Cletus and Emmett can beat the tar out of each other in the fine tradition of Battletoads and other games you couldn’t finish because your friends are jerks. Not only that, but developer Tuna Snax has gone out of their way to incentivize the brotherly violence. There are collectable fobs about that you can acquire for score, and it turns out that collecting enough of them makes you a provincial piñata. “The game is so much harder in multiplayer,” remarked CEO Alex Amsel, so don’t say we didn’t warn you when your partner bushwhacks you in the first level. That said, Amsel reassured us that there would be an option to turn off friendly fire, so you’ll be able to tune the game to your preferred griefing level.

Once you’ve built a tenuous peace with your partner, you’ll be able to explore the game’s 12 planned levels. Six are slated to be traditional brawling, but they’ll be interleaved with vehicle levels where Cletus and Emett can fight the alien abductors by land, sea, and air. The vehicle levels weren’t ready for display at the GDC, but the brawling played well. Beyond the tight controls, the pacing was busy enough to be engaging, but stately enough to let you admire the game’s striking art. Amsel confirmed that the game aims for a casual difficulty level, “We wanted [Cletus Clay] to be action all the time, but not frustrating. Whether you’re good at this game or you’re rubbish, you should be able to pick it up and get something out of it. That’s why we put points in there, so that the skilled players would have something to work on.”

When asked if XBLA size limits would be a
problem for Cletus Clay, the Tuna Snax
team said, “The longer we work on the
game, the bigger the limit gets!”

If you’re a challenge-focused player, don’t start grousing about easy games just yet, because it’s for a good cause. A chance to take in the sights is no sin in a beautiful game. The still screenshots and grainy YouTube movies of Cletus Clay don’t do the game’s high-resolution stop motion visuals the justice they deserve. There’s also a substantial audio track planned, and while it won’t feature any actual rednecks, the actors simulating the rednecks are reputed to be much funnier.

Edit: Amsel got in touch with us to set the record straight about the difficulty goals of Cletus Clay: “we’ll put enough in the game to allow a casual player to enjoy it but it’s been very much designed so that there will be an awful lot there just for the tough game nuts. You’ll have to be a seriously good player to do and find everything within the game. You may even have to be good enough to have completed GodHand… and even I’ve failed at that so far.”

We picked up a handful of other details about the developing claymation game. In addition to weapons you’ve seen like the laser pistol and shotgun, development is underway for a flamethrower and other weapons to strike fear in the hearts of the second player the aliens. If an endless stream of action bores you, the 12 levels will be dotted with minigames that break up the violence with favored redneck pastimes like egg harvesting, sheep rustling, and drowning. Seriously, drowning—we’re baffled too.

If you’re excited about Cletus Clay, cool your heels because it’ll be done when it’s done. However, when the fated day arrives and it hits XBLA and PC, we’ll give it a good hard reviewing.

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