Plant horror boss rusher Perennial Order is an oozing hybrid of Hollow Knight and Titan Souls

As the wait lengthens for Hollow Knight: Silksong, other Soulsy creature features are scurrying to fill the breach. We had Deviator last week – now, it’s time for a bumper helping of the heebie-jeebies in the shape of Perennial Order. The title makes it sound like an eBay delivery of potted geraniums. The game festering beneath is actually a “plant horror” boss rusher with twin stick melee controls, unlockable “Instinct” abilities and one-hit deaths.

In a gift to headline writers everywhere, the developers, four-person Gardenfiend Games, are calling it “Hollow Knight meets Titan Souls”, and who am I to deny them? It’s got one of those “painterly” art styles, too, though other words come to mind, such as “rotted” and “unhallowed” and “manky”. It’s out on 6th September. Find a trailer nested below this paragraph like a venus flytrap poised to clamp around your fingers.

The last boss rusher I seriously got into was Furi from The Game Bakers. This looks considerably less joyful, assuming you don’t find joy in squirming egg sacs or nodachi-wielding toadstools. I will admit to deriving pleasure from the spectacle of a giant skeleton boss who plays chess with squelchy animate pieces, but only because I’d much rather fight a bony boardgamer than the bright-eyed, tentacle-nosed clot of darkness that pursues you elsewhere in the trailer. There are touches of bullet hell, too, albeit with roaches rather than bullets.

The developers cite Dark Souls as an influence, but don’t expect nearly as much backtracking. Perennial Order lets you respawn right at the beginning of each encounter, so as to “spend your time fighting rather than walking”. That said, there’s apparently a world beyond the bosses, with NPCs to pester and lore to sponge from secluded nooks. More “boss rush focussed” than “boss rush”, perhaps. You can get help from a friend, too: there’s optional co-op throughout.

Again, it’s out 6th September. There’s a demo on Steam, if you can’t wait to sink your boot into this belching swamp of genre references.