Lay down your weapons — Ooblets replaces turn-based battles with flashy dance offs

Yesterday’s Ooblets trailer was an adorable romp through the friendly, candy-colored farming sim, but one thing seemed to be missing. Previous trailers have shown a Pokemon-like combat system, with trainers pitting collectable plant spirits against one another in battle. This trailer had none of that, but it sure had a lot of dancing. As it turns out, that was kind of the point.

In case it wasn’t clear enough in the reveal video, we’ve replaced our old traditional battle system with a DANCE OFF system!

No more dogfighting your adorable friends anymore!

You’ll still be able to battle wild Ooblets and other trainers in the final game, but the loser won’t suffer anything more than a bruised ego. It’s very much in keeping with the light tone of Ooblets, and it’s a rare treat to see such a creative means of non-violent conflict in a game.

Since we first started showing our trailers and GIFs, people have really latched on to all the dancing we’ve shown in the game. But we didn’t know where dancing could naturally fit in the gameplay. Now we do!

People can suspend their disbelief a bit and be okay with their creatures fighting, but the idea that you’re throwing your tiny friends into the equivalent of dogfights doesn’t really fit the tone of Ooblets where everything is cute and friendly.

Dance battles will feature mechanics analogous to those seen in typical RPG battles (HP, critical hits and misses), and just as much visual flourish as you’d expect from a combat encounter.

Ooblets still doesn’t have a release date, but you can follow its progress on the game’s website.