As a Disney nerd and horror lover, I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for a video game than after concept art for the original Epic Mickey leaked in 2009. It was a nightmare; it was all lurching animatronic monsters and apocalyptic landscapes haphazardly reassembled from the rotting remains of beloved Disney theme parks. We saw Epcot’s wrecked Spaceship Earth drifting across a vast rust-colored ocean atop something that was half Rivers of America steamboat, half monstrous narwhal; Snow White’s castle balanced high on an impossible precipice amid belching, flailing industrial machines; even a razor-limbed robotic caterpillar with Abe Lincoln’s animatronic head wedged awkwardly onto one elongated neck while Mickey Mouse’s shocked face wobbled horribly on another nearby one.
It was a tantalising vision of an Epic Mickey that, perhaps inevitably, never came to fruition. But there was still some of that initial darkness left, albeit toned down to more familiar levels, when Epic Mickey finally landed on Wii the following year. Even in its considerably more accessible form, though, it was a fascinating curiosity – a far wilder, stranger and more ambitious effort than any licensed video game ever realistically needed to be, and an obvious labour of love on the part of designer Warren Spector and his team at Junction Point Studios. As a heartfelt ode to nearly 100 years of oft-forgotten Disney creativity, it was a delight, but as a video game it wasn’t so much – too much of its magic was lost amid its clunky platforming and deeply frustrating camera. But 14 years on, all of that has been fixed in developer Purple Lamp’s smart remaster of Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, and the result is something of a revelation; a rare chance to revisit a flawed relic, its incredible art finally able to shine properly.
And all of this, of course, begins with the wonderfully conceived Wasteland, a dark reflection of the iconic Disney theme parks where Mickey Mouse’s adventure takes place. It’s a world strewn with discarded Disney ephemera and home to long-forgotten cartoon characters, from Clarabelle Cow to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (who ironically now enjoys a renewed presence in Disney parks, thanks to his Epic Mickey revival). It’s also a world where a melting Cinderella Castle teeters menacingly on the horizon while the decaying Americana of Mean Street looms on either side; where dead-eyed mechanical Dumbos spin spasmodically against the crumbling facade of Disneyland’s It’s a Small World attraction, and where the Toontown-inspired suburb of OzTown sits in the shadow of Mickeyjunk Mountain, a colossal junk heap of Mickey Mouse memorabilia: Pez dispensers stacked atop billboards piled against giant push-button telephones. It’s glorious stuff; a wild, celebratory fusion of iconic Disney art and the deepest cuts from the company’s past, all compressed into a cohesive, remarkably coherent whole.
In Tomorrow City, for example, Junction Point evokes the spirit of Disneyland’s defunct Skyway and People Mover attractions to create a spaghetti-like, retro-futuristic playground before sending players to the top of Space Mountain for a Tron-aping boss fight. Ventureland, meanwhile, is part Jungle Cruise, part Pirates of the Caribbean, comfortably squashed against the world of Peter Pan, and then there’s Lonesome Manor, a glorious amalgamation of Disney’s spookier side, at which point the Haunted Mansion obsessive in me starts to swoon. But that’s just the 3D platforming stuff; some of Epic Mickey’s most surprising moments occur when it delves into the world of beloved Disney animated shorts, turning classics like Steamboat Willie, Thru the Mirror, Mickey and the Beanstalk, and Plutopia into energetic side-scrolling action combat. And it all gets a beautiful, respectful makeover in Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, which perhaps comes a little closer to capturing the wonderfully macabre spirit of that early concept art, while never losing the cozy, whimsical charm of the original.
It's not that Epic Mickey's world wasn't already a highlight in 2010, but Rebrushed certainly makes it easier to appreciate when you're not constantly battling a wonky camera and slightly clunky controls. And that goes for the rest of the experience, too. Beyond its striking visual upgrade and refinement of traversal, Rebrushed isn't a radical improvement, but it's one that's been taken into account, and its clever tweaks help bring out some of the original's other strengths.
For example, the level design is fantastic when you're not dealing with the fundamentals. Once you get away from the hub-like Mean Street, you're taken through a succession of self-contained mini-levels, from storm-ravaged tropical coves to spooky hilltop mansions, each of which presents players with a central objective critical to progress (open that door, perhaps, or raise this platform) and usually an optional quest or two. It's all relatively simple, kid-friendly stuff (a bit of “go here,” “pull this,” “move this there”), but it's a non-linear approach that lends an appealing exploratory edge to the traversal platforming and gentle puzzles.
But Epic Mickey goes further than that. Virtually every objective can be completed in multiple ways, and decisions have real (though rarely especially dramatic) consequences. When you’re faced with a choice between disabling a location’s deadly electrical current or stopping its procession of pesky trams, for example, the decision feels more important knowing that either option could close off a specific path and prevent you from reaching a handful of collectibles in this particular playthrough. And then there’s Epic Mickey’s morality system, which, despite probably being the last thing you’d expect to find in a family-focused licensed cartoon game, somehow works, cleverly integrated into the rest of the action by Epic Mickey’s main gimmick: a magic paintbrush capable of filling in or erasing specific parts of the world, depending on the player’s whims.
It's a mechanic that underpins exploration, platforming, puzzles, and even combat, and one that Junction Point exploits in often satisfyingly clever ways. But it feeds into Epic Mickey's morality system to the extent that using destructive solvent is generally considered “bad,” while painting is considered “good.” Honestly, the way the morality system counts your actions and manifests the results is pretty inscrutable, and all it really comes down to is a few slightly different reactions from the Wasteland's inhabitants as your adventure progresses, and one of two possible endings. But at least it adds a bit more texture to the whole thing; knowing that there's something to be said for the game is that it's not a game that's going to be … ramifications The fact that your actions and approaches to any given task encourage a more curious and exploratory mindset, and there’s a real pleasure in discovering the many paths and secrets in each area. The fact that all of this is radically livened up by some truly satisfying traversal in Rebrushed, where you jump and splash around with a fluidity and rhythm that the original never managed to muster, makes it all the better.
In its original form, Epic Mickey was a minor disappointment, its clever design, admirable ambition and bold approach to the source material all ruined by excessive mechanical clumsiness. But Purple Lamp’s clever remaster really is transformative. Could Epic Mickey: Rebrushed have taken things a little further? Added voice acting? Livened up its monotonous fetch quests? Sure, but even without more radical overhauls, what’s here is a delight. Perhaps it’s still a little too confusing, too unfocused to be truly considered a classic, but, some 14 years on, it’s wonderful to see the magic of Junction Point’s wild and weird original finally shine through.