Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Once upon a time, legendary game director Warren Spector asked Disney to help him make a science fiction game. The house of mouse wasn't interested in his pitch, but it gave him the keys to the forgotten magic kingdom instead. Spector's Junction Point Studios was given unfettered access to archival materials and tasked with spinning a tale focusing on Walt Disney's earliest work.

Epic Mickey was admirable as an attempt to bring those formative IPs back into the public interest. Oswald the Rabbit appeared in his first original story since 1928. His lost landscape of unused ideas was an artistic triumph for Spector's team.

The game debuted to generally positive critical reception but failed to make the financial impact Disney expected. After a weaker and even less successful sequel, Junction Point was closed and the world of Epic Mickey didn't live happily ever after.

Now it's back, in an on-brand Disney reboot dubbed Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. Purple Lamp Games hasn't just given this title a texture polish, it's brought enough mechanical and aesthetic additions to qualify it as a semi-remake. 15 years after its original release, Mickey and Oswald's tale remains a fascinating and flawed adventure.

From the outset, the story almost frames the titular mouse as a villain. While Yen Sid is busy working on a model to commemorate the forgotten members of past fables, his magic mirror decides to open up a portal into Mickey's bedroom. The pre-fame mouse proceeds to invade, cause chaos, and unleash a monster called The Blot. Thinking nothing of his catastrophic clumsiness, Mickey returns home to a flourishing career as a brand icon. Much time passes, but eventually the Blot returns and pulls him into a world called The Wasteland. Mickey must use Yen Sid's magic paintbrush to repair this kingdom, defeat The Blot, and figure out why Oswald, ruler of Wasteland, hates him so much.

This is a 3D collectathon platformer at heart, but Mickey also wields environment manipulation