Ebenezer and the Invisible World Is a Scrooge Metroidvania, Just as Dickens Never Wanted

What if I told you that what A Christmas Carol was missing was the follow-up story of Ebenezer Scrooge using the Ghosts of Christmas to save London from a greedy industrialist in Metroidvania fashion? It’s an utterly absurd, borderline heinous prospect, yet it’s the the premise of the upcoming Ebenezer and the Invisible World, announced today at the PC Gaming Show.

The game is a 2D Metroidvania that casts you as Dickens’ most infamous grump in a wintry vision of Victorian London. And that’s pretty well where any idea of faithfulness to the source material ends. Scrooge’s journey will see him trying to topple a man named Caspar Malthus, who may well be related to Casper the Friendly Ghost because he is apparently in league with a Dark Spirit with an army of Unrepentant Ghosts at his disposal.

Thankfully, he’s not alone. Following the events of the book, Scrooge now also has his own spooky helpers. He will come across them throughout his journey and learn what’s keeping them in the living world. At the same time, each will give him new powers to traverse the world. The Ebenezer and the Invisible World trailer embedded below shows off a few of them, including the traditional ability to double jump, and to phase through certain obstacles. It really is a Scrooge Metroidvania.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World has no release date as yet, but you can play a demo right now if it tickles your fancy. In the meantime, I’m sure Charles Dickens will be rolling in his grave.