Arkedo Studio lives on through action-strategy platformer Poof

Former Arkedo Studio co-founder Aurelien Regard and coder Dimitri Péan have launched their first game since the company called it quits in February.

Poof, out now on Steam for PC at a 20-percent discount price of $5.59 (until Nov. 15), blends platforming action and tower defense. It's a little ridiculous. You stop monsters from stealing the revenue you make from a cursed, gold-laying kitten by jumping on them, placing "towers to attack and poos to slow down" (seriously, that's the description), or using items and abilities like bombs, fire knives, and ice winds. You can also slow or accelerate time to alter the challenge.

What.

"Basically, it's a super hardcore version of the very old Mario Bros Arcade, of course with a twist," wrote Regard, who said he won't actually get any money from sales. "I made this for the joy of actually seeing the game played (I won't get any money from it)."

Regard and Péan started creating the game before the end of Arkedo.

As you may remember, Arkedo developed titles like Big Bang Mini and Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, and I totally miss the studio. It's good to see it "return" in some manner with Poof, which Neko Entertainment is publishing.

It's important to note that the 7-year-old Arkedo never closed down or went bankrupt.

"Arkedo, the company, is still here," wrote Regard. "But no one’s employed anymore. No more games are produced either."

He wrote, "The studio wanted to make smaller games again, on a more manageable scale, without a huge publisher behind you (even though our relation with Sega is still excellent), or any management needs."