The "incredibly violent" first game from studio Team Colorblind is due out early next year.
Designers Ben Ruiz and Matthew Wegner announced Aztez last year shortly after forming Team Colorblind in January. The mature-themed side-scrolling beat-em-up is now coming for PC, Mac, and Linux. The studio confirmed the release window and platforms today alongside a new teaser trailer, which you can watch below.
Aztez uses black-and-white visuals and splashes of red blood to denote the violent action. Although the combat itself takes place in 2D, the 3D world map enables players to choose their next area rather than move down a linear path.
Ruiz and Wegner also worked together at Flashbang Studios, where they created Blurst.com web-browser games from 2007 to 2009, including Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Crane Wars.
Curious about what makes a beat-em-up different from, say, a hack-n-slash? Ruiz wrote a blog post on the team's website that explains "the weapon a character holds (or doesn't) does not determine the game's genre!"
Follow @wita on Twitter.