A solo developer by the name of Vacation Home Games has just unveiled their very first project. Releasing into a free-to-play early access demo state as of September 18, Foldy’s OS Quest is a colorful level-based 3D platformer where you take on the role of Foldy, a carefree anti-virus file folder, tasked with protecting the digital confines of his desktop computer home from the infiltration of a massive virus.

When considering the inspirations that went into the creation of Foldy’s OS Quest, Chris Trenary, the solo developer behind Vacation Home Games, states in a YouTube video:

3D platformers have always been my favorite genre, and (for Foldy’s OS Quest) I thought it would be fun to do something similar to Astro’s Playroom—which takes place inside of a PS5—but with levels that are more heavily themed around software rather than hardware.

This distinction between focusing on software versus hardware, as hardware was the primary focus in Astro’s Playroom, opens the floodgates for a whole slew of possibilities for the game’s direction. As seen throughout the demo reveal trailer, each level’s design incorporates some form of reference to an older era of technology—a knock-off version of Microsoft’s Clippy, Minesweeper, Solitaire, and early social media, with even more possibilities from the vast history of old computer software.

Though Foldy’s OS Quest is looking to be a rather short game, with only seven levels planned—the equivalent to just one world in Team Asobi’s Astro Bot—efforts have been made to ensure replayability and variety between playthroughs. This is thanks to the influence of other sources of inspiration, for instance, Activision’s Crash Bandicoot, which Trenary notes inspired him to implement permanent unlockable abilities into his game, as well as Nintendo’s Mario Odyssey, which Trenary remarks is inspirational for its hidden areas tucked away within each level, used as a way to reward the player for their completionism and exploration.

Though a release date for Foldy’s OS Quest is still unknown at the moment, the free-to-play demo is available for download on Steam as of September 18.