The Eternal Life of Goldman

The Eternal Life of Goldman is a 2D action-platformer developed by Weappy Studio, the Belarusian team best known for the This Is the Police series and Rebel Cops. Publisher THQ Nordic revealed the game during The Game Awards 2024, presenting it as a striking departure from Weappy’s earlier, largely strategy-focused work. The game takes place on a mysterious archipelago shaped by folklore, ancient ruins, eccentric inhabitants, and dangerous wildlife. Its central character is Goldman, an elderly wanderer whose age is an important part of his identity rather than a cosmetic detail. He travels with a cane that serves as his principal tool, allowing him to attack enemies, interact with the environment, and overcome hazards. As the adventure develops, the cane can be modified with different abilities, giving Goldman new ways to move through the islands and reach previously inaccessible areas. Weappy describes the world as a hand-crafted setting assembled from illustrated and animated elements. The visual presentation combines detailed 2D artwork with a deliberately tactile appearance, making the environments resemble moving storybook illustrations or puppets arranged on a stage. That style distinguishes The Eternal Life of Goldman from the pixel-art and vector-based looks common among contemporary platformers. The announced story follows Goldman as he searches for a mysterious deity. The journey is not framed as a conventional heroic quest: Goldman is an old man moving through a beautiful but threatening world, and the game’s tone mixes humor, melancholy, strangeness, and menace. The islands contain characters and creatures with their own histories, while exploration is connected to discovering the setting’s mythology rather than simply passing through disconnected levels. Gameplay centers on precision platforming, combat, exploration, and upgrades. The cane’s changing functions are designed to make movement itself part of the challenge, while bosses and environmental puzzles test the player’s ability to combine those functions. The reveal materials emphasized large, unusual creatures and carefully animated set pieces, suggesting encounters built around observation as well as reflexes. The Eternal Life of Goldman was announced for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. THQ Nordic has described it as an upcoming release rather than assigning a firm launch date in the original announcement. Its unusual protagonist, mythic setting, and handcrafted animation make it one of Weappy Studio’s most ambitious projects, expanding the company’s identity beyond the political and police-management games for which it first became widely recognized.