Rochard

Rochard is a two-dimensional side-scrolling platformer taking place in three-dimensional scenes. The player character, John Rochard, works his way through a series of environments, each containing a mix of puzzle and combat encounters. To overcome these challenges, the player has access to several tools and mechanics that relate to gravity, weight and matter properties.

Players can change the gravity between “normal” earthlike gravity and low gravity. Controlling the gravity is the key feature of the game and allows John to, for example, jump higher in low gravity, alter trajectories of thrown objects, or swing on certain objects using the Gravity Beam. Some levels have sections where the gravity is inverted. In some other levels, players can invert the gravity themselves.

John Rochard (Jon St. John), leader of the lowest producing team of astro-miners the Skyrig Corporation ever employed, accidentally discovers an ancient structure hidden deep in an asteroid. Soon afterwards, John’s team goes missing without a trace and he finds himself stranded on the asteroid and under attack by space bandits. John quickly realizes that dangerous forces are at work, determined to use the discovery for their own sinister means.

As the supposed reinforcements of his boss Maximillian arrive, it is revealed that they are in league with the space bandits. Fighting his way down through the tunnels to get to his trapped team mates Skyler (Lani Minella) and Zander. As John reaches them, Zander succumbs to his wounds, sending both Skyler and John on a path to uncover the mystery surrounding their recent find and to avenge their fallen colleague. The ancient structure turns out to be an alien temple, containing Native American glyphs. Unable to read the engravings, John and Skyler decide to head for Floyd, Skyler's uncle, whose Native American roots might help them make sense of it all.

Rochard has been developed using the Unity engine and was launched in late September 2011 as the first PlayStation 3 game to use this engine. Unity's multi-platform capabilities also resulted in a speedy follow-up release on Steam on November 15, 2011. The Mac version followed in December 2011 on Mac App Store, and the Linux version was available in Humble Indie Bundle 6 on September 18, 2012.

The game features a soundtrack composed by Markus “Captain” Kaarlonen from Poets of the Fall, mixing southern rock/blues and 1980s-inspired electronic music, originally composed on Amiga with Protracker. A special version of the game that includes the full soundtrack in an MP3 format was released on Steam alongside the game's regular edition.

Rochard has received generally favorable reviews for its initial release on PSN, with a Metacritic average score of 79% and a GameRankings average score of 79%. The following Steam release was well received for its solid conversion of the control mechanics to a keyboard and mouse format, standing at a Metacritic average of 82% and a GameRankings average of 82.5%.

Prior to its release, Rochard was awarded "Best of Gamescom 2011" by GamingXP. Following its release, the game has received Editors' Choice awards from IGN, GamePro, Gaming Nexus, GameShark and Pelit and won the Unity Awards for Best Gameplay and Best Graphics at the Unite 2011 event.