Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (PS5)

After Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and its companion game, Power of Illusion, failed to meets sales expectations in 2012, the Epic Mickey franchise was shelved, cancelling the in-development Epic Donald along with it. This development also led to the character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was reacquired from Universal just for this series and reintroduced to a new generation of fans, to be relegated mostly to cameos in other Disney works, including a cancelled Disney+ series, until the company suddenly started paying more attention to him around his entry into the public domain. 12 years later, both the Epic Mickey franchise and Oswald were given a second chance with the announcement of a remake of the original game for modern platforms, dubbed Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Rebrushed). As someone who enjoyed the original, this announcement got me excited, and I had faith in Purple Lamp as the developer due to their work on SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. As someone who became an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit fan as a result of the original game, I was further surprised when I noticed that, according to the back of the box, Rebrushed is an official Oswald the Lucky Rabbit product.

 

A small, but interesting bit of branding.

Due to the proximity of its release to my birthday, I received the PS5 version of Rebrushed as a gift, at which point I felt hyped enough to play it as soon as possible, and found it to meet my expectations and more.

Before I continue, I will say that since I already reviewed the original Epic Mickey, this review will focus primarily on the differences from the original release.

One night, Mickey enters through his bedroom mirror out of curiosity, catching the sorcerer Yen Sid at work on a place for forgotten ideas to go. Just as Yen Sid puts his brush away, Mickey starts playing around with it, only to accidentally spill a bottle of paint thinner all over Yen Sid’s project before hastily retreating. Decades later, Mickey is called back to the workshop beyond the mirror, where he is dragged into the Wastelands with only the magic brush to defend himself with. Once there, Mickey is rescued from the clutches of the Mad Doctor by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, after which he sets on a quest to find his way home while facing the consequences of his actions.

 

The Wastelands are very different from the world Mickey knows.

The gameplay of Rebrushed is similar to the original Wii release, but with some changes, which I will be discussing in relation to the PS5 version. For starters, the game is less reliant on motion controls for using Paint and Thinner, opting to aim with the camera instead. However, there are some sections that are presented in a fixed perspective, wherein the aiming reticle operates more like the original, but with the analog stick guiding it. There are also three new skills, Dash (Circle), Sprint (L3) and Ground Slam (Triangle in mid-air), which enhance the gameplay in just the right way to make it easier to traverse the world and battle enemies, though I did wish there was an option to toggle sprinting rather than having to hold the stick down constantly.

While the game’s content remains largely the same, some small changes have been made between versions, including some slightly altered boss encounters and locations of some items. Projector levels now have two Film Reels to look for instead of just one, which also doubles the requirements for rewards for collecting them, but on the flip side the Cinema in Mean Street is now fully accessible through both the game itself and the main menu, where you can replay Projector levels at any time to more easily look for any Reels you might have missed. Additionally, it is now much easier to keep track of Epic Quests and Side Quests in the pause menu.

 

The pause menu is very intuitive.

Although not quite as extensive as other games on the system, the PS5 version does make good use of the DualSense’s features. When using Paint or Thinner, there is some localized rumble on the controller half reflecting which one you are using, as well as haptic feedback based on how much is left, becoming slower and stiffer when you are almost empty.

While the game runs smoothly, I ran into an odd issue where a number of cutscenes on my initial playthrough were not unlocked to be viewed later in the pause menu, though thankfully this did not affect the tutorial cutscenes. On the subject of unlockables, the unlockable cartoons are the same as in the original release (the Oswald cartoon “Oh What a Knight” and the Mickey cartoon “The Mad Doctor”), which makes sense for replicating the experience. This is more of a nitpick, but while it does unlock the original credits after beating the game, I felt this was a missed opportunity to somehow include the Oswald cartoon “Hungry Hobos”, since it was rediscovered shortly after the game originally came out and the only official Disney release of the cartoon is through the digital release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Signature Collection Blu-ray. Since this opportunity was also missed when Epic Mickey 2 came out, I am hopeful that the opportunity is taken should that game get a Rebrushed release down the line.

 

I'm not asking for much.

Besides the general gameplay changes, the visuals are greatly improved from the original Wii version, taking advantage of modern hardware while remaining faithful to the original’s art direction, as well as adding in alternate costumes backported from Epic Mickey 2, minus their status effects. I’m not sure I noticed this while playing the Wii version, but in an interesting attention to detail, Mickey’s ears move with the direction of the camera to maintain the iconic silhouette. I will also note that, while the music and sound design are retained from the original, there is still a lack of full voice acting outside of grunts.

 

If you have already played the original Epic Mickey, Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a must-play. If you have not, Rebrushed is the definitive way to experience the game, thanks to a number of quality-of-life updates and a fresh coat of Paint, as well as a neat gateway into Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and other lesser-known Disney characters. If the success of Rebrushed is any indication, I would hope that Epic Mickey 2 can get a similar treatment later to keep the momentum going.