Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – PS5 Review

I’m no Disney sicko but Mickey Mouse has found himself in more good games than most. The jug-eared mascot has particularly flourished in platformers and Disney Epic Mickey was received relatively kindly when it released on the Wii. 14 years later, a revitalised version has reached current consoles. Purple Lamp have been charged with the task.  Whilst the motion controls are banished, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed gives the visuals new life and updates the gameplay nicely.

The story focuses on our hero clumsily ruining a civilisation. Curiosity has got the better of him and a he’s managed to vandalise a painted world. As punishment, he’s dragged into the universe by The Blot. This blight on the landscape looking to destroy all before it. It’s a calamitous situation and it doesn’t shy away from this being all Mickey’s fault. To make things right, he teams up with the frightened inhabitants and Oswald, the rabbit Walt Disney conceived prior to Mickey’s household ubiquity.

The stakes do make proceedings feel decidedly epic. Bringing Oswald back into the limelight is a nice touch and, considering so much of Disney’s current product is wrapped up in nostalgia, the strings they are trying to pull have a sensible logic to them. Progression can be a little disjointed. Levels are fairly small but packed with quests. Each feels distinct with one of them operating like a genuine hub.

To traverse between these main locales, side-scrolling sections arrive that are reminiscent of a cartoon strip. Film roll borders the screen with black and white filters sometimes giving that vintage feeling. At times, it can be like playing through the company’s storied history. They do start to outstay their welcome. As they’re mostly to transition between the main levels, one visit is all you really need.

This backtracking isn’t too much of a headache. There’s a good sense of propulsion as you returned fetched items or solve the townsfolk’s problems. Some of these problems can have more than one solution and I did enjoy taking shortcuts through a couple of them. The quests themselves don’t vary too much but, through exploration, I ticked off quite a few of them. The main currency is tickets which can be traded with characters for more information or used at shops for upgrades and extras.

I don’t think the pacing sags much but I did try to stay on the main path. There are moments where power cores gate your progress. These can be acquired by doing side-quests but some can be discovered within the levels themselves. Some can even be purchased and I had an abundance of them by the mid-game. Again, it’s a leisurely experience that seems to focus more on pushing you through. Completionists might baulk at the idea of moving between each level multiple times but I avoided that fatigue.

The platforming rarely feels pressured and the controls remain basic. Mickey has a double jump available at all times, can grab ledges and has a spin move that can be activated in the air. It leads to reliable movement but the challenges ahead are quite lenient. There’s been some changes to the original puzzles with less of a reliance on timed segments. I don’t mind the alterations as they do seem very minor. Mickey’s health pool is large enough to withstand a few hits and hearts can be found in the environment frequently. The same thing goes for tickets so I rarely had empty pockets.

It does feel like a game aimed at young ages. Enemies can be dispatched or befriended from range using your brush. Paint and thinner is effectively infinite with one bar of each always refilling. You can even outrun most foes and creating allies has the benefit of those fighting alongside you. That can be very beneficial near the end. There’s a decent enemy variety, although the robotic ones lack the daft charm of the goofier creatures. They do have different methods of defeat which does add a little thought to combat.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed‘s presentation is top notch. The original environments look muddy in comparison. This new version has so much colour to it and the sharper resolution helps make things pop. I appreciate it and this game trades heavily in the classic Disney style. It’s striking, although the nostalgia doesn’t register as strongly as me. It is fun jump through Steamboat Willie and other animated shorts. It’s a shame the storybook narration in the intro sequence isn’t carried through as the story is largely without spoken dialogue. Even so, the script is written well with some smart moments on offer.

Outside of the in-game cutscenes, there’s animated segments that display lively movements and has a fairly unique style to them. They carry a solid energy and it helps convey situations when words are at a premium. Overall, I like the choices they’ve made. It’s not dragging the game too far forward but it is making meaningful improvements over the original. This includes the updated controls which ditch motion in favour of something more conventional. Painting is precise enough with the right analogue stick and it doesn’t feel compromised.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a thoughtful upgrade to a game that certainly shows its age. Freeing it from the shackles of motion control does make movement more intuitive, although it shows off just how simple traversal and combat is. It doesn’t carry a lot of challenge but, as a delivery vehicle for Disney’s animation, it works out well enough. It definitely feels like one for younger ages but I thought this was a competent platformer.