Alto’s Adventure: The Spirit of the Mountain – Out Now!
Return to the mountain where it all began and embark on a journey to discover The Spirit of the Mountain.
Today marks the launch of another brand-new special edition of one of our most beloved titles. This time, we’re going back to the game that started everything – introducing Alto’s Adventure: The Spirit of the Mountain, out now exclusively on Apple Arcade!
It’s been just over seven years since the original Alto’s Adventure first launched on iOS – a moment that changed the lives of everyone involved, and ultimately paved the way for Land & Sea. Fast forward a few years and we’re delighted with how our small team continues to grow and flourish. To read more about the formation of Land & Sea, check out our press release.
Lost City fan art by illustrator @mel_can_do_it on Instagram
For those following our progress, you may remember that we also launched a similar special edition of Alto’s Odyssey — the award winning sequel to Alto’s Adventure — back in July of last year. The Lost City was met with an incredible response, and has led to some wonderful testimonials and creative fan-art that we regularly share on the Alto instagram account.
However, many players were left asking us the obvious question: “So what about Alto’s Adventure?”. After all, it was the first game in the series and may have seemed like the obvious first choice for a refresh. However, these things are rarely that simple, and while there were many reasons we decided to lead with The Lost City, we can now finally reveal that the plan has always been to bring both games to the platform, breathing new life into two distinct special editions that can stand side-by-side on Apple’s subscription service.
A Balancing Act
When we first set out to create these new titles, we knew each would require its own unique approach – we wanted to make sure any new features would stay true to the distinct themes of each title and preserve the essence of their original experiences.
For Alto’s Odyssey, a game about exploration and discovering new horizons, adding a brand new biome felt like a natural choice. However, returning to Alto’s Adventure suggested a different path – we instead wanted to focus on the more intimate tone of the original; a game very much about the comforts of home and being immersed in nature. With this in mind, it was clear that a brand new playable character, one that encapsulated the power of the mountainside, was the perfect fit.
“this is one of the most unconventional characters we’ve added to the games so far”
As with The Lost City, this new character is actually something we’ve had up our sleeve for a while – we’ve just been patiently waiting for the right opportunity to reveal them to the world. The mysterious and enigmatic new addition is the brain-child of talented artist Mathijs Demaeght, who has since gone on to become Art Director at Snowman (our partners on all things Alto) and the co-founder of Pok Pok. Working with Mathijs was an exciting opportunity to bring a fresh new perspective to the series, providing a unique fusion of our sensibilities and a subtle departure from anything we’ve done before. While we don’t want to spoil the surprise entirely, it’s fair to say that this is one of the most unconventional characters we’ve added to the games so far, and reveals some exciting new ways to descend the slopes.
We can’t wait for players to uncover The Spirit of the Mountain at their own pace, and explore the new abilities and challenges specially crafted for the new character as they roam the familiar environment of Alto’s home mountain.
Alto encounters something mysterious on the mountainside
And that’s not all
We’re thrilled to say that this new playable character is not the only new addition to our midst. Returning to Alto’s Adventure has provided Land & Sea with the opportunity to collaborate with friends old and new.
We’ve welcomed aboard a new Senior Programmer, Stephen Hart, who joins us from his previous role at Team17 where he worked on titles such as Narita Boy and Crown Trick. Stephen has hit the ground running and proven instrumental in the realisation of The Spirit of the Mountain, as well as ensuring everything runs as smoothly as possible on all of Apple platforms.
We have also been lucky to collaborate with QA specialist Lucy Weekley (Mini Motorways, Dr Grordborts Invaders). Lucy brings with her over 10 years of quality assurance experience, hunting down any pesky bugs long before they can sneak out the door!
Finally, we were very happy to have again worked with Alto’s Odyssey composer Todd Baker (Monument Valley 2, Dreams), who was able to breathe new life into The Spirit of the Mountain’s soundtrack with the addition of a new theme, which players will uncover alongside the new character. Every opportunity we have to work with Todd is a pure joy, and we hope you enjoy his contribution as much as we do. You can give the new track a spin below:
The journey ahead
Finally, we couldn’t wrap things up without giving you a brief update about what’s on the horizon for Land & Sea. While we’ve remained fairly tight-lipped about our new project since the initial teaser in September of 2020, we expect to reveal further details and introduce you to what we’ve been working on very soon.
We’re excited to share an early screenshot of Land & Sea’s debut game – a coming-of-age folktale that builds upon the core themes and sensibilities we established with the @altosadventure series. Follow us to be the first to learn more! pic.twitter.com/OTXU19Jsbu
— Land & Sea (@landandseagames) September 9, 2020
For all the latest updates, be sure to sign up to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to be the first to hear any announcements!
All the best,
The Land & Sea Team
