Provocative and burlesque, To Hell With the Ugly is a parody of American noir novels and navigates between detective fiction and anticipation. It denounces the cult of appearances through its gorgeous looking hero and a worrying clinic with eugenicist practices.

In To Hell With the Ugly, you play as Rock Bailey, a blond and strikingly handsome young man who systematically refuses all advances made to him. And for good reason: he stubbornly saves himself until the day he turns 20.

One night, however, everything changes when he is drugged and kidnapped outside the Zooty Slammer jazz club and wakes up in a strange hospital. Why would anyone want to abduct Rocky? Can you track down his kidnappers?

Help Rocky get to the bottom of his kidnapping, and find out who is behind this horrible scheme.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Boris Vian, To Hell With the Ugly is a turn-based combat and point and click adventure game set in a film noir atmosphere. Unravel the mystery surrounding your kidnapping by exploring some of LA's most secret corners. Gather clues by interviewing locals, and interact with your environment to find the truth. But some information won't be delivered so easily. Use your fists to persuade the most stubborn to help you in your quest.

“We echoed the traditional "animation classics" of the 50s and 60s thanks to the frame-by-frame animations made by Gaelle Roques for the fights and the scripted sequences. Finally, we wanted the color palette to be an integral part of the game's art direction: The fans are running high, we are in LA, the mercury is rising, the hero Rock Bailey is hot under the collar in this story. All of this evokes warm colors!” explains Amélie Guinet, Game Artist at La Poule Noire.

"We wanted to know how far we can put people whose appearance conforms to society's expectations on a pedestal" says Fiona Rosette, game and narrative designer of the game.

The environments and characters are constructed with color planes reminiscent of the color-field painting movement, which is characterized by large canvases where color planes dominate and surface details are rare. Filters create a vintage feel and bring a scratched and flayed look like old posters, harking back to the aesthetics of the 50's. Retro fonts can also be used for the UI.

The music is very inspired by the American 50's with Jazz, Blues and the early Rock of Elvis. The brass instruments will be the driving force behind the music of the game to bring rhythm to the battle scenes and intensity to the story.

Key Features:

• A story of investigation adapted from the work of Boris Vian
• A magnificent Californian atmosphere from the 50's
• Turn-based combat based on timing and precision
• Gather clues and solve mysteries
• An original and energetic jazzy soundtrack

To Hell With the Ugly is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam/GoG/Epic) on May 30, 2023.