Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed review - Not quite enough pixie dust

On paper, I’m the prime audience of Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. I wholeheartedly adore platformers and Disney in equal measures. Those two things occupy some of my earliest memories. If I wasn’t playing Crash Bandicoot or Croc: Legend of the Gobbos on my brother’s PlayStation, then you’d likely find me watching Cinderella or The Little Mermaid for the umpteenth time. It’s with all this in mind that I find myself surprised that I’ve come away from my time with Epic Mickey: Rebrushed feeling underwhelmed.

I want to make it clear that Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a marked improvement on the original game, and I’ll go into all of that in due course - namely, due to the reimagining of the game’s environments which are far more beautifully realised this time around. Throughout Epic Mickey: Rebrushed though, it’s hard to ignore the fact that while this remake is wholly new, so too does it still feel like something that launched two to three console generations ago.

In Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, you’ll assume the role of the titular mouse. After Mickey accidentally knocks a pot of ink all over sorcerer’s Yen Sid’s world of forgotten Disney characters, known as The Wasteland, Mickey must hop inside to save everyone from the Blot. It sees Mickey team-up with The Wasteland’s ruler, Oswald.

Take a look at Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed in action below.

It was always going to be tough following Astro Bot, which is arguably one of the greatest platformers of all-time. While Epic Mickey: Rebrushed doesn’t have any glaring faults in its gameplay, it all just feels marginally unimaginative in the wake of such a powerhouse. If you’ve not played the original, then allow me to fill you in. In The Wasteland, Mickey is equipped with a paintbrush that can expel both paint and thinner. If you hadn’t guessed, that means you can both erase objects and fill them in - which forms the basis of most of the game’s ‘puzzles’ - although perhaps obstacles is a more apt word.

So too will you use the brush to deal with enemies, either using the thinner to erase them or the paint to convert them into friendlies that’ll fight for you. Boss fights too will also revolve around, that’s right, either thinning or painting. It is a fun mechanic that feels unique to Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. The problem is, you’re introduced to the concept of painting and thinning within the opening 5 minutes and that’s never really ever expanded upon. That’s your arsenal for the next 10 hours or so. Those who’ve played the original will likely know this, but for those who may be experiencing Epic Mickey: Rebrushed for the first time, it’s well worth pointing out that it is a bit of a one trick pony.

Naturally, the use of the paintbrush is much more fluid here than the first time around - no pun intended. Having originally launched on Wii, players would have previously wielded the dual Wii remotes in order to aim and paint. Here, it plays more similarly, I suppose, to a third-person shooter. Players can use the typical controls you’d find in a game of that genre to direct Mickey, aim the paint or thinner, all whilst controlling the camera. As such, the gameplay experience is much more comfortable.

Credit / THQ Nordic

Whether you favour thinner or paint has a very mild impact on the game. Use thinner and your thinner capacity will increase. Use paint and the same will happen for that, but that’s about the extent of how the gameplay experience will differ from player to player. At certain points, you’ll also be faced with minor choices. One such example falls in one of the game’s earliest levels. Should you open the treasure chest or save your caged gremlin friend? I opted for the latter and ended up with a pin - a collectible also found in treasure chests - so while there is a replayability incentive if you want to reach 100% completion, it’s on a pretty small scale.

I was very excited by the prospect of collecting pins as it’s something I do myself at Disney Parks. Upon completion of a major segment in the game, you will indeed receive a themed pin that looks like something you may actually pick up at The Emporium. For the most part though, if you find a hidden treasure chest or complete a side quest, you’re simply rewarded with a bronze, silver, or golden Mickey ear pin which, I’m circling back to that word, felt repetitive. As for those side quests, they’re collectible based too - many of which appeared in the original game. For example, animatronic versions of Daisy, Donald, and Goofy all find themselves missing body parts which you’ll need to collect.

I enjoyed the fact that some of these side quests really encouraged me to explore an area, stripping away items and walls to find hidden nooks and crannies that might be storing what I need but beyond my own personal desire to comb over an area, there wasn’t really much in the way of a reward incentive.

Credit / THQ Nordic

Where Epic Mickey: Rebrushed excels in its environments. The original game posed such an interesting concept, twisted versions of some of our favourite Disney Parks locations. Main Street is Mean Street. Haunted Mansion is Lonesome Manor. Adventureland is Ventureland - and so on and so forth. In the original game though, those environments were relatively basic but that’s not the case here. They’re wonderful to explore and admire.

Advancements in technology mean that much more depth and detail is possible this time around. Whether it’s The Wasteland’s spooky castle looming at the top of Mean Street or Skull Rock’s piercing red eyes watching over Ventureland, developers have excelled in creating some stellar lines of sight. In your immediate vicinity, there are far more interactive objects this time that you can paint or thin. From It’s A Small World to Pirates of the Caribbean, you’ll journey through some rides you know and love, albeit with different names and creepier aesthetics. The developers at Purple Lamp should be proud of how well they’ve built upon the original game’s environmental offering. This is a world Disney fans will delight in exploring and it’s that notion that pulled me on when the game felt a little lacking in fun elsewhere.

The 2D sidescrolling ‘projector screen’ levels have also received some nice upgrades. They function similarly to how they do in the original although there’s, again, more interactivity here. You may need to trigger the movement of a platform, for example, or switch on a light to stop a pesky ghost from bothering you. It’s subtle but it’s a welcomed upgrade. You do have to retread some of these levels up to four times in some instances though. ‘Jungle Rhythm’ is just one case study. It’s through this projector level that I entered Ventureland, having to leave via it too sometime later. In the game’s final showdown, once again did I have to journey over to Ventureland prompting another two playthroughs of ‘Jungle Rhythm’. I found myself on more than one occasion wishing for a fast travel option. If there is one, which there wasn’t in the original release, the game didn’t make it clear to me whatsoever.

Credit / THQ Nordic

While Epic Mickey: Rebrushed’s worlds were a delight to journey through, I do wish the soundscape had been a tad more exciting. I’m not talking about the soundtrack, which I really enjoyed. I’m talking about the voice acting or total lack of. When the original game launched, many reviewers criticised the lack of voice acting so I was really hoping we’d experience something different this time around but no - expect a text on screen situation while Mickey lets out the odd ‘chuckle’. If you’re to really immerse players in the wonderful world of Disney, surely it is imperative that you make sure Mickey Mouse of all characters is voiced?

You don’t particularly need voiced characters to provide for an interesting soundscape - and I could refer back to Astro Bot to make that point. But Epic Mickey: Rebrushed had little else going on besides the soundtrack other than the odd enemy chuckle or machine sound. The various lands had visually been made so much more complex only for the sound to feel at odds with this level of depth and detail.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a worthwhile play if you are a fan of Disney, particularly the Disney Parks, as there are plenty of visual nods that are a joy to see. After all, which of us wouldn’t want to platform up Space Mountain, or restore a dilapidated It’s a Small World? But for the casual platforming fan, you won’t find much here that you’ve likely not experienced before. Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is an improvement upon its predecessor, adding depth and nicely updating the controls, and with that, returning fans will find what is, overall, a satisfying experience. The problem is, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is also stuck in the past with its lack of innovation and in today’s market, it’s hard to overlook that.

Pros: More fluid controls, improved environments packed with additional detail

Cons: Lack of voice acting, repetitive, feels a tad too stuck in the past

For fans of: Crash Bandicoot, Astro Bot, Disney Illusion Island

6/10: Good

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is set to launch on 24 September on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (version tested), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.