Virtual pets are pretty cool. Raise, take care of, and ensure the safety of a little virtual creature that lives inside your pocket or on a keychain. Fun stuff. But wouldn’t it be even cooler if that little pet actually, you know, did something meaningful? I mean you raise this thing from birth, and what does it ever end up doing besides constantly needing to eat, bathe, and play? That is (sort of) the question Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago from 14 Hours Productions is trying to answer. This is a hybrid of virtual pet game and old-school role-playing game. Hatch an egg containing an elf and raise that elf to become a glorious warrior, that you will send out to do battle and obtain riches while you kick back and relax. And when I say this is an old-school-style game, think OG Game Boy era. Yolk Heroes does a phenomenal job of capturing that Game Boy aesthetic, check out this trailer.

Man, I love this idea. Except, now that I think about it, won’t it be extra hard to raise this elf person from birth, caring for it like it’s your own child, only to see it die in battle because you sent them out into the harsh world to do RPG stuff? Yeah, most definitely. But you know what? You can just get another egg, and raise another elf hero, and before long you’ll probably forget all about that last one. Or last twenty. Whatever. As the game’s press release itself says, “You can’t save a realm without breaking a few eggs, after all." No specific release date has been set for Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago, but it will be coming to iOS, Android, and PC “soon" and currently you can Wishlist the PC version on Steam.