Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed was provided by THQ Nordic for review. Thank you!

Of all the games I got to play at Gamescom last month, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed stood out to me. The team went out of their way to showcase the game on the Steam Deck for me, and not only did I appreciate it, but it was running exceptionally well so far. I have been very excited about the release, as I didn't get to experience the original back in the day, and I can see why it is so loved. Even though I did get lost at some points, this is a fantastic 3D platformer that has one of the best Mickey Mouse stories I have ever experienced.

Visually, Epic Mickey is stunning. I have always loved the look of these games with their oil-paint aesthetic, gorgeous vibrant colors, and worlds that are modeled after well-known attractions that we have all come to love from Disney. It's a delightfully dark re-imagining of these places and characters, making it hauntingly enjoyable to walk through and experience. The cartoony aesthetic is still there, making it feel like a Disney game through and through, but developer Purple Lamp molded it exceptionally well with a more dramatic, darker tone that I fell in love with.

The atmosphere and ambiance of each world that I visited was filled with a different emotion and feeling, and a mixture of gleeful optimism and perpetual cynicism. Even the dark roads of Mean Street still had colored buildings with people looking optimistic, while the much more color and vibrant Ostown still had its pockets of mean people and a really aggressive telephone who wouldn't give me back a wrench I needed.

The projector levels are just as masterfully crafted, and I love the focus on the older cartoons from Disney's past. These levels are 2D recreations of cartoons like Steamboat Willie, Mickey and the Beanstalk, and Trolley Troubles, and each one felt unique and relevant to the cartoons they are based off of.

Epic Mickey's story shocked me a bit as well. I knew the general concept going in, but the way it was executed was just phenomenal. It begins with Mickey screwing up and ruining a magical painting and, years later, getting sucked in after his mistake set off a chain of events demolishing this otherworldly place. As we soon discover, this is where forgotten Disney characters ended up, and while they all recognize and know Mickey, he finds it hard to remember any of them. Now, he has to use a magical brush to save this world from getting overrun by the Mad Scientist and The Blot.

It's so intriguing to see how these characters interact and watch their disdain with Mickey as they all suffer due to his popularity. Most are more on the optimistic side with him, but there are some who feel slighted by his overshadowing of their work. And with all the levels being based on Disney attractions and forgotten locations and the projector levels being based on the very classic cartoons, it all becomes an exciting ride to go through.

For the most part, the gameplay holds up completely, though I did find some small issues as I played. This is a 3D platformer, so you will be jumping from platform to platform, fighting some enemies that appear, completing quests given by the townspeople, and solving puzzles. The main mechanic of the game is the magical paintbrush, which you can use to make objects appear and disappear from existence. It's an awesome mechanic, and I love that you can utilize it so easily to manipulate the world. There are a ton of secrets to find behind some of these objects, and in the end, it becomes interesting to make objects come and go to see what could be hiding behind them.

However, I did find myself getting a little lost at times. With quests to do to further the story and some missable ones, it was easy to get lost. This primarily happened in the "hub" worlds like Mean Street and Ostown, but I would get turned around trying to figure out what to do next. There is a quest log you can look at, though I noticed it wouldn't give specifics. You can also use a Guardian to show you where to go, but it only shows you to the next location you have to go to and does not give you a hint on how to unlock that spot. It's small in the grand scheme, and if you are paying attention, this won't really be an issue, but I completely forgot a small conversation I had with Pete in Mean Street and didn't know where to go to start the race to get a specific gear I needed to unlock the next level.

There are also a solid amount of collectibles in the game, and it was interesting to see all of them. This ranged from concept art to film reels of these old cartoons. It gave a good reason to come back in and play the game again, and it actually made me want to dive back in once it was all done.

And yes, it is just as good on the Steam Deck as I had hoped.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed - Steam Deck Performance

After playing Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed at Gamescom last month, I had a good feeling the game would be very playable on the Steam Deck, and I was not disappointed! It runs wonderfully on the Deck, and in almost all areas, I would consider this a perfect portable experience. However, there are a few little issues I wanted to make note of.

Of all the settings you can play with, there are really only two that make any sizable difference in performance: Downscale and XeSS upscaling. The other quality settings do make some difference, but it is minor in comparison with the other two. For example, when testing for battery life settings, bringing all quality settings except Downscale and XeSS down brought my framerate from 36 FPS to 42 FPS. In comparison, bringing Downscale to 85% and XeSS to Quality while keeping everything else at Ultra quality got me to the 45 FPS cap with some leeway for lower battery drain.

So for these settings, I mostly focused on Downscale and XeSS, with some minor changes to the others for slight stability purposes. There may be some one-off areas that are especially hard on the system, like the Cinema on Mean Street, but the majority of the game is incredible to play and such a good time. Choosing the recommended setting was hard here as well since the two builds I have are both fantastic, so this is more of a personal recommendation for my own priorities, with the other one being an equally great option.

Recommended Settings

So for me, I wanted to keep a very good image quality while maximizing battery life. There are some bigger areas in the game, like in towns like Ostown or Mean Street where drain can get pretty high due to how big the area is. So, with a 45 FPS cap, I was able to set a TDP limit of 8 with Downscale at 85%, XeSS at Quality, and the other settings in a mixture of High and Ultra.

The downscale and XeSS sacrifices don't come out much on the smaller screen, but they still look fantastic overall, and it allows the battery to stick under 13W for over 4.5 hours of game time. Other areas in the game will go even lower, but I felt this was a fantastic compromise to make the most out of portable play. The game still looks great, feels much smoother than 30 FPS, and will not drain your battery in the hardest-hitting areas, not including the one-off areas like the Cinema.

Quality/Framerate Settings

Then, we have the best quality and framerate combination I could find. There were sacrifices trying to do quality or framerate alone, but there is a combination that works quite well. With a 55 FPS lock and a Downscale setting of 95%, we can keep everything at Ultra, XeSS disabled, and stick to a stable framerate. Some cutscenes will drop a little, but actual gameplay will stick to the 55 FPS mark.

Most areas aren't super demanding and will get around 13W battery drain, but the bigger areas like Mean Street and Ostown will drain up to 20W, so there's no TDP limit to account for those. This is a great way to experience the game, though, and if you are near an outlet, I don't see why you wouldn't just use this. I only preferred the recommended due to saving battery, but if you don't care, this is perfect.

Accessibility

Epic Mickey does have an accessibility tab for color blindness, supporting Deuteranopia, Protanopia, and Tritanopia. We can also reduce in-game chatter, invert and change camera sensitivity, toggle vibration, change text and audio language separately, change audio sliders, and remap controls.

The game does support 16:10 resolutions, as well as controllers and cloud saves. There are no HDR settings.

Conclusion

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a fantastic reimagining of a solid 3D platformer that should not be missed. It has a fantastic story, beautiful worlds, and an intriguing painting mechanic to bring objects both in and out of existence that make it fun to just play around and solve puzzles with. I did get a little lost at times, and the platforming isn't going to compete with some of the greats out now, but it's one of my favorite Disney/Mickey experiences and I 100% recommend it. It also runs beautifully on the Steam Deck, and developer Purple Lamp has done a great job to ensure that it is all good to play on the go.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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