True Villain is a 2D game (technically 2.5D) that’s been in the works since July 23rd, 2019. It was briefly cancelled in 2020 and picked back up in development in late 2023. The game is primarily inspired by Streets Of Rage.
Cartoonies
Before True Villain existed, there was an earlier project not long before it named Cartoonies. It was also a 2D game. The difference however, Cartoonies was going to have 4 playable characters as opposed to 1 in True Villain.
Many of the same concepts and mechanics from this game carried over into True Villain’s development. Although not given names at the time, Cartoonies had nearly the same ideas for worlds as True Villain. Cartoonies’ characters also had a beany and bubbly build to them, which isn’t too far off from True Villain.
Overall, Cartoonies directly inspired the development of True Villain. However, because True Villain was the superior development at the time, Cartoonies was scrapped.