Renegade Kid’s up and coming platformer Treasurenauts is a real treasure. We played it for a while during a recent demo in New York City and loved the gameplay, which includes old-school graphics, super challenging levels, several characters, different weapon choices and boatloads of loot.

Just like in Sonic games, the goal is to collect as much treasure as possible (instead of rings, of course). If you take a hit on each level, all of the treasure comes bouncing out of you and you’ll need to re-collect it to make sure you don’t die again. Thankfully, the levels are chock full of loot to stock up on. From the get-go, you’ll choose one of four characters and a weapon, either a sword, a gun or a bomb.

As you progress, you’ll notice that different weapon choices will make your life a lot easier. A sword might not work on a level where it’s going to be easier to toss a bomb at an enemy, for example. There are 20 different levels to choose from, so your strategy is also going to need to change as you  move throughout the game. I know mine needs to change before it launches – I died about 50 times just trying to beat a single jungle level.

Thankfully, though, there’s a multiplayer aspect. So if you’re dead set on using a sword, your buddy can take advantage of the bombs or a gun. Multiplayer is available locally, and your friend does not need to own the game – you can share a single copy.

Renegade Kid didn’t say when Treasurenauts is launching, though I’m personally adding it to my “must-have” library.