Bradley is not just a badger. It is the icon of a platform video game. But the world he knows is no longer the same. Thus begins a surreal journey between videogame universes with the aim of save your home and the friends who live there. This is the short synopsis of Bradley the Badgerthe debut title of Day 4 Nightpresented for the first time at the Game Awards 2025. Day 4 Night is an Italian development studio that counts among its founders Davide Soliani, Cristina Nava and Christian Cantamessa. Veteran figures from Ubisoft Milan and Rockstar Gamesready for a new professional chapter with their own video game idea.
Because Bradley the Badger intrigues
In the trailer screened at the latest edition of the Game Awards, we see Bradley ready to start a new day at Dreamwoods. Yet, once you enter the door of the house, what stands out before the eyes of the friendly badger is a horrifying world inhabited by monsters. Subsequently Bradley finds himself in a cyberpunk dystopia and then in a post-apocalyptic setting. They are all quotes from video games that are famous today, such as Bloodborn, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Last of Us. A strange context, made so by particular details. Some elements of these worlds, in fact, seem incomplete, still in development, such as buildings with the writing “awaiting review” and objects made of only polygons, without textures.
To overcome all these oddities, the protagonist can interact with the environment, altering scenarios, changing the shapes of his body and much more. In short, Bradley the Badger presents itself not as a simple platformer in which you have to jump from one obstacle to another, but as a structured action-adventure where environmental interaction is central. What is truly surprising, however, is the final scene of the trailer. Here Bradley’s virtual worlds give way to harsh reality: a man, played by the American actor Evan Petershe screams after a traumatic awakening.
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The result is a cryptic but intriguing trailer, to the point of making Bradley the Badger one of the most discussed titles after the Game Awards. One of the main gaming information sites, Kotakudefined the title of Day 4 Night as “the real star” of the Los Angeles event. The comments under the official trailer are also positive. “For me the most anticipated game of 2026,” reports a user on YouTube. “One of the few new titles that caught my interest,” says another. And Gamestop headlines: “Mario Has 3D-Platformer Competition In The Form Of A Cute, Confused Badger.”
A return to old video game mascots?
Bradley the Badger also arouses curiosity for its protagonist, a badger. An apparently anachronistic choice, given that the era of Sonic, Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper ended at the beginning of the 2000s. Later, animal mascots gave way to more mature, and therefore more human, heroes and heroines. Today, in most mainstream video game production, animals are just elements to be collected or consumed. Bradley the Badger breaks the mold by bringing back the past, not for nostalgic purposes, but to reinterpret it in an innovative and experimental way. A path already opened by titles such as Astro Botthe modern platformer from PlayStation: its success has demonstrated how videogame genres and characters have no expiration dates. You just need to make them in line with current possibilities. Bradley the Badger seems to want to reiterate this concept.
Additional information comes from the game’s official page on Steam. The developers call it “a love letter to video games” but in a satirical way. A declination already evident from the trailer: Bradley is aware of being a video game character, breaking the fourth wall over and over again. Added to this are the developing environmental elements mentioned above, which reiterate the metafictional nature of the game.
To conclude, Bradley the Badger managed to catalyze the attention of critics and the public on himself thanks to a trailer and a Steam page. Then consider the personalities involved in the development, who count titles such as Mario + Rabbids, Red Dead Redemption and GTA: San Andreasit’s easy to raise expectations.
In an industry increasingly focused on safe formulas and hyper-realistic universes, Bradley the Badger seems to want to remind you that video games can still play with themselves, question their own rules and surprise. Behind the mascot appearance and the obvious references, the Day 4 Night project offers a glimpse of a broader reflection on the identity of the medium. For now it’s just a promise: the launch of Bradley the Badger is undated. At the moment we only know that will arrive in 2026 on PC via Steam.
