Bold statement: A legendary Mario spin-off creator reemerges with a bold, uncharted project that blends nostalgia with fresh experimentation. But here’s where it gets controversial: is Bradley the Badger a risky leap or a well-deserved evolution for a creator who shaped a genre-bending hit?
Davide Soliani, the creative lead behind the Mario + Rabbids crossover, has unveiled his first original project since departing Ubisoft and launching Day 4 Night Studios. The project, Bradley the Badger, fuses classic platforming with inventive twists and a meta narrative in which players assist the video game mascot through what the creator defines as unfinished work. The reveal trailer aired at The Game Awards 2025 and cheekily nods to Bloodborne, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us, with Marvel star Evan Peters voicing Bradley.
Bradley the Badger marks the debut release from Day 4 Night Studios, a studio Soliani formed with industry veteran Christian Cantamessa, known for work on Red Dead Redemption, Shadow of Mordor, and Perfect Dark. The team also includes former Ubisoft colleagues Cristina Nava, Gian Marco Zanna, and Luca Breda, who previously contributed to Mario + Rabbids, Just Dance, and Ghost Recon.
In the game, players explore a world built from Bradley’s creator’s in-progress projects, navigating these environments using an in-game Developer Kit. The experience also includes live-action sequences that frame Bradley’s journey as a collaboration with the creator.
A press blurb describes Bradley the Badger as “a love letter to games, creativity, and everyone who has ever felt stuck in their career or artistic journey.” The experience promises to expand beyond traditional game worlds with brief live-action moments that dissect tropes, genres, and styles drawn from contemporary games and media.
Soliani rose to prominence as the endearing mind behind Mario + Rabbids, a surprisingly delightful strategy game that merged Nintendo charm with a whimsical tactics framework. His emotional response to the game’s enthusiastic reception at E3 2017 became iconic. Soliani left Ubisoft in 2024 after 25 years, following the release of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot later expressed regret about launching Sparks of Hope prematurely, noting it might have benefited from a later Switch window.
Soliani described Day 4 Night’s mission as a personal expression: “What we are crafting at Day 4 Night is a reflection of everything I’ve ever wanted to experience as a player—joy, adventure, poetry, action, wonder, and the pleasure of working with friends. It’s a lullaby for my soul and a serenade to our industry, to the magic and the madness of creating worlds from nothing. It’s a story about triumphs, challenges, dreams, to light the path we walk together.”
For further details, IGN’s Tom Phillips covers the development and context. If you’d like, I can pull together a concise comparison of Bradley the Badger’s concept with Soliani’s previous Mario + Rabbids project to highlight how the new game differentiates itself while leveraging Soliani’s signature design sensibilities.
Would you like that comparative breakdown, or should I craft a version tailored for a beginner audience, with added examples of what “in-progress work” gameplay might look like in practice?
