Kickstarter Roundup – May
Last month we started an article segment where we pick a handful of promising looking games on Kickstarter hoping to gain funding. Moving forward I will recap how those games did and then pick a handful more for you. Here is how the Kickstarter April games did:
- BackBone: With 2,362 backers, it reached $95,280 with their goal only being $63,000. They were able to reach 5 of their stretch goals which included Voiceover and ports to the PS4/Xbox One/Switch.
- Solar Warden: With only 432 backers, Solar Warden barely made it past their $40,000 goal. Unfortunately they were asking for $50k to include a first-person cockpit mode, but at least the game got what it needed to become a thing.
- Faeland: With 2,441 backers they knocked it out of the park by receiving $57,384 after only asking for a reasonable $29k. They nailed most of their stretch goals which includes a character creator, more weapons and a whip and a New Game + mode.
- Dolmen: Unfortunately it wasn’t able to reach its high asking price of $90k. With 925 backers, it only achieved $42,701 which is a shame because the game looked like a ton of fun. There is some hope since they are continuing their crowdfunding on Crytivo if you still want to get involved.
- The Good Life: 12,613 backers donated a total of ¥81,030,744(Yen) to get this interesting game from SWERY and Yukio Futatsugi funded. The only stretch goal it had was for ¥88M to bring it to Nintendo Switch, but since they didn’t get that much, the additional funds will go into more content.
- Pantropy: This was my ‘Keep Your Eye On’ title, but it seems plenty of people are excited for this one. With 2,024 backers it destroyed it’s funding goal by €54,679 reaching stretch goals that include additional bosses, PvE servers, hiring a professional writer for backstory, and a single player mode.
It seems that the majority of the games picked have a promising future, so lets dive into our May round up.
198X
This one may be more for the old folks or those who love some good retro action. How about a game that mixes all of the popular genres from the 80’s all in one game? Beat ’em Ups, Shoot ’em Ups, Racing, Ninja Gaiden-esque game and an RPG are all included.
“198X is an arcade epic. A coming-of-age story told through multiple games and genres, worlds and characters. Experience the thrill of shooting, driving, jumping, fighting and role-playing – combined with emotional, cinematic storytelling. Welcome to the world of 198X – where a new life is just 1 credit away.”
Grimshade
A story-driven RPG with a myriad of item and skills to choose from. Depending on the gear you equip, your gameplay can be completely different. There is a lot of promise in this non-linear story where all of your actions have an impact and I personally hope they nail it.
“Every decision you make has a profound effect on the destiny of the characters, the storyline and the way battles are fought. Explore a varied and intricate world, meet new characters, uncover secrets connected to the plot, and go treasure-hunting; the world around changes as you advance and pushes you deeper into the story.”
Albatross
“If Limbo married Portal, we’d be the baby.” Is how the creator tries to explain the game. That sold me right there! Albatross is a Cerebral Cinematic 2.5D Side-Scrolling Puzzle Platformer Game with the ability to time travel at the press of a button.
“You play as STEWART: a lowly tech genius who stumbles into an underground research facility named ALBATROSS that is dedicated to the study of time travel. You quickly discover a strange device spattered with blood, and you’re pretty certain it’s only a matter of time before you and your sweater-vest get in big trouble for being here.
Then you turn it on… and realize that with the press of a button you’re now able to time-jump between the retro-present (1984) and many years into the future (where everything’s much worse than 1984). As the mystery unfolds and you discover the terrible truth of what happened to everyone living in Albatross, you’ll have to solve increasingly daunting puzzles using time travel, a firm grasp of causality, and your own raw mental genius muscles… if you want to get out, alive.”
Steamboat Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan
Maybe it’s because Cuphead was one of my favorite games last year or maybe I’m just a sucker for the handcrafted old school art style, but Steamboat Billy looks like a ton of fun. Taking inspiration from Zelda, Pokemon and Cuphead, Steamboat Billy is an epic adventure-RPG where you need to bring back the color in the world you once knew.
“Most succinctly described as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker meets Pokémon, Steamboat Billy is a singleplayer adventure-RPG set in a classic Disney-like universe in which you must defeat and capture strange monsters while sailing the dark seas, in order to rebuild and bring back color to the world you once knew!
Once every millennia, the Great Leviathan emerges from the ocean’s depths to curse the world into monochromatic chaos! By exploring land and sea, collecting treasures and creatures along the way, you will need to combat the Leviathan’s cronies and rebuild the city of Star Harbor in order to restore the color to the world!”
Hellbound
I’m a sucker for some demon slaying, and what better way to do that then mixing all of my favorite demon slaying games together with a wonderful mix of the classic 90’s style with todays visuals? Hellbound is aiming to take the classic fast paced mechanics and gameplay styles of the old DOOM, Quake, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior and Serious Sam and give it a fresh coat of paint. Yes, a handful of these games have already gotten a new age reboot, but they also leave out some classic elements which the creator Tobias Rusjan goes into detail about in the trailer.
“You play as Hellgore, a huge ass mother f**ker who loves killing Demons in Hell.
That’s it. Actually… there’s a cool story too, but it doesn’t really matter for now.”
Keep An Eye On – Edge of Time Ep 1: Rise of the Aeus
This one came a bit later in May, but it caught my attention with it’s unique looking story. There are a couple reasons why it’s my ‘Keep An Eye On’ game though. The combat looks a bit janky and barebones and the game is also split into episodes which I generally don’t care for. The story, puzzles and environments look fun though and I hope they can get the combat to look a bit better.
“It is the year 2074. Earth has been ravaged by a race of monsters called the “Aeus.” Their origin is unknown. Their intentions are unclear. And as far as humanity can tell, they are immortal.
For seven years, humans have fought for survival. The war has reached every corner of the world, destroying civilization as we know it. What’s left of humanity has organized into what is now known as the Resistance.
Desperate to fight back, the Resistance pursues rumors of a mysterious Shard with the power to banish the immortals for good. Crow, Erin, and Rave lead a small group of resistance fighters to a remote island where the Shard is said to be hidden.”
That’s it for this month! Any of these games interest you? If you backed any come and tell us which one or let us know of any you think should get some spot light! Check back with us next month to see how these games did.