crowd-funding Archives - Page 19 of 22

Igarashi’s Castlevania Spiritual Successor Now on Kickstarter

Video games No Responses » Tagged with: bloodstained, crowd-funding

May 112015

Castlevania: Symphonia of the Night producer Koji Igarashi caused a stir among fans last week when he created the “Sword or Whip?” website that seemed to hint at a Castlevania-like game. Today, he unveiled his new project, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is being developed with Inti Creates, and Michiru Yamane will provide the music. It also coins the term Igavania, “a gothic, exploration-focused action platformer.” I’m not sure if this will catch on as a subgenre name the way Metroidvania has, but it does make for a much easier hashtag than the game’s full title.

The main appeal is the gameplay, which focuses on exploration, crafting, and RPG elements. It’s a 2.5D Gothic-style game clearly inspired by Castlevania, although it uses its own lore rather than classic figures such as Dracula. In Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, you play a girl named Miriam who is suffering from a curse that slowly crystallizes her skin. She has been summoned to the hellish castle by Gebel, who survived the curse but has gone insane due to its effects.

I really love the character designs shown so far.

Miriam, the protagonist

Gebel, the antagonist.

Johannes, a support character.
Also the only Alchemist who thought summoning demons was a bad idea.

Although it hasn’t seen the insane success of Yooka-Laylee (the Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor that destroyed its funding goal almost immediately), Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is already well on its way to being funded. (Update: within two hours since I wrote this, it met its goal.) You should still check out the Kickstarter, though, if not for the backer rewards then to learn about the special backer achievements. New things will be added to the game or as backer rewards when people follow the game on Twitter, create fan art, etc.

The Kickstarter video is also pretty cool.

It’s planned for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, in both digital and retail formats. This is great news for all Castlevania fans, and even those of us who have gotten into the series slowly (I’ve played… one). Spread the word, and then let me know in the comments what your favorite Castlevania game is!

Don’t Forget the Clive ‘N’ Wrench Kickstarter

Video games 1 Response » Tagged with: 3D platformer, clive n wrench, crowd-funding

Mar 042015

If you enjoyed my post on upcoming 3D platformers, you were probably interested in my subsequent 3D platformer posts as well.

One of the games I discussed, Clive ‘N’ Wrench (called Clive and the Stones of the Ancient Bunnies at the time) didn’t have its Kickstarter going at the time I wrote about it, but it does now.

Clive and Wrench themselves have undergone a bit of a change since we last saw them, with their character models changed slightly to make them look friendlier. We’ve also learned some new details about the world structure, such as the giant celestial clock that serves as the hub world, with doors to 10 worlds in different eras.

The game has 18 more days to make its £25,000 goal, so head on over to the Kickstarter page to learn more about it and maybe even help it out.

Meanwhile, I still don’t know anything about the eventual Fiona Frightening Kickstarter, but you can now listen to the theme song. It’s pretty awesome and has a definite Nightmare Before Christmas vibe.

What do you think about these two 3D platformers?

Edge of Eternity Pre-Alpha Demo

Video games 1 Response » Tagged with: crowd-funding, rpg

Feb 232015

Like Cosmic Star Heroine, one of my most-anticipated games of 2015, the new Kickstarter project Edge of Eternity got my attention because it’s described as a tribute to classic JRPGs. The indie developer is even named Midgar Studio, and while that could be a reference to Norse mythology’s Midgard, chances are good it’s a shout-out to the city of Midgar from a certain JRPG.

Edge of Eternity includes the work of Yasunori Mitsuda, who composed music for games like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Xenosaga, Soul Sacrifice, and Kid Icarus: Uprising, among others.

I love the idea of a new JRPG like this, although its description of itself as open world disappoints me. On the other hand, some people use “open world” to just mean games with lots of open areas, and I will try an open world game that appeals to me enough.

Best of all, there’s an Edge of Eternity demo available from the Kickstarter page. I downloaded it to see what it was all about, and you can watch my demo playthrough below in three parts.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Edge of Eternity definitely has some interesting concepts, and I enjoy its clear JRPG inspirations. Combat was fun (although as you can see I settled in on the strictly turn-based style), and the environments were beautiful. Until my struggles at the end, it looked like it had the potential for great exploration–but I’m still not sure just how “open” this open world will be.

If you watched my playthrough of the Edge of Eternity pre-alpha demo… first, I apologize for the ending disaster. Second, what do you think about the game? If you’ve played the Edge of Eternity demo yourself, how did you enjoy it?

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