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Welcome to your weekly update on what is interesting (at least in my opinion) in the world of Kickstarter campaigns for gaming.
Catching up with our previously covered campaigns, we’ve only a little bit to cover this time around. Three of the previously covered campaigns have met their goals successfully and have concluded campaign – these are Narita Boy, Cheap Golf (proving the success again of these quick 7-day campaigns), and GKR: Heavy Hitters. We wish them all a smooth development cycle and release.
As always though, it’s not all success and a few campaigns have finished under target. These are Behind the Rose and Stardust Runelord, two I particularly liked the look of. Neither have had a very recent update, although both finished fairly recently with Stardust Runelord in particular having finished only 5-6 hours ago as of time of writing. I can only hope that both developers find another avenue for their titles. Dragon Lore is also having a bit of trouble. It has 8 days to go but a very long way to climb to reach its goal.
A multiplayer title, the campaign’s page describes this game as “Counter-Strike meets World of Warships in Space!” The game takes place in a far future where mankind’s desires are being ruled by the big corporations and violence is always around the corner. Those who can will take, and other who have will defend. The game has apparently been in pre-production for around 3 years as they tried to develop the ships, weapons etc. properly with a physicist to simulate what it’d be like to fight in zero graivty and with zero friction.
STARFIGHTER INC has a $150,000 goal of which it has raised $78,655 so far. It has 18 more days to go.
Next up we have a space exploration game in which your ship is fuelled in a… unique manner.
The point of Passenger is that you want to explore the galaxy. Only your ship runs on literal soul-power. You need living souls to fuel your craft. So how do you get these souls? Travel to planets and convince the inhabitants you’re a god of course! Simple. You do this by observing the planet to find out their motivations before you land and promise them what they want in the afterlife. It’s a deliciously twisted concept… I love it.
Passenger has made CA$ 1,501of its CA$ 10,000goal. It only has 5 more days to run though, so be quick!
Third we have a settlement building and management game for PC and Mac.
King under the Mountain is set in a fantasy world in which you control a settlement and give commands to your settlers to have them harvest resources, build walls, furniture, and just generally make sure that everything is running smoothly. The view is a top-down one and it looks as if the building is tile-based. You can also take a party of settlers on adventures to other settlements (of other players) or into dungeons.
King under the Mountain has 29 more days to run to make its £45,000target. It has made £4,029 so far.
Finally we have a game that has in its subtitle that it “plays like rock paper scissor with badass weapons.” How could I not look at it with such a line?
Pawarumi is a shoot’em up game as you can tell from its title and sees you in control of a ship named Chukaru, armed with three different weapons in this setting that meets pre-Columbian Aztec design and futuristic space themes. Inspired by Dreamcast titles, the time is hoping to emulate the spirit of those games while still updating what needs to be to make the game fit for modern standards.
Pawarumi has made €2,571of a €15,000goal, with 29 days to go.
A lot of the games we see tend to follow set formulas, depending on its genre. Not that this is a bad thing, it’s what sells and what works. Every now and then though, we do get a game that’s a little bit… different.
Don’t Open the Doors is one of those games. Even from a glance you can see that it sets out to be different. A claymation indie game, you play as a ‘human’ in a colourful strange world that was forever changed when the ‘doors’ appeared and forced people to retreat from the city. You have been tasked with delivering the Megabomb to blow up the main door and save everyone… only you seem to be stuck in a world filled with people and other beings who only seem to want to backchat you and hinder you at every step. There are exceptions of course, but it’s notable how many things in this world are just plain rude to you.
Notice I said ‘things’ – a LOT of things in this game talk to you. Humans, pumpkins, bugs, cooking pots… you name it, there’s probably something of that type that will talk to you at some point in the game. Being sassed by insects is not what I expected from this game. However, it’s all made better by the fact that as soon as you get your first weapon (a hammer) you can take your revenge on some of what’s talking to you. In fact, with your hammer there’s an awful lot of things you can smash – try it on anything and everything and you might be surprised what explodes into a goo (clay?) puddle with a hit or two.
You do of course have a main quest, and its to do with this Megabomb you’re meant to deliver. Only you might need to learn how to make it again… so fetch quests are a thing in this game. However, you will also run into other beings who have small side quests for you and will give you things for completion so it’s best to wander around to find all you can. There’s a few hidden secrets that aren’t immediately obvious thanks to the game’s isometric viewpoint. Roam around, complete all you can, and talk to everyone – even those who don’t want to talk to you. You’ll find all kinds of useful items just by talking to and helping people or pumpkins.
I’d recommend this game if you want to play something different yet still very good. A lot of effort went into the claymation for the game and it shows. Moving in an isometric game is always one of the tripping points, but as long as you can get your head around it you should be alright. You aim and fire your weapon with the mouse anyway, so that’s one less thing to get confused with.
This weekend sees a publisher sale on Steam for Ubisoft’s many titles. Included are a number of the most recent titles as well as old favourites and popular past releases. The offers will only last for this weekend though, so you’ll need to be quick to grab anything.
The percentages off vary obviously, but included are Watch Dogs 2, Steep and For Honor (so if you’d been holding off until they were on sale, now’s the time); as well as titles such as South Park: The Stick of Truth, Rocksmith, Might and Magic Heroes VII and Child of Light. The Far Cry bundle is also on offer, along with a number of Assassin’s Creed games.
Some of the largest discounts are on Rainbow Six Siege (50% off), The Division (50% again), South Park: The Stick of Truth (a massive 75%) and the previously mentioned Far Cry bundle at 60% discount.
If you’re interested in any of these games, check out Ubisoft catalogue for the full game list and all the discounts available.
So, a leak of a bit of artwork for the next Call of Duty game has led to speculation that the next game will be returning to World War II as its setting.
The leak contains a few images, some being the game’s poster and others potential steelbook designs, all of which hint that Sledgehammer Games are returning the franchise to its roots for 2017’s Call of Duty installment. The images show a group of Allied soldiers storming the beach on D-Day.
Originally sent to a Youtuber who plays Call of Duty (TheFamilyVideoGamers), the screenshots where then compiled by other fans and posted to a subreddit called r/WWII. According to a mod of the subreddit the leaks seemed plausible with “the user [having] leaked plenty in the past,” noting that they also leaked Infinite Warfare before that was released. Others threw doubts onto the legitimacy, saying that the images had been taken from Saving Private Ryan, although since the post was made other sources with insider knowledge have come forward to gaming presses with the same game title as was in the poster – so it’s looking like this is the real deal.
Call of Duty games that went into the future have underperformed recently, so it’s no big surprise if they are taking it back to the game’s origin, especially as a recent financial report stated that Call of Duty would be taken “back to its roots” with the latest installment with “traditional combat taking center stage”.
