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It’s time for your weekly look into some of the interesting stuff going on with gaming Kickstarter campaigns, starting as always with a little update on things I’ve previously covered.
We’ll start with the good news first as there’s quite a lot of it! Many of the previously covered campaigns have concluded with full met and in some cases very much bypassed goals. Among these are LEGRAND LEGACY, Tortuga 1667, The Pedestrian, Pitch Deck, Sundered, and finally, having made its goal in time – BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION. We look forward to seeing these campaigns progress into good games.
However, it’s not all good news. Project Life has 20 hours to go on its campaign as of time of writing, and it has made barely any of its target so I can’t see it succeeding which is a shame. The funding campaign for the Apocalypse Now game has now been cancelled and crowdfunding has moved to a dedicated site at ApocalypseNow.com with Kickstarter backers being able to grab a tier above the one they pledge to as a thanks for their support thus far. The campaign hadn’t been going well anyway, so we’ll have to see if this game becomes a reality.
Finally, there has been no change in the status of the Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game, although it has now emerged that Frontier were not the ones filing the claim, but rather someone outside of the company. The matter is apparently ongoing and I will update if we get any further news.
First up we have a game that pays homage to 1940s murder mysteries.
Innocence is a survival horror-type game that is a throwback to the same classics of the genre during the PS1-era,and has two playable characters – one a female and the other a male. They are put onto a case located on an island that a year ago was the talk of everyone for the murder of a nine-year-old girl, only to be greeted by a great sense of supernatural uneasy that isn’t helped much by the island’s residents.
Innocence has a $7,500 goal, with stretch goals up to $20,000, and has made $21 so far. It has another 49 days to go.
Next up we have another game that aims to bring back the good old days of survival horror. I swear this wasn’t intentional on my part.
Daymare: 1998 is another survival horror game with people in the team who worked on Resident Evil games in the past and the sub-title of the campaign page describes this game as “Resident Evil 2 Reborn!” Third-person, with puzzles to solve, a need for strategic fighting and resource gathering, it’s pretty much what you would expect from this genre. The team behind it are hoping to get it released on Steam, PS4 and Xbox One if successful.
Daymare: 1998 has 24 days to go, and has made €25,740 of its €180,000 goal.
Next we have a game that I’ve been hearing about a lot this week on Twitter.
Shardbound is called a “tactical Collectible Card Game that gives streamers and their viewers exciting new ways to interact and play together on Twitch!” on its campaign page, which tells you which audience the developers are targeting with this game. Interactive gaming on Twitch is a big thing, and its nice to see another one in the works. The game has been in the works for 2 years and is currently in a private pre-Alpha testing phase.
Shardbound’s promotion has paid off, as they’ve already made their $50,000 and bypassed it. It has 25 more days to go though, so who knows where it’ll be at the end of that?
Lastly we have a game that sounds like a survival crafter game, but hold on.
SmuggleCraft is a game about hovercrafts. More specifically, it’s a quest-based hovercraft game in which you smuggle stuff, customise your craft and participate in a storyline with branching narrative. This is apparently a racing game, but it does seem like the developers wanted to make it more than just that which is nice. Smuggling quests can be legal or not so, and which ones you accept and even if you choose to follow through or steal the cargo for your own needs can have an effect on your narrative for the rest of the game.
SmuggleCraft has made $3,863 of its $15,000 goal, with 25 more days to go.
At the moment Microsoft are pushing their idea of cross-play between Windows 10 and Xbox One hard. ReCore and Gears of War 4 were both released as Xbox and Windows exclusives, with Play Anywhere also being a big thing they’re currently pushing. Halo Wars 2 will be the next, coming out on February 21st and according to Phil Spencer Microsoft are planning to focus hard on PC gaming in 2017.
His words were that Microsoft has a “bigger and more differentiated” first-party lineup for this year, with highlights including Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2. Spencer believes that “2017 is going to be an incredible year for Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers” but they’ve still got a ways to go before they can overcome the reputation for PC gaming that ‘Games For Windows Live’ left them with years back.
Only time will tell if Microsoft can live up to the promises Spencer is making. I hope that they will somewhat, I really am looking forward to Sea of Thieves with the other station staff. If you want to read the full interview where Spencer talked about this, the full article can be found over at VG247.
If you were hoping to get your hands on Halo Wars 2 physically and live in the States, I’ve some bad news. Microsoft have officially cancelled the production of the physical edition of the game in the US – although digital copies will still be available.
Speaking to Halo Waypoint, 343’s community manager Brian Jarrard said “Our retail plans have shifted and Microsoft has made the decision to focus the release of the physical retail version to Europe only. We apologise to any customers affected by the change in our retail plans, and thank everyone for the continued support as we look forward to the release of Halo Wars 2 for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.”
Originally THQ Nordic was supposed to be responsible for the physical edition as they did with Microsoft for both Quantum Break and Ori and the Blind Forest’s physical editions, but now it seems plans have changed it seems. If you want a physical copy now, you’ll have to get one imported from Europe or elsewhere. The Windows Store will still have digital copies available globally though of course.
Halo Wars 2 will release on February 21st, and will be a Play Anywhere title, so if you buy for Windows 10 you can still play it on your Xbox One and vice-versa.
