The 6 Times I Got The Look From the Wife
Or how I backed 6 new gaming Kickstarter campaigns so far this year.
“We’ve collected your pledge”
Those dreaded, yet joyful, famous last words. At the exact moment that my future gaming hopes and dreams were at their highest… I get shot with “the look” from across the room. If you’ve been with someone for any moderate length of time you know what I’m talking about.
I’m dead. This is the last one for me, goodbye cruel awesome world.
I quickly remembered that told her I wouldn’t back any more projects this year. Yet here we are at these crossroads again.
Locked in a vicious stare somewhere between the lands of dread and joy.
Okay so maybe this isn’t 100% accurate but I swear it feels exactly like this sometimes. Because who can resist a few new Kickstarter projects?
The massive potential of buying in early and reaping all of the early backer rewards. You’ll be too busy playing the new hotness to notice your friends sitting on the sidelines waiting for release day.
They will all be envious of your pins, posters, physical copies, and sweet new in-game skins. This is Kickstarter.
Cyber Knights
This was one of the first titles I backed this year and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
No seriously, you’ll soon find out why.
I’ve been familiar with a few Trese Brothers games in the past, having played both Star Traders Frontiers and Heroes of Steel. Cyber Knights aims to blow all of their existing titles straight out of the water. You know why?
Because the Trese Brothers run some of the best Kickstarter campaigns I have ever seen.
It all starts after seeing the campaign and entering the Trese Brothers Discord. You are greeted by the most welcoming community they have built. Andrew and Cory, the 2010 founders of the company, are also there.
And everyone is hanging out like you’re sitting on the highest tech back porch ever created. You can feel the electric hype in the air.
Back the campaigns now, upgrade your pledge, sell your grandma’s soul to your neighbor. Whatever it takes, I soon found myself wanting to be part of this cyberpunk wave.
Mark my words.. Keep an eye on the Trese Brothers.
There is no doubt in my mind that one day they will become a AAA game studio if they can rough the weathered land of indie games for 10 years.
Lazr
It’s a Clothformer. Yes, you heard me correctly and no, I didn’t spell platformer wrong.
This is one you have to see with your own eyeballs first.
Lazr is one of the smaller projects I’ve backed this year. A total of 421 backers pledged $10,432.
It also has a small Discord server where Garrick Campsey is always posting inside looks into the development process or how he magically created this cool new physics thing with a bunch of math.
Cool story bro.
Lazr is going to kill it once it hits the digital storefronts. Speedrunners better buy new shoes to run in while the rest of us should go out and seek out the true meaning of tryhard.
Rose of Starcross
I shouldn’t have to explain myself for this one. You all have played Undertale, right?
Right?
I’ll be honest with you. I straight up backed this one and one thing only. It looks, feels, and sounds like Undertale.
That’s not a bad thing, right?
No, of course, it isn’t. I’m the one footing the bill remember. We’ll get to play Rose of Starcross later in 2022. That is if we can all make it out of 2020 alive and well.
I am sort of disappointed in this campaign in that it didn’t offer any early Alpha or Beta phase. There might be one, but it wasn’t specifically listed in the campaign so no promises.
It’s also a loooong way out. After the year we’ve been having to live in 2020 I can’t imagine what 2022 will look like.
Sea of Stars
Fear of missing out is real folks! Look no further than all of my friends telling me I should look at the yummiest looking turn-based RPG.
STOP right there! You have me at “turn-based”.
If you’ve ever read any of my reviews at either Nindie Nexus or SwitchRPG you’d have noticed by now that I’m a huge fan of tactical turn-based RPG’s. Both Deep Sky Derelicts, Transistor, and Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics are but a few of the best turn-based games I’ve played recently.
Once again we have to wait until 2022 until this game comes to fruition. Everything from the pixel graphics to the soundtrack by Chrono Trigger Composer Yasunori Mitsuda will make the wait well worth it.
If you throw in dice or card-based elements I’ll go fetch the soul of my previously sold Grandma and sell it again to get it.
The only downside to this campaign is the way they Sabotage Studios manage their Discord server.
Everything feels very confusing and they seem to prioritize a limited selection of backers, the chosen few of the Mooncradle. This leaves others to feel left outside, looking in, wanting to be part of the cool club.
Everyone runs things differently but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Siralim Ultimate
Zach Bertok and his one-man development shop, Thylacine Studios, has cemented itself as a series staple for me after putting countless hours into Siralim 3.
Siralim Ultimate looks like it will top all prior editions and truly become the Ultimate version of Siralim. If someone asked me to describe Siralim as a whole I would define it as such.
Siralim is a monster-catching RPG that took too many steroids. Imagine Pokemon with 56 more game mechanics where grinding became an enjoyable and engaging experience.
Considering there are more than a few complex elements to the Siralim games it’s good to see Thylacine Studios maintain an active Discord community. I’ve had to reach out for help on a few different occasions and have never been disappointed.
I look forward to a world where Siralim Ultimate exists and can’t wait to check out the new realmshaping, guilds, and new specializations.
Inkulinati
I started this list with the best and I’m going to end it with one of the best.
Get ready for this.
Inkulinati is a turn-based strategy game inspired by medieval drawings where the ink comes to life and where Donkeys have butt trumpets.
I hope Donkeys wielding butt trumpets is only the first of many hilarious quirks Inkulinati has to offer. After 2,349 backers pledged a total of $73,329 for donkeys, rabbits, dragons, bears, and foxes. Anything is possible.
The downside here is that there really is no online community or Discord server. We’re left feeding on Kickstarter updates and Twitter posts. Not ideal.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this rundown of my Kickstarter campaigns. While I’ve paid dollars for each campaign I unknowingly dug a wife debt with each look as “we’ve collected your pledge” emails trickled in.
Ok, so maybe I knew what would happen all along and took a chance she wouldn’t get “that mad”
Yet another wifely phrase that is always more severe than it first seems. A topic for a later day I suppose.
