The creators of classic PlayStation JRPG’s Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts have teamed up for what seems to be the “world’s first” double Kickstarter campaign.
Both Akifumi Kaneko, Wild Arms creator and Matsuzo Machida, Shadow Hearts creator intend to make spiritual successor’s to their games.
Armed Fantasia: To The End Of The Wilderness is Kaneko and other members of the original team’s successor to Wild Arms, while Penny Blood dives into the same gothic settings of Shadow Hearts.
“None of the story or characters from the Wild Arms series will be carried over.” said Kaneko in an interview with Gematsu.
“However, the setting of a wilderness on the brink of destruction, and the story that is a mix of Western and Fantasy will be similar. I would say my personal tastes and style as a game designer will also be carried over throughout the story as well.”
It’s much the same for Penny Blood, as it doesn’t seem like the characters of Shadow Hearts will appear in this new title, but themes, and of course setting, will.
“The fact that it’s a game set in modern times that deeply explores the shadows of history, and its horror aspects such as black magic and creepy creatures are two major elements that PB has inherited from its predecessors.” said Machida.
“The detective aspect of investigating and solving bizarre murder incidents, on the other hand, would be one new major element.
The game will also have a very sad, tragic story that overarches everything, but this is an element that represents my own thoughts on life and the world rather than something I’ve carried over from a previous work.”
With this being a joint-effort, the two projects will have a shared goal of $750,000, which will fund only a PC port at first. There are stretch goals to bring both games to PlayStation and Xbox after that, with a Switch port being the final stretch goal.
The Kickstarter will launch on August 29, 2022 at which point backers will be able to choose one project over the other, or both.
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Source – [Gematsu]