With ten days of a thirty day crowdfunding attempt now passed, Shantae Half-Genie Hero is now at only a little over half its goal of $400K. While this is certainly an accomplishment for such a niche game, I can't help but express some disappointment in the speed (or lack thereof) of the funding in question. There is no doubt that Shantae will certainly be funded in time, but as far as any stretch goals are concerned there is a seriously large question mark hanging overhead.
WayForward have been actively creating post after post to keep their new found community invigorated, responding quickly to questions and concerns as well as changing aspects of the game and Kickstarter page on the fly to satisfy fans. And yet it is not drawing in the large crowd I personally would have expected. Some would attribute this to the poor timing given Mighty No. 9's Kickstarter launch mere days before Shantae's. Shantae's following has been strong in spite of its issues, but I feel it ought to be even stronger.
For those who don't know, Shantae is a 2D platforming series about a half-genie protecting a small town from a nefariousness pirate named Risky Boots. This iteration is the first time that WayForward has attempted to do a console iteration and for all major consoles, both previous and current generation. A certainly very promising prospect, especially for fans of platforming games.
My hope in the end is for those who donated to Mighty No. 9 as well as to other KS platformer titles to see a similar appeal in Shantae and hopefully pledge for that game as well, but because it is not nearly as well know, it really is up to gaming fans to spread the game and its kickstarter around. I can only do so much as one person, but maybe I can encourage you to this game a much stronger push. If you have other friends or actively engage in community discussions on other sites, consider spreading the link around or just opting to talk about the game with some who many not already know of it. It probably comes off as being a walking advertisement, but I feel this title may largely benefit from it.
With another twenty or so days to go and the goal still not met, I hope with this blog I can convince some of you N4G users out there to pledge, spread the word or do both (assuming you have not yet done so) and boost the game's chances of not only being made, but surpassing what the bare minimum will offer. Most people know me as one of N4G's bigger Nintendo guys, but for me the Shantae series was always the real deal and this new game is by no means any exception. I certainly cannot wait to play it and I hope my excitement is shared by all of you.
Now go out there and pledge and talk and spread the word if you can. If you're unsure, give the game a look at least. I personally don't think you will walk away disappointed.
If you're among those who wanted to play Diablo 4 on PC but have been holding out for a Steam release, the wait is almost over following today's announcement.
I was initially interested in this as it looked externally closer to Diablo 2 than 3, but it does seem like the game is not a great single player action rpg I was hoping for. If you take all the press and whatnot hype out of it, is this really any good, for example compared to Diablo 2 or Grim Dawn? The latter has not been as addictive and interesting for me as Diablo 2, but maybe it will get better as I progress. I'm looking for a 100% single-player side of this.
I got the sorcerer to 82 and I thought it would be good similar to diablo 2 but the thing is it is boring. All the dungeons feel the same, the loot is uninteresting you find unique, you pick it up and you continue without looking at it because you know its probably bad and not very different from what you have. You never feel powerful unless you make The Build everyone is using on internet
ESTNN writes: "The Season 7 "Rise of Darkness" trailer for Overwatch 2 also gave us our first look at an anticipated Sombra rework."
"The London-based (the UK) indie games publisher Kepler Interactive and Belgrade-based (Serbia) indie games developer Ebb Software, are today super thrilled and proud to announce that their philosophical atmospheric horror game “Scorn”, is now available for the PS5 via PSN." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
Very lackluster game. Had high hopes for it, but it didn't cut it. Really only for people who appreciate the art of it all. It really doesn't deliver as the Myst title with obscene imagery it was trying to be.
The Xbox version's highest review score on Metacritic is an 80.
One review site gave the PC version a 10. One. Not some. One. That same site gave 100s to BG3, Starfield, Horizon Burning Shores, and FFXVI as well.
Which sites?
As Tacoboto said, only one is showing a 10 and that's for the PC version. I'd also question that publications credibility given they gave Starfield and a dlc a 10 as well.
I agree.
The opening puzzle was a little too vague because I missed something super obvious once I realized what it was. The few attempts at combat back at launch were very rough. It gave me one bout of motion sickness in a section of the game was was especially grey and linear.
But when puzzles felt not-too-obscure and you got out of the grey-on-grey corridors, the experience was unique at least.
I didn't have as much fun as something more whimsical and colorful as Call of the Sea, but it wasn't a waste of the 6-8 hours I put into it. A solid 6/10.
Fair enough. Even so, I had a real blast watching the world's most famous e-begger cry over this game though lol.
Imo, it's a very mixed bag of a game...To be fair though, I didn't walk into it with very high expections...
This game is great, but it's not for everyone. It doesn't hold your hand nor does it try to be accessible, combat is slow and you are always at a disadvantage so if you do engage you must make your shots count because the penalty for missing is often dying and that can reset a lot of your progress. Puzzles are in my opinion the best part, there are enough of them, they offer a good challenge and are also the best moment to appreciate the art style of the game.
The closest comparison that I can give would be with the original Echo Nights. And just like that game, I feel that you have to approach it with the mindset that it's not an action game and that you will get frustrated if you try to play it as one.
Do you remember old game "Bad Mojo"? That game wasn't for everyone either...This is the same kind of game in that aspect. Besides that, I agree with what you wrote.
Oh, Bad Mojo. Completely forgot about it and I definitely agree about it not being for everyone. If I recall correctly I couldn't stomach it for very long and I played it as sort of a challenge.
I agree, the game has stuck with me in all aspects of presentation: sound and visuals were on point.
Well, considering that there's been no response, I guess I'll have to dish out a heavy sigh.
Can't say I didn't give it my best shot though.
I'm more interested in Project Phoenix and Mighty No.9, but No.9 kinda screwed Shantae over.
After seeing a spiritual successor to MegaMan, people probably said to themselves 'Hm, I want to support Shantae, but I wanna support Mighty No.9 more.'
I wrote this on another forum, thought I'd post it here:
"It's weird when you compare it to Shantae, which is asking for less than half of what Mighty No. 9 is and will in all likelyhood be a longer and more dynamic adventure than anything going off the template of Mega Man. Not to mention it was being developed for nearly every platform from the start, whereas MN9 needed over half of its minimum funding just to reach current-gen consoles.
If this is going to be nearly identical to Mega Man, then the main stages will theoretically be able to be completed in a few minutes. If that's true, then a few mini-mission modes based off the campaign aren't going to help with the value much. I have no doubt MN9 will be fantastic as a spiritual successor to Mega Man, but I agree that these stretch goals are asking too much to make a complete game. The padding with that documentary and including all the story robots and such is particularly insulting. Shantae is offering a whole new version of the campaign with the first stretch goal. Whole new chapters to the game, new abilities, voice acting, ect. All for roughly a third of what MN9 is asking for in full stretch goals and the content itself sounds much more substantial and fair.
MN9 hasn't even shown real in-game assets yet (not to be confused with actual, functioning gameplay), while Shantae had a whole trailer showing them off. Mega Man's popularity must be incredibly influential, because Shantae is having to work much harder for its funding than MN9 when it isn't asking for nearly as much. It doesn't seem right."