Ashen Rift Is A Post Apocalyptic One Man & His Dog
Dog day afternoon
Another one of those cursed apocalypses has taken place. This one caused by a Rift, opened up by pesky scientists, mutating humanity into crazed beasts, and leaving you and your pet dog in something of a pickle. A first-person shooter, which is oddly a genre that you barely hear about any more outside of those annual quadruple-A monstrosities, Ashen Rift is said to be inspired by Quake and Journey. Those are some extremes right there. It's the sole project of long-time developer Barry Collins, and he's looking to see if he can Kickstarter the funds to continue working on it for the rest of the year.
Obviously a post-apocalyptic survival shooter would be infinitely better if you were accompanied by a cat, but a pitbull is perhaps more practical. The dog is to be a big part of this game, with commands you can give him, as he accompanies you throughout your attempts to see the Rift closed and Earth become a more hospitable place. There's an emphasis on scarcity of weapons, using the environment, and shooting at giant ugly things while being a bit scared.
He's only after $45k CAD, and the prospect certainly looks interesting. The footage shows a game that's obviously a way on, but of course FPS is about building long, interesting levels, and we've no idea how far along that side is. A December 2014 release date looks ambitious, but that's his aim. $10 will currently bag you a full copy of the game, and early access. There are 3000 of those, and then that level becomes $30. Although just $15 will secure a copy on release. Confusing, yes.
Still, there's a peculiar paucity of interesting FPS games, and has been for years - let's hope this one manages to do something about that.