UFO Conspiracies: Why Aren't You Backing To Azimuth?
Conspiracy-laden adventure game
I had thought To Azimuth would hit its Kickstarter goal quickly. It's a slick-looking adventure game where some of the puzzling is optional, with a plot about two siblings running into UFO conspiracies as they search for their brother in '70s Alabama. It was only looking for $20,000 yet here we are, three weeks later, with only six days left on the campaign and over $14,000 still to raise. I would very much like to play this game so hi hello why not have a look and see what you make of it?
As I said, To Azimuth is about two siblings, Susannah and Nate, searching for their brother Eli, a Vietnam veteran who'd struggled with readjusting to normal life then vanished. Their investigations go into government conspiracies and whispers of UFOs, which sounds great. Susannah and Nate are both playable in separate stories which go in the same direction but not the same way; you can import decisions from one character's save to affect the other's story too. While it is an adventure game, it won't be necessary to solve every puzzle or find every clue; some simply round out the story. That sounds great too. It all sounds great. So why is To Azimuth struggling?
I know folks are a bit burnt out on Kickstarter - this is the first game I've backed in a long time - but I'm surprised it's being overlooked. Quiet, moody adventure games aren't the most popular thing around, but they're not asking for a load of money. This is exactly the sort of small game I'd expect to still find Kickstarter success as folks tire of huge fancy games with grand dreams. And developers [bracket]games may not have a big hit to their name, but I really quite enjoyed the tale of family and responsibility in their last game, Three Fourths Home. Perhaps not enough people have seen it, so hey, here's this post.
Bracket had hoped to have a new gameplay trailer by now, but technical difficulties are getting in the way. So here, their latest Kickstarter update is full of animated gifs showing things like a smooth split-screen view to investigate objects and the incredibly cool way environments morph and shift as you move around.
Here's the Kickstarter again, and here's the announcement trailer again: