Zeldalike Animal Gods Reborn Will Be Born
Not an Animal Man spinoff, sadly
The age of "Zelda-inspired" is very much upon us. After the best part of a decade of our being besieged by Mario-inspired platformers, Johnny Indie's sights are aimed a touch higher these, at Nintendo's deathless action-adventure/fairy-bothering series. Latest case in point is Animal Gods Reborn, which has just successfully cast its Kickstarter incantation and is now preparing for the dark rite of stretch goals. Set in Bronze Age Europe, it's all about battling the titular beast deities. And speaking of concepts from the dim and distant past, it's even got a demo.
Here's the pitch video. Not sure I'd know it was Bronze Age-set without being told, but it's quite pretty in a stark sort of way:
Animal Gods is the work of Still Games (which I initially misread with some shock as 'STD Games' cos of how they've done their logo), a newbie studio from West Virginia. Its star is a woman called Thistle, who takes her raggedy-edged bronze sword and bow on a beastie-killing and chasm-hopping adventure through an open world, determined to eradicate a strange corruption which has affected the gods. Actually it's about ethics in animal deities.
While it's always good to see one, the short demo (PC or Mac) gives away very little other than the art style and movement, plus I found its dash mechanic and assorted insta-death obstacles faintly exasperating. It is, however, an alpha demo, so it's not fair to get all critic-y just yet.
There's a day and half left on Animal Gods' Kickstarter clock, but it's already reached its $26,000 goal. It's due out in 2016, in theory.
Now, let's please have an Animal Man game.