Kickstarter Shout-out: Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse



In this day and age in gaming, everyone from big developers to the small indie developers is combining different genres to give you something interesting. It might not always work, but you often remember these titles a lot more than games that are painfully generic. For example, today’s Kickstarter combines the survival/crafting elements from games like Minecraft and the action adventure elements of The Legend of Zelda. So, if you love games like Don’t Starve, then you would be in love with this Kickstarter called Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse. This Kickstarter game is being developed by Steamroller Studios, a group of talented individuals that have experience working on both games and movies, like “How to Train Your Dragon 2,””The Hobbit,” Bioshock Infinite, “Avatar,” Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” in addition to working for companies like EA and Disney. Now then, how about we get started on this super charming-looking game?



The story of Deadwood is about a wooden being called Lathe, an avid inventor who lives in a town called Deadwood Pass. Lathe apparently finds out about some kind of apocalypse that will ruin Deadwood and the almighty tree of Deadwood Forest. Accompanied by his giant stone guardian named Roguard, Lathe goes off on an adventure to gather materials, and complete quests to save his town and the land. Lathe better beware though, once night comes, the curse of Deadwood comes to life, and you must survive the night with your giant pet rock. First off, I really like this setting. I think what I enjoy the most about it are the characters and location. The wood-looking puppet people really remind me of something made by Jim Henson during the 80s when they were on a huge fantasy fix with films like “Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal.” It’s charming, but has a darker element underneath the bright colors and whimsical setting.



Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse is an isometric action-adventure game with survival/crafting elements. I mean, I said that two paragraphs ago. You will be in control of our wooden friend Lathe as he traverses the landscape looking for materials to craft items, like barricades, upgrade to your weapons, mines, turrets, and so on. You know how I said that Lathe and his pet rock need to be careful during the night-time? Well, while Roguard will help you out during the day, he falls asleep at night. During the night-time, the wooden zombies that you will encounter during the day will attack in hordes. Another element to keep track of is the strength of the items you craft. Stronger materials will, of course, make stronger items, but said materials are harder to find and will be consumed faster. You will need to be strategic in where you place your defenses, and what items you craft.



Like I said earlier in this article, I love the art style in this very Jim Henson-inspired art direction. It’s appealing to all ages, and that is something we should be looking to do more with graphics and art direction. Use different art styles. Don’t just try to make every game have super realistic graphics. Put some visual flair and personality into your game. The music is fantastic. It’s being composed by Luke Thomas. He gives the game’s soundtrack a mixture of, like I said before, a bit of Jim Henson-made fantasy film, a little Grant Kirkope, and a dash of ominous and imposing vibes. The sound design should also be rather excellent, since they have the talent of Andy Lackey. Andy has worked on games new and old like Left 4 Dead 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, Team Fortress 2, and the upcoming The Witness.



I have my concerns, but I will hopefully get them answered in an interview I will be having with the developers at Steamroller Studios. On a whole, I really like this game. It does a few things differently than what a majority of survival/crafting games are not doing. They have a more creative take on the genre, and actually have a story! The main funding goal is $65K, and they have stretch goals for a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version. They did get fully funded, but then ran into some technical issues and had to go back down to over $39K. However, by the time this article is up, you will probably see the game fully funded once more. If you love games like Don’t Starve, then Deadwood: The forgotten Curse is the one for you. Congrats to Steamroller Studios, Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse gets my Kickstarter Shout-out!

(If you want to support this project, go to this link!)

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