Kickstarter Shout-out: Two Adventure Games Worth Your Time



I am honestly very excited for Armikrog. This awesome 2D Claymation adventure game got me so excited, that I decided to see if there were any Kickstarters for adventure games. To nobody’s surprise, I found two that are worth your time. Let’s get started!

SnarfQuest Tales



SnarfQuest Tales, developed by Cellbloc Studios, is a 3D fantasy-oriented adventure game where you play as a long-snouted character named Snarf, a comic book character made by famous “Dungeons & Dragons” illustrator, Larry Elmore. Your main goal of this grand adventure is to team up with an armored warrior wizard and a gorgeous female barbarian to stop an evil wizard and his pet dragon. Actually, scratch that, it’s a dragon that thinks it’s a duck. Yeah, you are bound to be on an adventure that is rather silly with a plot like that.



SnarfQuest Tales is, like I just said, an adventure game. You will be going around a fantasy world, solving puzzles, finding items to solve said puzzles, and listening to quirky lines and snark from the cast of characters that you encounter throughout your journey. This game is episodic, and if you are curious with how the game will play, they do have a free demo of their game up on their website.

Graphically, I like the look of the game. The main character, Snarf, actually reminds me of something from Jim Henson, and you know you are in for some good character designs by the guy who illustrated all of your old “Dungeons & Dragons” books. The humor, from what I have seen, is very LucasArts-inspired as everything is a tad goofy and self-aware at points. I also give kudos to the developers for making a 3D game. Of course, everything being in 3D doesn’t make every game better, but a 3D adventure game in the indie scene is rather rare.

If I had to pin down any concerns, it would be some issues that they have already addressed on their Kickstarter, like better animations and voicework. The footage shown has its charm, but I can understand if some people get turned off by the stilted voicework and animation. I am also concerned about how this game is going episodic. I have mentioned before the concern of if one episode gets funded, and then you never see the rest of them due to low sales not being able to fund the other episodes. It is problematic. I am sure they have everything worked out, but still. It could happen.

Even then, I like this Kickstarter. If you love 3D adventure games like Grim Fandango, silly humor, and the art work of the famous Larry Elmore, then this is your Kickstarter. Like I mentioned above, there is a playable demo that you can try out and see if you are into it. Congrats, Cellbloc Studios, you guys get my Kickstarter Shout-out!

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

 

Tsioque



However, if you are into more traditionally animated adventure games, you should check out Tsioque, by OhNoo Studios. Tsioque puts you in the shoes of a young princess named Tsioque. While her mother is away, the castle gets taken over by an evil being. Now our brave princess must escape the castle and destroy the evil king.



Tsioque is a typical point-and-click adventure where you use items to solve puzzles and use the environment to your advantage. For example, in the gameplay shown on the Kickstarter page, you use your necklace to keep spooking a guard until you get the attention of the villain who ends up killing the guard due to being annoyed by all the noise. If you have played any adventure game from old school series like King’s Quest, to newer games like Kaptain Brawe, then you should have no trouble learning the ins and outs of this game.



I love that this developer is making everything hand-drawn. It sticks out, and the art style is fairly whimsical. Sure, the little princess’ head looks like a round lollipop, but the rest of the art direction reminds me of something from the 80s dark fantasy children’s film era. It’s just cool to see a developer do something that is probably much more challenging and will take many man hours, but from what I have seen, it’s all very impressive.

My only real concern is that since it’s an adventure game that it doesn’t pull any shenanigans like what a lot of Sierra adventure games did during the 80s and 90s. Sure, I know hardcore fans of the series won’t mind a bit of bullocks in terms of adventure games, but let’s be frank. The difficult and obtuse puzzles of the old Sierra adventure games lost their pace and fun when the solution to a puzzle was not clear or you already used an item on an earlier event and was in no way, shape, or form, told to you.

Outside of that concern, I think Tsioque is a promising Kickstarter. It’s about halfway to its funding goal, and I think it deserves to get made. If you love adventure games, hand-drawn animation, and personality in your games, then this is the right project for you! Tsioque gets my official Kickstarter Shout-out!

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

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