Not to mention sweet grappling hooks
I’d never realised how much I needed Mirror’s Edge with a Studio Ghibli coat of paint until I saw the Kickstarter for Failsafe.
Developed by Game Over, it appears to combine Mirror’s Edge, Studio Ghibli, Shadow of the Colossus and Bionic Commando into what could potentially be something very special. Featuring a huge, lonely world and a grappling hook to make movement all the more interesting, I’m totally on board for what Failsafe wants to do.
At the time of writing, the game’s received $5,638 of its $80,000 funding goal with 28 days to go. Right now it’s looking like this will easily clear the target goal, and then we’ll be able to see what stretch goals the developer has in store for us.
In a small, remote village, on a wasteland of a planet, lives a young girl named Isra [voiced by Life is Strange’s Ashly Burch]. Raised to one day lead her people, she longs instead to follow her uncle’s path and explore the world beyond the safety of their village. As another cycle ends, she convinces him to bring her along on his journey. He has agreed to take Isra to the place where he must travel every cycle in order for their people to survive: The Forgotten.
I do have a few concerns about Failsafe though: $80,000 for a team of at least 6 people working for the better part of a year doesn’t seem all that realistic, and then when you factor in bringing in talent like Ashly and Anthony Burch and Dante Basco, I really wish they’d given a better breakdown of where this money is actually going.
Secondly, and on a more personal note, whenever a developer comes along and says it’s “refining” the movement systems of Mirror’s Edge, I get a bit worried. Many games have tried to replicate or improve upon Mirror’s Edge’s parkour: Brink, Lemma, Dying Light, and none of them seemed to really understand what made the original’s movement so good.
I’m going to try and keep open-minded about Failsafe until it releases in Summer 2016.
Disclosure: I have not backed the Failsafe Kickstarter. Former Destructoid members Anthony and Ashly Burch are both involved in the project, however they and I never worked here at the same time and I’ve never even spoken to them.
