‘Shadow of the Colossus in the snow’. That’s the premise of Prey for the Gods in seven words and that in itself should be enough to tempt you to check out the video at which point you’ll probably come to the same conclusion as everyone else who’s viewed it – it looks bloody brilliant.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5AGtu0oMUY[/embedyt]What makes it even more impressive is that developer No Matter Studios are a three-man team and had only started working on Prey for the Gods part-time in 2014, although since the extremely positive reaction to their initial reveal trailer eight months ago they’ve been working on it full-time. All that hard work looks to be paying off as there’s plenty of great looking gameplay clips and that, combined with a polished looking Kickstarter page, means that after only a few days they’re more than halfway to their $300,000 target.
The development team don’t try to hide the enormous inspiration that Prey for the Gods takes from Shadow of the Colossus (in name, spirit and gameplay), but they’re also seeking to build and expand the experience of that seminal title as you’ll also have to battle the environment where fatigue, a lack of supplies and freezing conditions can be just as dangerous as your monsters you seek to slay.
The small size of the development team is a minor issue for me, although it’s refreshing to see No Matter are keeping their aims realistic and are open about the fact a playthrough of Prey for the Gods will be about 4-8 hours with only five bosses to defeat (although up to three more could be unlocked as stretch goals). It’s also pleasing to see how active they are in the comments section answering backer queries, as well as emails.
They’ve also taken care to avoid two of the main sources of backer anger that I’ve most recently observed in the campaign for Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Firstly the console versions of Prey for the Gods (if unlocked as stretch goals) are not guaranteed a simultaneous release so PC gamers won’t face delays because of their console brethren. Secondly, No Matter Studios are being honest enough are to admit they can’t promise a Linux release, which is disappointing news now but better than angering backers further down the line.
