Developer Gagame drew from many inspirations when they began development on their upcoming action platfomer. Taking cues from the classic adventures of Dynasty Warriors, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, and God of War, they wanted to create a game that brought all the best elements together. The result is their $6,014 Kickstarter campaign for Hercules: The Untold Stories.
The game’s combat system incorporates hack-n-slash, beat’em up with time manipulation to create fast and fun looking gameplay. Fighting is broken up by acrobatic platforming and crafty puzzle solving against standard adventure RPG mechanics. Despite the PS1 era graphics, the project really seems to have something for everyone. Best of all, the mechanics are melded into a cohesive package.
The story follows the titular hero, Hercules as he adventures through an alternative timeline. In this world several powerful Gods have gone missing from Olympus. Hera has enlisted the help of Hercules to discover their whereabouts and retrieve a magic pearl. Along the way, Hercules acquires a ring made from the hair of Chronos which allows him to seamlessly swap between timelines. This helps him solve puzzles and evade enemies during his journey.
The End In Sight
It would be easy for a project to be bogged down by so many ideas, but Gagame seems to balance them well enough. The campaign is fleshed out with plenty of information and images. No doubt it helps that the project is already well into development. According to the campaign, the core and model assets for the levels are prepared, with more than 50 unique monsters animated and ready to go. The team boasts that the project will be complete and ready to ship on November 15 of this year.
A prototype build is mentioned, but I wasn’t able to find the link on the campaign page. Even so, the funding goal is pretty modest for what the team hopes to deliver. This means that the devs are taking on the rest of the expenses on their own, which is rather admirable. Hopefully, they really are able to deliver on their promises, because Hercules: The Untold Stories looks like it has real potential.
