A self-described Double Kickstarter project is about to begin, with original creators from both the Wild Arms and Shadow Heart franchises of JRPGs teaming up to create spiritual successors to their respective series, where hitting stretch goals for one will benefit the other.
WILD BUNCH Productions is a company founded by core members of the development team that gave us Wild Arms and is headed by original creator Akifumi Kaneko. They are working on a spiritual successor dubbed Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness. You can see a brief trailer for the title above.
YUKIKAZE is formed of creatives responsible for the grim Shadow Hearts games and is also led by that series’ original creator, Matsuzo Machida. They want to create a new title, Penny Blood, with a similarly gothic aesthetic and sensibilities. You can check out some screenshots of it, courtesy of Nibel, below.
Both projects seek a combined mutual funding goal of $750,000, which will ensure a PC release of both games, with a PS5 release in the offing as a stretch goal. A novel Combo Meter has been introduced as well, and pledging to either game will cause it to fill, unlocking additional content for both projects.
The connective tissue of these projects is their cult status in the early PlayStation JRPG ecosystem, and so the pairing seems natural, and the mutually beneficial model they have adopted is super cool. We certainly can’t think of anything else like it. The Kickstarter is slated to begin later today, and you can sign up to be notified and get in on the ground floor if you’d like.
What do you think of this Double Kickstarter project? Are you excited to so new titles inspired by Wild Arms, and Shadow Hearts? Partner up in the comments section below.
[source kickstarter.com, via twitter.com, gematsu.com]