jericho_cross

I've mentioned this game a couple times already. It's a souls-like made to look like a SNES zelda game. Well, it now has a release date of March 31, 2026 and they also updated the demo.

One thing I find really interesting is that the dev mentioned on reddit that the souls-like elements can be tweaked for those who aren't looking for a souls-like game. You can disable the "corpse run" mechanic and adjust the amount of damage you give/take. That makes this game sound even better to me since I'm terrible at souls-likes. I'm definitely going to try out this new demo.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3308200/Tombwater/

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/55601138

In my opinion, Hullabaloo is one of the biggest missed opportunities in steampunk. Like I mentioned in my post about Steamboy yesterday, it seems like there are plenty of movies with steampunk elements but very few that actually lean into steampunk as a whole. I mean, not just airships or steam-powered devices but the whole world that the DIY steampunk community has been creating since it started. So I was excited when I first heard about Hullabaloo. It wasn't just going to be an animated film with steampunk "influences", it was first and foremost a steampunk animated film.

Hullabaloo started as an indiegogo campaign in 2014. They wanted $80,000 to make a 2d steampunk film using traditional hand-drawn animation and a bunch of ex-Disney animators. Their plan was to release this film in 2015. The campaign was so successful that they blew past their initial goal and started adding stretch goals to create episodes of Hullabaloo. And they kept blowing past those goals too. In the end they raised $470k; passing enough stretch goals to make 4 episodes of Hullabaloo. And then came... the wait.

To their credit, they kept updating the indiegogo page with their progress. They didn't just take the money and run. But their plan for 2015 came and went with nothing to show for it. Another year past, and another, still nothing to show for it. 5 years... 6 years... 7 years... Finally, 8 years after their intended 2015 release date (in 2023) they released episode 1. It was less than 7 minutes long. And didn't exactly have a plot. It's mostly just two characters driving in the desert.

Again, to their credit, this crew of ex-Disney animators did an amazing job. The animation style reminds me a lot of the Don Bluth movies. But this 7 minute short film feels more like an animation test than an "episode". Now here we are another 3 years later and there's no sign of episode 2.

I guess the goal had always been to make a short film and garner enough interest to fund a feature-length movie, but the talk of "episodes" had me thinking we'd get more than 7 minutes. And while I know hand-drawn animation takes a lot more time and effort than I would expect, an 8-year wait for a 7-minute short film seems excessive. Although aside from being terrible at estimating how long it would take, I don't think they really misrepresented anything. They never specified how long these episodes would be.

Still, the idea of a feature-length steampunk movie made from ex-Disney animators would've been amazing. And these 7 minutes really do show a cool spark of an idea. But right now, that's all it is. Here's episode 1 in full. You can watch all 7 minutes yourself.

I always find it strange that the DIY community has a very strong idea of what steampunk looks like. It's Victorian clothes, brass, leather, and gears everywhere. There are steam-powered machines, sure, but I feel like it's the aesthetic that drives the community.

And yet, I can't think of any movie that actually exemplifies that world. There are plenty of movies that have steampunk elements but nothing that really embodies the steampunk "look" to me. The closest I can think of is Steamboy from 2004. It takes place in a Victorian era and has steam-powered devices, and yet it just feels like a WWI movie to me. I guess maybe it's too "grounded" in the real world and I want more ridiculous fantasy elements? I'm not sure what it is.

But what other movies embody that steampunk aesthetic? I can think of plenty of movies that take place in a Victorian era, or maybe include some steam-powered machines, but I can't think of any movie that I can point to and say "You want to know what steampunk is? Go watch this movie." Steamboy is the closest I can think of. Or maybe April and the Extraordinary World? I'm not sure.

Not a crossover or a collab with a different game but A NEW CASTLEVANIA GAME FROM KONAMI??

I made a giant primer discussing every Castlevania game a couple months ago, so my love for the series should be evident. But Konami has been ignoring the franchise for years. I can't believe we're finally getting a new 2d metroidvania Castlevania game. I'm very excited. Very.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4231820/Castlevania_Belmonts_Curse/

I don't intentionally leave this Lemmy community unattended for months at a time, it's just really hard to find anything to talk about in the Weird West genre. Of course, that's on me for creating a Lemmy community dedicated to a sub-micro-niche genre.

Anyway, this trailer is exactly the type of thing that made me want to create this community in the first place. Because I'd have nowhere else to share a game like this. This looks like everything I want from the genre and I can't wait to play it. Yay!

This has been an oddity in the Castlevania fandom for a while; a stage-play musical based on a Castlevania game. Unfortunately, it was only in japanese. This is the first fan-translation of the stage play, allowing us poor english-speakers to finally watch it. I won't say whether it's good, but it's certainly interesting!

I've been debating whether I should post about this game. The cover image has a creepy dude with a cowboy hat and pistol but I'm not sure if the game is actually a Weird Western. The level design looks more like it takes place in the ruins of an ancient civilization. But, I've been neglecting this community too much so I wanted to post something. I guess they were right when they said this genre was too niche to justify its own Lemmy community...

Anyway, BloodRush: Undying Wish is a top-down shooter, which I enjoy. And it reminds me of a mix between Kill The Crows and Akane, both of which I enjoyed. Obviously it's a roguelike (since every indie game is required to be a rogulike these days) but there's a demo available so you can give it a try if you're even remotely interested.

An LAPD officer must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in.

The movie stars Justin Long and CM Punk (from WWE). It'll be in theaters January 16 then added to the Shudder streaming service afterwards. No trailer available yet. More details about the movie here.

I couldn't decide if I should post this to the gaming community or movies community so I decided to split the difference and just post it here since I'm open to games, movies, or book suggestions.

I have an itch I seem to have trouble scratching. I want more pirate stories that involve dark fantasy elements (skeletons, krakens, ghosts, voodoo, etc.) yet there seem to be very few of these. The best example of what I'm looking for is of course the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but those have diminishing returns. Even though it's exactly what I want, each movie is worse than the last.

I just finished playing Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and that was also exactly what I wanted. And I'm unreasonably excited for DAVY x JONES to come out. And yet... that's all I can find. Those are the only properties I know of that actually scratch my itch. And I'm shocked at how few entries there are in this genre.

I don't want a straight-forward pirate adventure like Cutthroat Island or Black Sails, or... I don't know, Muppet Treasure Island; I want something with dark fantasy elements in it. I recently watched a Korean movie on Netflix called The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure and while it had the adventure/comedy feel of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, there were no fantasy elements in it at all.

Is there a name for this sub-genre that I just haven't stumbled across? Are there really so few entries in this sub-genre? I created a !weirdwest@lemmy.zip community awhile back, and I guess I'm really just looking for the pirate equivalent of the Weird West genre. I guess the Vampirates book series meets my criteria, but it's at a middle school reading level and that just isn't for me. Maybe I should just re-watch Pirates of Dark Water...

So can anyone here help me out? Is there a better term to search for than just 'pirate fantasy'? Are there any other movies, books, or games you know of that might scratch my itch?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34947983

Here's how the clan selection screen looks at the moment: