Kickstarter Project of the Week: The Girl from Arkanya
For this week’s Switch Kickstarter Project of the Week, we will be looking at Arkanya Games’ The Girl from Arkanya. The game is slated to release May 2021 next year on PC (via Switch and itch.io), PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Here’s the overview:
The Girl from Arkanya is a top-down treasure hunting RPG, mimicking the style and feel of 2D Zelda games. Explore the jungles of Amazonia as Marisa, alongside her capybara companion!
The Girl from Arkanya is the tale of Marisa, an aspiring young adventurer with her sights set on becoming the world’s greatest treasure hunter! She is accompanied by her capybara companion, and you will need to use both characters together in creative ways to solve puzzles and challenges. But treasure hunting can be a risky business! As Marisa ventures further in to untamed wilds and dark dungeons, you must constantly weigh risk versus reward as one wrong step could mean losing everything.
The Girl from Arkanya takes a proven formula and expands upon it. The beginning of the game will feel very familiar to fans of the top-down action RPG genre, but the game quickly changes as the player is tasked with controlling not one, but two characters!
Once Marisa meets Kapi, he will follow behind Marisa for the rest of her journey, and the player may take control of him at any time! Marisa can also push, pull, carry, and throw her rodent companion, which will help her solve challenges she will face along the way.
The wilds of Amazonia can be cruel and unforgiving, and treasure hunting is a game of risk vs. reward! The player will collect valuable gems and artifacts from the jungle, which can be traded to Renzo de Rocco, Arkanya’s esteemed collector of exotic goods. He will pay you handsomely if you can make it back to the city with treasure in hand, but be warned: If Marisa is defeated, she will drop all of her treasure!
We designed Arkanya around the idea that the player sets their own difficulty through the choices they make. Going forward, we will continue to find new ways to allow players to avoid risky situations, while also creating even greater rewards for those who run head-first into danger and succeed! Thriving in Amazonia is a matter of preparation, and continuously asking yourself one question: Do I play it safe and turn back, or press forward and risk it all for a chance at even greater fortune?
The year is 1167 A.D., and the port city of Arkanya is fast becoming the jewel of the Holy Roman Empire. Seated at the edge of the known world on the most fertile soil ever seen, Arkanya grew into a bustling city within a mere forty years, built by the hands of explorers, farmers, and merchants.
Yet uncertainty haunts the future of Arkanya. The Marajoaran tribe, which once peacefully lived alongside the people of Arkanya, has vanished into the wilds without a word. To the North, the forces of Aztlan wage a desperate war against the conquistadors of Castille, a conflict which has now spilled into Amazonia. And to further complicate matters, the weather has become chaotic and violent, disrupting life within Arkanya’s walls.
All The Legend of Zelda fans should have their eyes on The Girl from Arkanya! Replicating the SNES classic A Link to the Past, its dungeon design and world overview looks to rekindle that magic. The game’s unique hook appears to be the dog Kapi, allowing you to solve puzzles that could otherwise not be possible with just the one player.
The campaign hit its goal very quickly and is now looking to expand on the game with a few stretch goals. So far, the campaign has ensured that the game will feature a couch co-op mode, dialogue portraits and pixel art cutscenes. If the campaign reaches $30,000USD, we’ll be treated with and extra dungeon and more cutscenes and for $40,000USD, a free expansion pack.
The Girl from Arkanya required $10,000USD and it is currently sitting at $27,582USD after 790 backers with 11 days remaining. If you’d like to support the development of this game to help it come to Nintendo Switch, click the link below to visit the Kickstarter page.
Thank you to our $5 and up Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
- Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out!)
- Belinda Cubitt
- Jon Crispe