Laxidaze: Another promising kickstarter

We will watch your career with great interest

If there's a type of game I like to happen across haphazardly, it's one with a lot of Cyberpunk in it and a Kickstarter that's been easily funded in less than a week; cause that tells me that they've got a good sense of taste and know how to speak the language of the people. (Or they have a dab hand on how to lie and manipulate people but we're not talking about Dreamworld today) Thus I knew I at least wanted to look at what was going on when I heard about Laxidaze, but now I've done more than enough 'looking' and want to start talking about the similarities I'm seeing here between the games that I'm familiar with and what this sort of game might end up being. (Gosh, I love a little bit of contrast and compare.) Although, just so that we're all on the same page, I will remind you that the kickstarter is right here if you're looking to pledge to something and like what you see. (You never know, it might be what you're looking for.)

First of all, Laxidaze is Cyberpunk and I love me some Cyberpunk. I can't even really say what it is about the genre that I fell in love with, but I think something of the dark mirror on the modern world that's been spliced and smothered in Sci-fantasy commercialism that both obfuscates and highlights the many conceptual parallels, something we see both in the deeper worlds of it's type like Deus Ex and Bladerunner. Of course, there's also the aesthetic side which I find totally serviceable on a base level; it ain't easy creating a neon-soaked future-city so I'd call any project which can pull it off commendable too. Laxidaze, from a purely periphery glance, appears to be aiming for an 'aesthetic' Cyberpunkian dystopia rather than a functional conceptual one, which would be a bit of a bummer to me if I wasn't open to accepting that, honestly, it probably fits the heart of this game better. What we've got here isn't a philosophical romp into what it is to be human, but something decidedly lighter hearted that just wants to look cool, so bear that in mind when you address Laxidaze, it wears the skin of the Cyberpunk over a body significantly softer. 

But what sort of 'body' am I talking about here? What is the heart of this little game? Pokemon of course! (And there's the third little thing I like to see from this game; competition to that ever unchallenged but supremely addictive monster catching formula) In their campaign page the software engineers behind this project, Machine Elf Studios, describe it as 'a monster taming RPG inspired by the classics'. The difference between this and those classic is that we're looking at real time 3rd person action here, so no more turn waiting which some people hate for whatever reason. (I don't get it, I guess some people are impatient) They've also highlighted both 'customisation' and 'inclusivity' as core aspects of the pitch, which are curiously vague little bullet points that could mean anything. Are we customising the monsters? Is it inclusive to capture monsters and force them to fight against their will? (I jest, of course. The 'ol Pokemon concept criticisms linger on the genre.)

The team have used a peculiar term to describe their game, as although I called this a 'Cyberpunk' game earlier for familiarities sake, the team actually refer to it as 'Cyber-funk'. Honestly, that's the first time I've heard of the expression, but weighing it against what I've seen I can only assume it's meant to evoke the easy-going vibes of Nu Jazz. That would certainly justify the saxophone soundtrack which would otherwise seem out of place over footage of bounty hunting with bullets and techno-powers flying across the screen. (honestly; it's not the best trailer I've ever seen in terms of raw composition, but in it's immatureness there is a sort of charm.) I did get the feeling that in the feel of a game alone we were looking at a title aimed at a sanding down of a genre typically infused with an easily garish degree of edge. Wherever you see that as an improvement or a step down is entirely your own prerogative. 

Why has this project stuck out to me? You likely figure that I see new games in the works all the time, the industry is wide and open like that, but this is the one I wanted to talk about today, so why? Well, that's because I read the premise and found myself smiling as it reminded me of Stardew Valley meets Shadowrun Dragonfall. What? I know, bare with me for a second. So the setting is about some superrich megalomaniac CEO who runs the capitalist-soaked dystopian city of Cascadia, he just happens to be your former boss because you've decided to break free of your soul-crushing day job and retreat into the wilderness to become closer to who you really are. So it's basically Stardew Valley, if the goal of that game was to out farm the CEO of Joja. (Maybe that'll be the sequel) And the game actually has you performing bounties in order to take that money back home to build up your community and have a HUB going. Mechanically that's sort of similar to Elder Scrolls Blades, but I look at the idea of being this bounty hunter/community leader and think more of the role thrust upon you in Shadowrun Dragonfall. All of which are great games, (Blades is alright I guess) so Laxidaze certainly has picked the right inspirations.

In fact, it's seeing that soul behind the project which keeps me interested even when what we're seeing isn't exactly the coolest thing in the world. I mean don't get me wrong; I think the animations look fantastic and colourful, but apart from that all the footage looks very rudimentary. As would make sense considering this is just the start of this project; it's in the team's ability to sell the dream and what they can feasibly make, from which we can justify supporting a game like this. Honestly, I'm not a fan of the Fortnite-esque character models, or the palette of the world which seems too muted for a design of such cartoony proportions. I especially don't like the UI, but that's clearly placeholder so I don't let that aspect get to me too much. If the heart is in the right place, however, I can blind myself to most of those criticism and focus on the good. And I think this is a right-hearted game so far.

Surprisingly, one of the most unique aspects of Laxidaze is one that has the least amount of coverage in the previews, and that just might be because it's getting heavily worked on and reiterated at this early stage. The Nanim (this universe's Pokemon) are being designed to both look and function with a personally identifiable uniqueness to them, with some utility functions thrown in such as serving as boats and flying craft outside of combat. There's even teasing of multiple evolution paths for each Nanim, which might make the levelling process a little more involved than just throwing them against big monsters and watching the exp rock up. (a design philosophy that Pokemon itself took several generations to cotton onto) There's not really any information about how the catching mechanics will work right now, but again we're at the babysteps phase right now.

I think a prevailing sense I get from everything regarding Laxidaze is that this is an RPG that's designing itself to be approachable and lighthearted, in both the design and the mechanics. The RPG levelling looks very simple and straightforward, the combat looks to be flashy rather than tooth-and-nails challenging and, unless I'm misreading things, there even appears to be an ingame MP3 option, so this is the relax, don't take things too seriously, sort of game for the Cyberpunk field. Actually, from face value, my initial response is that this whole thing looks like a more-ambitious mobile game, but it appears to be heading for all the big consoles so I guess this team just want to bring that developed 'casual game' feeling to the home console audience. It's not often we get to see an interesting sounding project so early along on it's development journey, and I truly do hope the utmost best for how this team can expand their vision to the total game because I like the picture their painting and think it might truly end up great. There's a long way to go from here, no doubt, but if this becomes what they're saying it will, then come 2025 (or whenever this manages to come together) we'll be able to look back and say the wait was worth it.