It’s not that often that you see press releases for Kickstarter campaigns, especially ones that parallel cult movie Groundhog Day. The one man dev team is hoping to fund his game Mars Underground. This 16-bit adventure lets you relive the end of the world over and over again.
The story concerns a high school student dealing with the usual teenage problems: new school, bullies, mental health issues, and a never-ending time loop. Gameplay will feature opening up new dialogue and actions by experimenting with the choices you make during the repeating day. The game is on the absurd side with daily options like taking experimental prescription drugs or talking to a toilet.
Mars Underground also offers:
- Unique time loop premise that explores the possibilities of branching stories and multiple endings in interactive fiction.
- Game design that mixes classic adventure game conventions with sandbox-style gameplay.
- As the player discovers new topics and acquires new items the world opens up and they can try more things each day.
- All original, dynamic music soundtrack.
- Simple, easy to grasp gameplay that can be fully played with either mouse, keyboard, controller or touch input.
Currently the dev is seeking the very specific amount of $3142 AUD (approx $2300 USD) to fund the Kickstarter. It’s hard to tell if this campaign will gain any traction due to the game’s RPG Maker vibe. The brief KS page description doesn't help either. However, the underutilized repeating time mechanic mixed in with a possible wacky story has put this game on my radar.
A demo of the game is also currently available to check out if interested. If you’d like to support Mars Underground, you have until Dec 31 to do so.
https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/2621840/video-722012-h264_high.mp4