Todd Luke (you may know him from Winnose, Marble Safari, and other bouncy, colourful games featuring a bunch of strange creatures) is expanding his 7 Day Roguelike entry 24Killers into a monster life sim with whodunnit elements and yes that is exactly my cup of tea. The original was a slim mystery title where you had to finger (in a manner of speaking) a killer from a monstrous line-up; this new version is a game of discovery and interaction and monster possession in a small town by the sea. 24 Killers looks lovely, and it's now on Kickstarter for a rather small amount.
Here's the one sentence pitch for 24 Killers: "Four miscreant spirits are possessing the people in a small island town, and you're responsible for finding them."
Here's a longer description, which makes the game sound a bit like Harvest Moon meets The Trap Door : "24 Killers is a life sim with who-dunnit elements. It takes place in an island town filled with monsters which you'll be able to explore from the beginning of the game. You'll encounter strange beings, and people to help that will cause your town to improve and grow."
The trailer, below, is joy incarnate.
Luke tells me that the game is already playable from beginning to end, but he wants to add "many more mysteries, secrets, and interactions" to the monster-filled island. To that end, he's asking for $4000 on Kickstarter, and with 30 days left on the clock he's well on the way.
There's more info on the Kickstarter , but I had to share this little titbit about Todd Luke, revealing where he got the idea for the game:
"When I was very young I used to cut the monsters off laffy taffy wrappers and populate paper towns with them. The current version of the game is a melding of my 7DRL entry and the monster towns of my youth."
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The monster towns of my youth.
Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.