Austrian-based indie studio, Dyadic Games, is launching a Kickstarter for its 3D Action Adventure game known as Sikanda. It's a title inspired by JRPG classics such as The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana and looks visually alike to the more recent release, Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas.
The story is about a young hero who finds an ancient pendant named "Sikanda" and must then stop a group of sinister strangers from wiping out the moon. Over the course of the adventure, the hero finds several skills that transform the Sikanda into a variety of powerful weapons and tools - all of which help the hero to fight their way through dungeons and solve puzzles.
The game will allow players to choose either a male or female protagonist and guide them through a non-linear journey filled with side-quests, hidden treasures, and secret passages. The environments are built around gameplay mechanics, and the real-time action battles with multiple enemies will put your skills to the test. There's also an epic soundtrack.
The Kickstarter campaign starts on 14 August, with the game currently scheduled to launch on the Nintendo Switch in 2020. For more information check out the game's Square Enix Collective page.
In case you're wondering, here's a bit of information about this platform:
Collective is a curated platform that enables creators to post ideas, and gamers to judge whether those ideas should become reality or not. Sometimes, if an idea is supported by the community, we may offer to support the project through crowdfunding as well, via Kickstarter. Essentially, we’re trying to help small teams build awareness of their ideas, and ultimately self-publish.
Take a look at the trailer above and tell us in the comments if this looks like a game that would interest you.
[source collective.square-enix.com]
Comments 52
WOW that title font on the trailer is WAAYY too much like Zelda.
Skull Kid, is this your origin??
I have yet to grab Oceanhorn, so this might go on the burner as well. Especially since I’m about to wipe my BotW file and start over.
??? Combat looks too slow for me.
Interesting....
Somehow i have interest with Sikanda.
Wanna hear / know more about further gameplay.
From my perspective, this game has no soul at all.
I know the developers worked hard on it, no doubt about that, but it's so generic that I already know that I'm not gonna play this game at all.
It's sad because like I said, I can clearly see that the team worked on the game... I wish'em success but it's gonna be difficult for this game to make good sells...
Could be decent, but more than a few kickstarters have promised gold and gems and delivered tin and rocks... Will be interested to hear more about it later though.
Well it needs a lot of work, but then, that's what the Kickstarter is for. Don't think I'll be contributing myself, but I wish them luck.
Combat looks slow and unthreatening. The enemy ai seems really dense.
Art style is pretty generic.
The protagonist is dull.
Some characters/locations look interesting though.
Needs a lot of work if that underwhelming trailer is anything to go by.
Hope the developers polish it into something great.
We're getting to the point now where our Wishlists are overtaking our actual collections here in Switch territory so... It's gonna start taking something really fantastic, really interesting, or somethin' that just grabs us for one reason or another to invest interest, or more importantly money, into it.
I myself am like... Five games behind on what I want to play, as I haven't picked up Hyrule Warriors yet.
This game in it's early stages looks too generic and too soulless for me, inspiration be danged.
It's getting crowded in here now, you guys. Gonna have to really step it up.
@Rafke
I hate to do it, but I kind of agree. I still loved Yooka-Laylee, but it fell short in a number of places. I don't think it was wasted effort, but I do think they bit off more than they could chew. They got all the talent they needed, just not the huge pockets of Nintendo or Microsoft to dig into this time.
That pace and movement is reaaaaally slow. May be good for kids as an entry-leve adventure game. But if "Secret of Mana", is being tossed around as a comparison/inspiration, then the pace should be faster.
@Cobalt You can tell how much soul a game has from the first two-minute trailer?
I'm going to support the Kickstarter just to bet you can't. I trust you'll have a link available when it goes live, NintendoLife.
@PanurgeJr
No I can't when it's you asking me something...
Good luck to them. I don't support kick starters, but I might buy it if it interests me.
I’ll have a look but doubt I’ll back it. Too many titles slip their date and kickstarters are just as (or more so) susceptible. Half the games I’ve back I was so over hearing about them I never bothered to play, and a good few ended up taking twice as long to deliver and when they did they had a price that was the same as the backers anyway.
So yeah, I’ll look but I’m pretty weary of backing games at this point or really anything with a 12+ month release date.
If they made the sword swing feel stronger ie through sound effects, that battle system would be very engaging
I wouldn't even dream of investing money into a game that's so far off, especially one that seems to have so little identity of its own. With how things have gone in the past the planned 2020 release date will more likely be 2021 or beyond. With so many other better looking games arriving on a near weekly basis, these guys have got their work cut out trying to achieve their goal.
I can’t bring myself to back games in very traditional genres anymore without some kind of inspired twist. Give me more Undertale, Axiom Verge, or Stardew Valley like ideas and we’ll talk. The whole point of parting ways with my money in a crowdfunding campaign is for original ideas that other companies wouldn’t dare risk.
@Rafke Yooka Laylee is great! The only thing is that the bad guys need more variation but it was a great game. I have no regrets.
IMHO, this looks like it could be really... REALLY... good. It harkens back to the N64 days which to me scratches a very dire itch. I’ll be watching this pretty close. I kind of hope they tweak that characters face a bit though... it looks a bit off for right now. Also the combat looks a smidge “slow”.
If they don’t fix it it’s not a deal breaker but that’s my initial critique.
It looks promising. Very few things I dislike about this!
If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then Link is blushing right now!
Hi, Stefan from Dyadic Games here! Thank you for all your comments! Please be aware that this trailer shows very early footage and should not be considered a final product. We have done this with very limited resources and we hope to get enough support through Kickstarter in order to fully develop this game. This will also include bringing all the characters and places to life we had envisioned to tell a unique story.
It looks soooooooooooooo generic and the fighting animation is really clunky. Not for me.
Looks great and zeldarish
Sikanda Forever! This game looks awful. Hard pass
Fighting delay looks awful. Why do people keep on creating these games and wonder why they fail?
@Stefan-DG
Hi !
Will you consider Physical release for Sikanda ?
Because good games deserves for Physical release.
Btw, which publisher will you choose ?
505 Games ?
Team17 ?
@HobbitGamer don't, the game is baaaad
Misleading headline, suggests it’s definitely coming, not “subject to Kickstarter success”.
It looks decent for a pre-Kickstarter build. I see the LoZ inspiration but the isometric style changes a bit.
Anyway, I'm still waiting for about 3 or 4 kickstarters to complete (finally got Chasm!) and don't want to back something with a 2020 release window. Will check it out if this succeeds.
@Anti-Matter
Thank you A physical release would be awesome, but it depends on the publisher. We have one in mind, but I cannot give any names by now as long as there is no agreement. First comes Kickstarter
The game play and combat looks pretty clunky but I am interested to learn more about this.
@Stefan-DG Hey! It’s great to have you in the site. I have a couple questions for you:
1. Besides Zelda, what other series have you all used for inspiration for this game?
2. What aspects of this game are you going to focus on the most (combat, puzzles, music, story, etc.)?
3. What’s your favorite Zelda game?
Good luck with your game and Square Enix Collective bid!
@FlimFlam
Thanks for your questions, I will try to keep answers brief
(1) There are many games that inspired me personally and there is no denial that this also had influence on Sikanda. It might not be so obvious as the trailer doesn't show any story content, but it also has influences from Xenoblade, Bravely Default and Final Fantasy, especially when it comes to storytelling and music. Beside that, games like Terranigma, SoM, ALttP always wanted me to make such game on my own!
(2) We will try to balance all aspects you mentioned. Combat should be fun and puzzles should be challenging, but we also want to tell a unique (very personal) story. All in all, it should feel self-contained with story and gameplay going hand in hand.
(3) My favorite Zelda is "A Link to the Past"!
@NewAdvent
Thank you for your words
@Stefan-DG Thanks for your responses. Good luck again with your game.
@Stefan-DG
Oh, since the game is still being beveloped, would you like to :
1. Add more character customization, clothing, equipments, etc. Make the characters fancier, like on Miitopia or Portal Knights.
2. Add Invitable NPCs to help you in Battle.
3. Add some Mini games from Quests when we want play casually.
4. Add some voice FX for characters and monsters.
I hope the game is ready for Nintendo Switch by the year 2020.
@HobbitGamer if you have the chance to try Oceanhorn before buying, I highly recommend to have a look first.
For me, Oceanhorn is far away from being a great Game. I don't like the visuals in action, the story is completely BS, the game mechanics are too much for mobile gaming, the voice over is bad... I could go on for hours. Sure, it's an Indie, but this does NOT make it a great game. Only finished it because I paid for it and the switch was lacking new games at that time. Today, I would never buy it.
@mazzel Yeah, it sounds like I'll pass on that, thanks I've got plenty others to play.
@Anti-Matter
(1) At the moment, it is possible to switch between boy and girl at the beginning, but we have plans of including a character builder. This however strongly depends on Kickstarter success (or other fundings) as many extra assets would have to be created and integrated into the game.
(2) There were some plans of having NPCs accompanying you in battles in the past, but the gameplay changed a lot since then and at the moment there is no clear concept on how this feature could fit into it. It's very unlikely, I would say.
(3) As someone who still loves the wide variety of FF7 minigames (although outdated), minigames will be a thing for sure
(4) Will be in there for sure!
Hopy you find your questions answered! We do our best to hit the deadline, it's actually not more than 18 months till then
Looks interesting, but more as in "maybe when I'll have nothing else to play" kind of "interesting". I usually love these kind of games, and I really liked Oceanhorn for what it was, but this looks a bit generic to me. I get the fact that the dev team was more than probably inspired by the Zelda series (as it was the case with Oceanhorn), but it kind of lacks some soul, as some others said before. Although, we might be mistaken, as a trailer is sometimes not a proper thing to base our judgment on.
Although, usually, the job of a trailer is to create some hype for a product (game, movie), and so, you try to put your best into it. So either the game might not be that special, or those who made the trailer did a poor job of selling the game.
I'll put it on my wishlist so I don't forget about it, but this is definitely something I'd like to see a review of before committing in any way.
A 2020 estimated release is such a turn off!
Looks solid and functional, but too derivative and empty at this point, and combat looks slow and tedious. Everything about it seems too inspired by its forebears with no soul of its own.
A Square Enix Zelda game?
Looks very cheap.
@HobbitGamer Just make a new file on a different Wii U or Switch account so you don't have to delete your old one
@JMR_Alden But I want to delete my old file. That's why I'm starting over.
Square Enix should be paying for this, if they are going to distribute it!
I'll definitely get this if we get a full physical release!
Looks boring xD
First thing I thought about was Oceanhorn when I saw the video. Besides that, I found myself saying "Power Pole, extend!!" lol. It looks like it's competent enough a game albeit it doesn't seem to make any new waves that haven't been done already. Also, it seems a bit slow to me. Nothing I saw was "bad" per se though.
That looks rather underwhelming, the world and characters look very bland. Also the way the rod/pole keeps clipping through things and flops around with the character's animation as if it weighed nothing is extremely irritating. If you put in an item like that, you should have animations at the ready to make the character transition naturally with it when arriving at the top. A little hop off the pole while holding onto it, then the rod shrinks back to wieldably size, then the guy moves it back into it's idle holding position. Problem solved. I know these games are made on a budget, but so much about this looks just carelessly cobbled together :/
there have been alot of attemps but most games dont have the same depth in gameplay. its basicly bashing your way from point a to point b with basic gameplay, not much mysterious secrets to be found, areas are also look much of the same, and last but not least the gamemusic doesn't fit in the game and is most of the time a short loop.
nintendo always adds total experience in zelda games.
rumble, motion controll, back tracking and open new areas wich you passed by early on. great music, great story.
also packed with secrets to discover, fairy springs, cracks in walls you sometimes not even notice.
its not easy to make a good action adventure. all these other games just dont give you that same experience, you always think to yourself, oh why did they forget this or that.
but i dont complain, someone is at least trying, and i dont mind they keep pushing more action adventures, always welcome.
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