Update: As promised, here's your friendly reminder that Laxidaze's Kickstarter is now live! The campaign's aiming to earn $25,000 in funding and has 30 days to do just that.
Original Article (Fri 14th May, 2021 19:30 BST): Indie developer Machine Elf Studios is going big with its debut title, hoping to create an intriguing fusion of games like Pokémon, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Monster Hunter.
Laxidaze is a "monster-taming action RPG set in a cyber-funk future that features third-person combat and social-sim gameplay." It has players taking on the role of a character who quits their "soulless" job to become a bounty hunter, but chaos soon ensues when their ex-employer is outed as an abusive company; you'll soon team up with monsters and other bounty hunters to rebel against those doing you wrong.
Speaking to Nintendo Life, Machine Elf's Andrew and Michael explain that development started on the game around a year ago. They say the game is "heavily inspired by Pokémon and Final Fantasy VII Remake," and that they "wanted to make a game that combined all the things we loved from our favourite games."
The game's not predicted to launch until 2023, but a Kickstarter goes live early next week to generate funding. Make sure to keep an eye on that if you're interested, and check out this (very) early feature list for more:
•Create your own bounty hunting team and recruit other bounty hunters and Nanims (tamable monsters) to aid you in your quest to liberate Cascadia.
•Fight through the wilds of Cascadia in a real time third person combat system or utilize the game's Tactical Mode to slow down time and choose your moves.
•Use the profits from your bounties to manage and upgrade both your home and the community.
•Explore the urban and wild landscapes of Cascadia and discover its many towns, wacky citizens, and hidden secrets.
•Recruit, evolve, and fight alongside Nanims as you complete quests in Laxidaze.
•Level up your companions' friendship links by hanging out with (and even romancing!) them to unlock new armors, quests, and weapons.
•Play with your friends in various Co-Op dungeons and battle arenas or fight it out to see who has the best build in PvP battles
It certainly looks like one to keep an eye on, doesn't it? We'll make sure to look out for that Kickstarter going live and update this article when it does, but until then, feel free to share your thoughts on the game in the comments.
Comments 45
Wow. Sounds promising.
Not enough gameplay for me to formulate an opinion. Art style seems decent. And the concept is ambitious.
Sounds interesting, but that music is making me want to cut my ears off.
Hmm, everything in that trailer looks half done, they didn't even change the font on many things! Also yeah, that music sucked. Could be something to keep an eye on though.
The creature designs.. really clash in style, and I have to agree about the music. The game does look kind of unfinished as well, but that's probably due to it being early in development.. however, the styles really do clash and it looks jarring.
The creature design, as with all these other monster collecting games.. just doesn't seem to be all that strong. All the designs in the trailer, aside from that dragon just look kind of jarring.
Seems interesting but I really need a gameplay sequence to show me it is as interesting as it appears. A trailer can hide a lot of damage
Very average Pokémon clone...don't catch this one. - Nintendolife
I don't think this game knows what it wants to be.
It's really really hard for Indies to create compelling art design and art style.
Only good thing about this game is riding the Not-Lapras in the water. The fact that Pokemon doesn't have that is a travesty. Perhaps the next generation...
After checking out some other videos on their YouTube channel, yeah, it doesn't look good. It looks like an extremely early prototype with quality varying wildly. I could see this maybe being good in three or four years. Which is what some people may think Kickstarter is for, right? No, why would I pay money to an unknown developer to play a game that seems to be bad? I wouldn't. But hey, at least this seems better than SwSh!
As for a good monster tamer though, I backed Skyclimbers a few weeks ago, because its mostly done, looks great, visually, sound wise, and gameplay wise too! The beta launches this year, and it'll be great.
( Not a traditional beta, mind you. By that point the game will be fully done, except for certain kingdoms / monsters / biomes / architecture.)
How on earth did I make certain words bold? I literally have no clue.
Sounds pretty neat. We kinda need a good Pokémon-styled RPG game at this point.
Wait a minute, does this work? It does! So using an asterisk is how, huh.
@iuli No problem
@Low_ink You can use an _ for italics too.
This game has delayed and performance issues on Switch written all over it.
@AcridSkull Cool! And I have to agree.
It’s just missing “Metroidvania and Rogue-like elements”
Oh this looks pretty cool! I'll check it out their youtube
@Ulysses Pokemon X and Y and Sun and Moon has Lapras riding. Same with Let's Go. Legends Arceus seems to have some form of pokemon riding as well, judging off the leaked Slides from right before the game got revealed.
I really like the combo of pokemon and FF7RE. Its good that indie devs are trying new things out. Gonna be following this one for sure
Combined with a name that sounds like a medicine designed to flush your bowels!
@Low_ink Im a bit interested in that game too but do you really think this looks like almost complete gameplay(https://youtu.be/kfmktpNrB8g?t=267)? I'm Interested in both Laxidaze and Skyclimbers but Skyclimbers is no where near finished either.
I like the sound of this!
NINJA APPROVED
Who's that Pokémon!?
... It's Sarpal!
@NonsensicalBS You have a good point, but the devs have been very open ended on how they're going to be creating the game, that is when they're adding things and when everything is planned for. They even livestream the process of creating the monsters! On their trello page, they have better combat planned for pre-alpha round two, which should only be in a few weeks. And while yes, the combat isn't near finished, for Laxidaze everything looks to be hastily done, combat, graphics, and even creature designs. It's not that I want Laxidaze to fail or anything, just that I wouldn't back something that early on in development.
Most of the pieces have already fallen into place for Skyclimbers, in my opinion, at least; whereas for Laxidaze, I'd doubt if they were even a fourth of the way done with development. Which is an issue for people like me, because why pay for something you won't be getting for 2+ years?
Skyclimbers is ambition with promise, (that being because we've seen all the great stuff they've already added to the game) whereas Laxidaze has ambition, but we don't know if it'll even be good. (And we already know their music choice is bad lol)
I hope that we can enjoy both though, even if one comes out years before the other. Oh, and here's their trello page: https://trello.com/c/lzNNLnOV/2-pre-alpha-r2
Although at the same time I'm someone who thought that Windbound was gonna be good, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
Honestly, out of all the things I'd closest compare it to, it's giving me some Xenoblade Chronicles X vibes, with a dash of Astral Chain.
I do have to agree with other comments that it seems like it's trying to be a bit of too much of everything. The Miami Vice-aesthetic logo and vapor wave music feels at odds with the realistic-looking humans, yet more cartoony/fantasy creatures.
This isn't to say contrasting things and breaking from the norm can't stick, but hopefully this game can find its tone and voice.
@VoidofLight Sun and Moon did not have Lapras riding. It had canned Pokemon that appeared out of thin air to do things for you, and afterwards they would disappear just as quickly. Pressing A to generate a free Charizard is not the same as catching your own Pokemon and teaching it the ability to swim across the water, as in older games.
This is even worse in Sword and Shield, where you have virtually no interaction with the environment with your own Pokemon. And no, Poke Camp is not the same thing, because it is a separate mini game that you load up completely isolated from normal gameplay.
Also, do you have a link to any archived posts of that leak? I'm curious to learn more about it.
@Ulysses Here's the presentation leak: https://twitter.com/CentroLeaks/status/1365863223942144000
I don't really believe Centro, but seeing how this presentation effectively leaked right before the game's announcement, I'm pretty sure it's legit. It seems like the pokemon could probably be like ride pokemon, or it could be a new system entirely.
Art style and direction is weak, but the combo sounds promising. Let's hope this actually releases in playable form, first.
wow, looks..... in a very early stage of development i hope.
Nothing interesting anyway.
This game looks awesome! I really like the combination. I do enjoy the music as well, very catchy. I looked them up more and they are in early development too
@VoidofLight Thanks for sharing! I have high hopes for Legends Arceus
Sounds very interesting but the trailer was quite meh. I presume it's early in development...
What a mess...
I really like the idea of this, but I have very little faith that a new indie developer would have the juice to actually pull it off. I'm always skeptical of KickStarters like this, not because I don't think they have the passion or desire, but because game dev is ridiculously difficult and it feels like a lot of times people think it'll 'just come together'.
Wishing them all the best though, I'll keep an eye on this!
Gonna need some more appealing monster designs to get me interested but I do wish them the best of luck.
I like the wolf and the dragons but then there's that Lapras looking thing and the design on the KS page are jarring and not great.
Wow, everyone is trying to make a Cyberpunk game.
Looks like Pokemon and Monster Hunter if it took place in a utopia future.
Saw the trailer, personally, I don't like it. But, I'm happy for those that do.
I remember in high school some kid that wanted to use every instrument they could get and make one song that had everything in it so you didn't need any other songs... maybe he is the Dev on this
@elias84631 Because shaved blue hair and a pleather backpack gives you superpowerz
It seems likes it’s trying to be multiple popular games of the moment all at once. Hopefully
It all works out I pulling for them. But as of now it seems like jack of all trades master of none mishmash.
@elias84631 They'll be true Cyberpunk games if they release in a messy state.
The music is atrocious but I like the concept. I'll keep an eye out
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