On August 10th, Clockwork Giant Games, a two-man indie studio from Madison, WI, launched a Kickstarter campaign for their unique open-world survival game Vulpine. At first glance, it looks like players just have to take on the role of an animal trying to survive in the wild but then you notice something — you are an animal equipped with weaponry.
Vulpine is an open-world survival game where you will be exploring the vast world around you, hunting for food, and gathering resources while looking for signs of a lost civilization. Players can play solo or join up with other players and take on giant enemies or battle through dungeons. The game will cater to 32+ people teaming up in private sessions so you can form big hunting packs and get into the co-op side of the game.
Players will have to choose the kind of animal they want to play, whether it be something small and agile like a rabbit, something balanced and medium sized like a fox, or something large and slow yet powerful like a bear. Not all animals have been confirmed, but community goals on the Kickstarter page show that rhinos will be a playable character, and they are a few tweets away from unlocking a wolf as a playable character as well. There are 3 types of weaponry available to arm yourself with: swords, hammers, and spears. Any animal can use any weapon but the size of the animal has a direct affect on how much damage the weapon does.
The game has been a long time coming. The concept where players assume the role of an animal had been in the minds of the developers, brothers Isaac and Josiah Goodin, for many years — since the studio was founded in 2013. But due to other commitments, such as developing and releasing other games, the idea was shelved. It wasn’t until 2015 when Clockwork Giant Games decided to start working full-time on Vulpine, and the result is the game you see before you.
“We loved the concept of creating an RPG with normal animals that have extraordinary skills. Taking inspiration from one of our all-time favourite games, Tokyo Jungle, we developed Vulpine 101 at our very first game jam. Since then, we’ve developed several games but we just couldn’t shake the idea of where you play as an animal. That’s why we decided, about six months ago, to revisit the idea and dedicated ourselves to developing this new version of Vulpine full-time. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback so far, for example it was Greenlit on Steam in less than two weeks”
Isaac Goodin, co-founder of Clockwork Giant Games
There is still a while to go until the game is fully funded but you can head on over to the Kickstarter campaign page to find out a lot more information about the game. But before you do, check out the trailer for Vulpine here first!
