TITANS: Dawn of Tribes, previously known as Voodoo, is a MMO survival game set in primitive Africa where players establish a village and cultivate it. Gather resources for crafting, create weapons, hunt creatures, and defeat giant monsters called Izimu to unlock secret technology.
Publisher: IndieGala Type: Survival Release Date: June 15, 2017 Abandoned: January 25, 2019 Pros: +Extensive crafting recipes (including weapons). +Fleshed-out combat system with difficult bosses. +Large open-world with various biomes. Cons: -Abandoned by developer. -Poor optimization.
Voodoo is a survival game set in primeval Africa currently on Kickstarter, and draws inspiration from Shadow of Colossus: giant creatures roam the plains and jungles. Created by Italian indie development studio Brain in a Box, the multiplayer project is currently seeking a relatively small sum of $32,332. If you pledge about $9.00 you can get immediate pre-alpha access through Steam. "A crowdfunded project you can already play? The novelty is killing me."
Voodoo is one of the most refreshing Kickstarter projects of recent times. Not only because Brain in a Box has the right mentality to have gameplay before they turn to crowdfunding, but because it's expanding established survival norms by placing players in an ancient African environment while also nudging traditional gameplay in a new direction.
What will you do? The usual at first. Harvest resources to craft new tools, establish a village and tribe, survive the elements. At its core, Voodoo follows the precedent set by other survival games.
Players will also create their village with resource management in mind. You need farmhouses and defensive towers and booby traps—reminiscent of Tree of Life. And if you're civilization is sound you can advance your technological prowess.
But you'll have to defeat the lumbering giants called Izimu. Each behemoth possesses its own weaknesses and players will have to discover them through trial and error. My favorite part? In the trailer you see a player climbing the colossus to discover vulnerabilities just like Shadow of Colossus. My nostalgia is tingling.
Defeating behemoths grants a totem which unlocks new tools. And of course, you'll want to advance your civilization for strategic reasons. Because players are going to hack at each other—it is a survival game at its core. Combat looks fairly in-depth compared to other titles: you can parry, swing, dodge-roll, and combine materials to create over a touted 8,000 weapons.
Voodoo was at Gamescom 2016, thanks to IndieGala—which is currently promoting the game on their site. It's reassuring to see votes of confidence before a title seeks funding.
Some highlight points to keep in mind: Voodoo will not be free-to-play when it launches; it was made using Unity; and it will be available as an Early Access title through Steam sometime in 2017.
I'm not recommending you go out and fund the project, but it's well worth looking into if you're a fan of the genre. And Voodoo is one of the few Kickstarter project we discuss at MMOs.com that looks promising enough to make it to full release.
(3 votes, average: 3.33 / 5)
