Indie-Developed RPG 'Bevontule' Hitting Kickstarter on January 29

Welcome to the continent of Onich, a once vibrant land that’s since been touched by decay and riddled with deadly foes. Over the 1,500 years since its discovery by refugees fleeing from a devastated homeland, the continent’s dark history slowly started to surface, its provinces falling victim to the ravenous Kelvari. The network of evil is responsible for breeding “Rootsouls,” the fierce creatures that have claimed parts of Onich as their own.

Can the people of Onich fend off the Kelvari or will they continue to succumb to the unstoppable force? In Bevontule, it’s up to you and a strange traveler named Bodom to fight back against the root-like fiends and once again reclaim the continent for its people.

As much as I’d like to claim the concept as my own, it belongs to Portsmouth, OH natives Derek Bradley and Andy Fenton of Multithreaded Games. For the two gaming enthusiasts, the eventual creation of Bevontule all started with their love for Earthbound, a SNES Japanese role-playing. The budding friendship eventually led to the partnership responsible for the creation of the world of Onich. The aim for their passion-project wasn’t to develop just another indie-RPG, however; it was to provide gamers with the freedom of an action RPG while still retaining classic elements from strategic turn-based games.

At the start of the second quarter of 2017, Bradley and Fenton brought Bevontule to Steam Greenlight. The effort that went into enticing potential future players paid off as the project was approved for Steam and garnered more than 228 intrigued comments. Since the approval, Bevontule has reached thousands of interested gamers via Facebook, Twitter, and IndeDB.com, but as with many indie-developed projects, the duo will be taking to Kickstarter to help complete the journey from concept to finished product.

According to the Bevontule official Twitter page, the Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to launch on January 29. Going into more detail on the game’s Facebook page, Multithreaded Games stated:

Bevontule has been in development for over two years, primarily by just two people and while we have made an incredible amount of progress and wouldn't trade it for anything, it's come at a price that we could have never anticipated. But after five pre-alpha demos, several conferences, thousands of positive comments, and ten thousand hours of development, we're confident that we're in a place where we can put ourselves out there—and with what we've accomplished, I firmly believe that not only will we raise the necessary capital, but we'll absolutely shatter our fundraising goal.

Since the reveal on Steam Greenlight in April of 2017, Multithreaded Games has delivered on attractive and effective gameplay videos, each one showcasing the living world of Onich and the concept that, they say, “blurs the line between action and turn-based combat.”

Based on the in-game footage, exploration takes on elements of action RPGs as players traverse the expansive world of Onich, avoiding or engaging intelligent enemies along the way. Reminiscent of games like Final Fantasy XIII, running into an enemy launches a battle scenario, which is where the game shifts to a tactical, turn-based RPG. Though there is no visible grid, attacks can only be performed within a certain radius, forcing players to contemplate every move to ensure they’re strategically placed for their next turn.

In traditional RPG form, each player-controlled character is unique in design, featuring their own stats and upgradable skillset. Equipment found on the journey is equipped to increase stats that affect defense, attack power, resistance, and health. If you’ve played any RPG, this should all come as second nature; but that’s not to say Bevontule is run-of-the-mill and typical.

For a two-person team—and yes, they have assured on many occasions it is a two-person team—Bevontule looks impressive. One element difficult to perfect in any genre of gaming is the interface, and from what’s been shown, it appears manageable without being simple. As for overall gameplay, the tactical combat appears to flow nicely while the moments of exploration that have been shown hint at the “very tightly-written and mythology-deep story” that the twosome has promised.

For updates on Bevontule, log onto the official webpage and sign up for the game’s exclusive newsletter. With the Kickstarter launch on January 29 and the game’s ample progress over the past two years, hitting the planned 2019 launch goal seems more than feasible.