Wild Arms / Shadow Hearts Revival Project Launches Kickstarter

Matsuzo Machida and Akifumi Kaneko, the men behind the classic JRPS series Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts, have teamed up for a joint project that will revive both games at the same time — spiritually, at least. Like Iga did with Bloodstained and Playtonic did with Yooka-Laylee, Machide and Kaneko are creating a pair of copyright safe lookalikes that allow them to do what they loved again. This interview with Gematsu tells more.

The games, Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness and Penny Blood, will play like Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts respectively. A Kickstarter campaign to partially fund both titles launched just this morning, with a modest (for game development) goal of $750,000. The end goal is to demonstrate interest in the revivals so that a publisher can foot the rest of the bill. As of this writing, the campaign has been live for two hours and it’s already generated half that amount, so we predict another millions-maker in the works.

Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts were both JRPGs yet had entirely different approaches to the genre. Wild Arms was more traditional, but used a unique Wild West setting instead of the fantasy worlds most other JRPGs used at the time. Shadow Hearts was something different, a dark, gothic world with splashes of unconventional humor, using a unique menu system called the Judgment Ring. Both series had their last installment on the PS2 ages ago.

We predicted there might be some kind of early bird discount deal, but we predicted wrong — either that or the early bird tier was bought up in minutes. Pledge prices are pretty much in line with what a new game typically costs. Either Armed Fantasia or Penny Blood in digital form costs a $42 pledge. The physical discs cost $60 each. Getting them both digitally is a $100 pledge and both physically is $110. Extras like the soundtrack OST are also available.

Machide and Kaneko estimate that it’ll be at least 2025 before Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness and Penny Blood will be finished. Pledge to the campaign by hitting this link — it’s open until September 30.