Nearly 40 years ago, Francis Ford Coppola took inspiration from one of Joseph Conrad’s most famous novels and found his own Heart of Darkness in the Vietnam war film, Apocalypse Now. It’s been rightfully called one of the greatest movies ever made, but now, Coppola has even greater ambitions for it. Coppola’s American Zoetrope is attempting to turn Apocalypse Now into a video game experience through a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.
A very experienced team has come together to pull off this project, and even the Kickstarter itself is unusually ambitious. The funding goal is $900,000; which is possible, but it is also far from guaranteed. In the accompanying video, the team behind this game explained that the reason it was taken to a crowdfunding platform is that they didn’t want to be forced to turn the game into a shooter by a larger publisher. Instead, they described the game as a psychological survival horror that takes place against the backdrop of the film’s story. The campaign also released a brief video of the game’s prototype, which recreated a few key moments from the movie.
The basic plot of the film will be retained for the game. Players will assume control of Captain Benjamin L. Willard, an Army special operations officer who has been sent to assassinate Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, a rogue special forces officer who has set up his own private army and allowed his followers to view him as a demigod. But rather than simply rehash all of the movie’s major moments, players will have the option to control how Willard makes his journey up the river to find Kurtz while experiencing the horrors of war through his perspective. This isn’t a game that players can really shoot their way out of, but it does offer the option to let Willard drop acid rather than forcing him to always move forward with his mission. War is Hell, and this game is basically daring you to stay in the flames a little longer than necessary.
The Kickstarter campaign will run until Friday, February 24. You can contribute to it and discover more information by visiting the official campaign page.
Are you intrigued by the plans to make Apocalypse Now into a video game? Describe “the horror, the horror” in the comment section below!
Image Credit: American Zoetrope