Though he’s mostly worked in comic books over the past few years having produced art for some of Marvel’s biggest titles and created the Battle Chasers series, Joe “Mad” Madureira is no stranger to the video game world. Alongside his team at Vigil Games, he’s made two great adventure titles in the Darksiders series. But for his newest project, Madureira’s worlds are about to collide as he strives to bring back a his beloved comic series and transform it into an epic RPG.
As far as what inspired his decision, Madureira explained, “It was a combination of a couple different factors. Fan demand over the years definitely contributed to it, and probably is what eventually swayed me. I’d already been wanting to drop a few new issues of the series just to answer that demand, but there never seemed to be enough time in my schedule between projects.”
Having just formed the game development studio Airship Syndicate, Madureira knew that he wanted to develop an RPG, but didn’t know which direction to take it. At the same time, fans were still looking for a way to get back into the world of Battle Chasers. It only made sense to combine efforts to create the game he wanted along while continuing the story he started nearly two decades ago.
Image source: KickStarter
Battle Chasers will feature a combination of Japanese role-playing style tactics and top-down exploration. Enemies are generally visible on the dungeon screen, and choosing when to get into combat and when to avoid it is important to the party’s survival. Players will need to make sure they have the right abilities equipped on their heroes to navigate the many traps and obstacles within the dungeon.
Fans will be thrilled at the number of characters included in the game as well. “All of the ‘main’ characters from the comic series are featured in the game as playable heroes. Garrison (Swordsman), Gully (Brawler), Red Monika (Rogue), Calibretto (Wargolem), and Knolan (Wizard),” Madureira said. “There are a couple of other planned cameos, as well as one more playable hero who’s new and being introduced to the story for the first time.”
Joe also stated confidence in his team, with a few staying on from the older Vigil days where they created Darksiders. “Vigil was a pretty tight-knit group,” he said. “Many of us were already friends before we started the company, and have remained friends after it dissolved, so it’s just like old times, but way, way smaller in scale. I can honestly say, I wouldn’t even be doing this game if it wasn’t with this particular group of people.”
Thus far, the plan is to bring it to PC and Mac, along with Xbox One and PlayStation 4, although other platforms could be considered if certain goals are met. “I think we would all love to see it on Wii U, and Vita has a few very vocal supporters as well. But there are no definite plans at this time to support them. Again, like so much of the game, it really depends on the demand for it, and the funding goals we end up hitting.”
Image source: KickStarter
And there’s always room for expansion, if players are in the mood for more adventures. “Because the game is meant to be replayed, and fairly modular, it’s actually quite easy to expand with new content,” said Joe. “Whether we’d do it as DLC or as an outright sequel, I’m not sure. It’ll really depend on how well the game is received and what sort of demand there is for more. We’d love to do it though. Fingers crossed.”
Those who want to learn more about Battle Chasers can check out the KickStarter campaign here.
Feature Image Source: WildStorm/Image Comics/Wikipedia