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Official Site|Launch Trailer

General Information
Developer: Pencil Test Studios
Publisher: Versus Evil
Genre: Adventure
Platforms: PC/Mac/Linux, Wii U, PlayStation 4
Release Date: September 30 (PC/Mac/Linux), Wii U (TBA), PlayStation 4 (TBA)
Price: $24.99 Standard Edition, $29.99 Deluxe Edition - 10% off for pre-ordering
Purchase: Steam, GOG, Greenman Gaming, Nuuvem, Direct2Drive

About

From the creators of the Earthworm Jim and The Neverhood games, comes a ground breaking stop motion clay animated adventure game called Armikrog. Based on characters created by Doug TenNapel, the game follows the adventures of a space explorer named Tommynaut and his blind alien talking dog named Beak-Beak as they crash land on a weird planet and end up locked in a mysterious fortress called Armikrog.

The game is being created using classic sculpting, set building and clay & puppet fabrication methods combined with stop-motion animation. Voiceover talent, including well-known actors Jon Heder (Napoeon Dynamite), Rob Paulsen (Pinky and the Brain) and Michael J. Nelson (Mystery Science Theater 3000) bring Armikrog’s characters to life with tongue-in-cheek humor enhanced by the original soundtrack from American songwriter and record producer Terry Taylor.

It had a successful Kickstarter back in June of 2013, with a goal of $900,000 which ended at almost a million.

Back in 1996 a point-and-click adventure game was released called The Neverhood. Like Armikrog, it made use of claymation. It's not available for purchase on any of the popular services like GOG or Steam but fortunately it's supported in ScummVM so all that's required is a disc copy of the game. A couple of years later The Neverhood got a sequel called Skullmonkeys and was released on the first PlayStation. It goes away from being an adventure game and instead is a platformer. And now, almost twenty years later, The Neverhood has a spiritual successor with Armikrog.

Soundtrack

Terry Scott Taylor, who did the soundtrack for The Neverhood, has returned to compose the soundtrack for Armikrog. Purchasing the Deluxe Edition includes the soundtrack. I'll add links to other stores once it's available elsewhere.

Reviews

Post Arcade/National Post - 7.5
Destructoid - 7
Arcade Sushi - 7.0
Adventure Gamers - 3.5/5
The Escapist - 3/5
Game Watcher - 5.5
Game Informer - 4
Gameplanet - 4.0
Eurogamer - Avoid

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Thanks to Dsyndrome for the title and TheMoon for making the banner!

 

[Extra Sauce]

Game looks gorgeous.

I just checked and The Neverhood is still not available on GOG or Steam. Boo. Would like to play the spiritual predecessor first.

 

[DocSeuss]

I've been following this one for a while. Can't wait to get paid so I can pick it up.

 

[a secret-boss]

on my wishlist

Greenman gaming has it for $17 with code

 

[Dsyndrome]

Looking forward to playing it when it releases tomorrow, never got that far in The Neverhood, will have to rectify that with this game!

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Game looks gorgeous.

I just checked and The Neverhood is still not available on GOG or Steam. Boo. Would like to play the spiritual predecessor first.

That's a shame, it's probably the best pnc adventure game I've played (and I played a lot in the 90s). If there was ever a game I want to see get an HD treatment it's that one. Since a lot of it is digital video (I think) not sure how much the fmvs could be cleaned up. It's surreal seeing that style in Armikrog looking so clean. Very excited for it.

Also, Terry S Taylor the gawd, goat game soundtrack. Will be interesting to see if his style has changed much/evolved over the years since Neverhood.

 

[Chance Hale]

on my wishlist

Greenman gaming has it for $17 with code

Nuuvem has the standard and deluxe versions for 10.70 and 13 dollars respectively!

 

[AScotAbroad]

Any Kickstarter backers received a key yet?

 

[Gears]

Man that is pretty. Will probably buy along with soma as my pc games this month

 

[a secret-boss]

Nuuvem has the standard and deluxe versions for 10.70 and 13 dollars respectively!

yeah just bought it from there. hopefully its region free

EDIT: redeemed on STEAM. GTG

 

[Chance Hale]

yeah just bought it from there. hopefully its region free

Nuuvem either posts a notice about games that aren't region free or requires you to use a vpn to see them, don't worry about it.

 

[OniBarubary]

I eagerly await my copy from Kickstarting it.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Hoho! Me and my mom loved this game back in the day, I'll definitely be picking this up.

 

[Warxard]

Potateys love, my gravy love.

 

[RetroMG]

Nuuvem has the standard and deluxe versions for 10.70 and 13 dollars respectively!

That is a steal. Bought.

 

[epmode]

Another game I'm glad I backed. <3 crowdfunding <3

I was hoping that The Neverhood would get a rerelease before this came out, though.

Any Kickstarter backers received a key yet?

I haven't.

I wish there was a way for backers to switch to the deluxe version but it looks like Steam considers it a separate product instead of DLC.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Re-listening to The Neverhood soundtrack in anticipation. Shit sounds so good.

Neverhood OST

Also track-by-track for desktop users:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On_p0JLNIN0&index=1&list=PLd1x_hw_n9fot9uq9hlGJFba66I85mJLr

 

[Scrooged]

It's amazing that this game exists. The Neverhood is so unique and great but it was never really popular.

Got the deluxe edition on Steam. Must have the music!

 

[The Reloader]

First time backer here. How are we suppose to get our keys?

 

[SOME-MIST]

Been my most anticipated game of the last 2 years. Played through the neverhood again last year and skullmonkeys again this year.

Can't wait to see what the box art looks like for my physical edition too

 

[bumpkin]

I eagerly await my copy from Kickstarting it.

Same.

I wonder what the chances are of backers who chose the physical collector's edition tier(s) receiving their copy in the mail on release day. That'd be sweet. Would certainly take the sting out of going back to work after a long weekend.

 

[checkeredknight]

This has just been delayed until September 30th (lol.)

 

[Dsyndrome]

Info's available in a backer update, could someone who has access post it?

 

[epmode]

Just got the email. Crazy.

Hey Everyone--
The Armikrog team has been working around the clock (literally) to get the game polished for release. Our goal is to give you a great game--unfortunately over these past few days we've encountered a few bugs that are going force us to push back the release date. We understand that we've pushed the date back before, and here we are doing it again--but a short term delay in order to give you a great game is better than giving you a frustrating broken version tomorrow.
In our previous updates, we've given you a look behind-the-scenes to see what it takes to make a game like Armikrog -- most of it has been pretty fun stuff. This delay is another facet of that behind-the-scenes look.
Over the past 7 days we've had some new technical issues pop up. Specifically some critical bugs called 'progression stoppers,' where users couldn’t get past certain points in the game. While these bugs continue to be fixable, they just aren't issues that we can ship with. Even this morning the Quality Assurance team kicked back a build due to an early critical bug. Yes, everyone is working through the Labor Day weekend, including our pals in Q.A.
We're confident that all of these issues are fixable. We just need a little more time, so we're pushing the release date back to September 30th.
Hang in there with us -- we know everyone is excited to play Armikrog, and we're excited to see you all play

SHUT IT DOWN, MODBOT

 

[Elixist]

this game got style. i would like to play it ... for cheap because i usually dont like these types of games.

 

[SOME-MIST]

Arghhhhh
Yup, just got the email. Hopefully third release date is the charm? What sucks is that I move October 1st and won't have any time to play until I'm settled :[

 

[PaulloDEC]

This has just been delayed until September 30th (lol.)

God f*cking dammit.

I understand the realities of game development and everything, but has there been a single Kickstarted game that released anywhere close to the predicted delivery date?

 

[Dog Problems]

SHUT IT DOWN, MODBOT

And the day before, of all times. Ugh.

Oh well.

 

[mapachealocado]

I understand claymation takes forever to make and bugs happen but when they keep pushing the release date it just makes me worry about the Wii U release. It's probably going to be pushed into 2016 at this rate -_-

 

[checkeredknight]

God f*cking dammit.

I understand the realities of game development and everything, but has there been a single Kickstarted game that released anywhere close to the predicted delivery date?

It's not that which bugs me. It's the fact they keep delaying it the day before release. That's what game devs do when there's no publisher breathing down their neck. We'll get a better product in the end, but yeah. Waiting.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Yeah this is annoying, but if there's game breaking shit there's game breaking shit, don't want to play that. I don't really get how development works but it seems like it'd be more prudent for small teams like theirs to give loose month release windows like Adr1ft is doing, specific dates don't seem to be working for Pencil Test.

 

[OniBarubary]

*shrug* I legit don't care about delays. I get the game at some point when in a world where I didn't Kickstart it it would never have been made. It's not like I ever have a dearth of games to play so shit like this barely even registers with me. I'd prefer the game, of good quality and as bugless as they can manage (since so many games release nowadays with obscene amounts of bugs and get such hate for it) get released late than the alternative which is to send it out to a commercial, review and editorial death.

That's me tho. Just my personal feel

 

[bumpkin]

Damn. Well this sucks.

 

[Stormwatch]

What I don't understand is how do we go from "the game is coming out tomorrow" to "the game is coming out more than 3 weeks from now". I'm obviously not a developer, but where does 3 weeks worth of work suddenly appear from?

 

[jholmes]

I understand claymation takes forever to make and bugs happen but when they keep pushing the release date it just makes me worry about the Wii U release. It's probably going to be pushed into 2016 at this rate -_-

This is also my fear. It sounds like it's going to be an awesome port too, dang it.

 

[Chance Hale]

Sorry to the people who bought the game because of the nuuvem link I posted

 

[Drago]

Nuuvem has the standard and deluxe versions for 10.70 and 13 dollars respectively!

I know it just got delayed but I got a copy anyways. Thanks!

I was super intrigued by this one all the way back to the Kickstarter though I never backed it. Looking forward to the 30th!

 

[PaulloDEC]

*shrug* I legit don't care about delays. I get the game at some point when in a world where I didn't Kickstart it it would never have been made. It's not like I ever have a dearth of games to play so shit like this barely even registers with me. I'd prefer the game, of good quality and as bugless as they can manage (since so many games release nowadays with obscene amounts of bugs and get such hate for it) get released late than the alternative which is to send it out to a commercial, review and editorial death.

That's me tho. Just my personal feel

You're not wrong. To be honest, I should probably be glad to have a little more time to finish the half-dozen other games I'm midway through playing.

 

[Wanderer5]

Was wondering this morning where Armikrog was heh. Meh I kind of glad it got delayed just by the fact that Hatsune Miku Project Mirai DX came out yesterday too lol.

I fine with the delay really at this point if there still some possible serious bugs that needs to be work on.

 

[GnawtyDog]

Thank god for this OT. I had forgotten about this game big time.

 

[a secret-boss]

yo September 8 went by. where my game at.

oh delayed LOL

premature OT thread

 

[Dog Problems]

premature OT thread

It went up before the delay was announced.

 

[Stormwatch]

So on a whim I opened up Steam and saw that my Armikrog Backer Beta had an update pending. When I updated it I appear to have the full game. I wonder if there is any way to check if that is true. Is anyone else seeing this?

 

[Chû Totoro]

Waiting for the Wii U version here :/

But I'm ok to wait if it's so we can have some nice Gamepad gameplay features.
Still I'm hoping the game to have decent sales on PC/Mac too.
Does anyone have played the game yet?

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Nearly forgot this was coming, can't wait especially for the OST by Terry Scott Taylor!

 

[BobTheFork]

I have been waiting....a very long time to play another stop motion adventure game from this group. I'm a little too excited and I probably need to curb my hype.


SUPER HYPE!

 

[inm8num2]

This should ease any concerns about another potential delay.

 

[plutoknight]

I totally didn't know this was coming out!

And bought.

 

[Teknoman]

Releases on my birthday, so that's a sign.

 

[Amir0x]

Very curious to see how this is.