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[V4skunk]

I've backed a few kind of successful games.
They are Mechwarrior Online, Planetary Annihilation and Torment Tides of Numenera.

 

[AJUMP23]

What was the double fine adventure game. I think it was good but I just didn’t care for it. I liked the making of doc more than the actual game.

 

[ShadowNate]

Armikrog. It launched delayed and in a terrible state, and even if they eventually fixed all of the technical bugs, it was still very mediocre, unpolished with some moon logic puzzles and repeating the mistakes of its spiritual ancestor, The Neverhood, without maintaining any of its charm.

Star Citizen is not yet delivered, but considering it's years delayed, still in pre-alpha, and they arbitrarily went back on original promises, changed Terms of Service, and kept the crowd funding perpetual -- these being only a few of the numerous red flags -- I'd call it an awful Kickstarter "game".

Most anything else I backed turned out to be either a gem (rare cases, but I'm glad I helped a little to fund them) or mediocre -- disappointing but not awful.

I liked Shenmue III; It is a pure Shenmue title, it has the charm of the old ones -- it just does not "work" that well in modern times, when most titles have refined the formula and improved on almost every aspect of this sort of gameplay. I wish the story moved a bit further though. And that they didn't do the fake Kickstarter or the unfortunate stuff with the Epic Store exclusiveness.

 

[eyesabitdull]

Great thread.

I've no additions, but I hope to hear more from you guys who had experienced backing a game that turned mediocre or straight out awful.

Keep em' coming.

 

[SegaManAU]

Shenmue 3 for me. I pledged $500 because I waited so long for the game.

 

[Paulistano]

After MN9 I never paid for another kickstarter.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Aren't those System Shock games/remakes still in the works after all this time with barely any updates?

The System Shock remake has had constant substantial updates, and is scheduled for release this summer.

There was a lot of controversy at one point when they spiraled the scope out of control, failed to attract outside publishers, and then rebooted the project back to the original plan. It was a big fuck up that cost them about 18 months of development. BUT they have posted updates every month and the project has never gone dark and is nearing completion.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Yeah I looked at that, glad I never backed it. I guess it's asleep in the janitor's closet still.

They actually released a complete beta, but unfortunately with some save system bugs. And still nothing for anyone who backed at the base tier.

 

[Furball]

 

[Griffon]

It seems the video game Kickstarter craze died down pretty hard eh.

 

[Dr Bass]

The problem with Kickstarter is that too many people think their problem is simply lack of money. But they don’t have the engineering or management skills to pull off a decent sized software project.

Get some money and we can can just put together a team and profit! It’s pie in the sky thinking, and absolutely what leads to so many failed or disappointing projects.

 

[ShadowNate]

The problem with Kickstarter is that too many people think their problem is simply lack of money. But they don’t have the engineering or management skills to pull off a decent sized software project.

Get some money and we can can just put together a team and profit! It’s pie in the sky thinking, and absolutely what leads to so many failed or disappointing projects.

This. Along with horribly mismanaged campaigns and projects, and shady practices like in the case of Star Citizen (which is considered a huge Kickstarter success based on the money gathered, but... well you probably know the story).

Kickstarter project creators managed to prove mantras like "no publishers equals better games" and "delays mean more polishing" wrong all by themselves. And also disillusion many on the game development abilities of big names of the past.

 

[Starbuck2907]

I’ve been very lucky and have been happy with all my Kickstarter games. I’ve got 2 or 3 I’m waiting on and the last one I remember that was delivered, Divinity: Original Sin 2, was great. I’m most looking forward to Pathfinder: Kingmaker and The Good Life.

I’ve had a few delivered, but I forgot the names offhand. I mostly invest in rpgs. I dodged the M#9 bullet.

Is game funding on Fig still a thing?

 

[Toots]

That lady thing in the middle has a ridiculously strong crotch area wtf

That is called realism you know...

 

[SkylineRKR]

tbh my KS experience has been rather meh.

Broken Age was eh
Mighty no 9 sucks
Yooka Laylee sucks
Shenmue 3 is trash
Project Cars is... eh, but I played on console.
Ouya lol

I liked Bloodstained, it exceeded my expectations. There are probably also lots of good KS projects, but typically the most hyped ones tend to suck.

 

[ShadowNate]

As someone mentioned, Broken Age is meh, but that Kickstarter delivered the documentary which is quite interesting and well worth backing the project (which arguably had the documentary as one of its primal deliverables).

OUYA yeah. That was a trash fire that kept on burning.

 

[DGrayson]

Arent there still a lot of people who are owed stretch goals for Mighty No 9 like physical copies and such?

 

[KiteGr]

Wasnt this new castlevania game another awful game that got deliverd?

This one was actually quite good!
I would had preferred it using sprites as originally intended, and the too many crowdfunding cameos and Easter eggs took away much of it's seriousness.
Even the two 8-bit styled spin-offs where fantastic, and the only problem those had was not having an Retail release, and not being connected to the main story (they function as an alternative universe).

My vote goes to Shen-mu 3.
That guy was nether a gamer nor knew how to make a video game. Reminded me of the vanila Final Fantasy 14 developers that the only other MMO they had played was FF11.

 

[MayauMiao]

Project crotch shot.

 

[KungFucius]

Considering it was based exactly like SotN(and it's endless clones), yes it was pretty mediocre.
For starters, the devs don't even know the basic rule of drops. Also, this "seed" was nothing more than trading the positions of a room or two and be done with.

I think your expectations were too high, but mediocre is fair. Awful is a bit too harsh.

I took Chasm as a metroidvania made by some indie dev to learn how to make a game on a small budget, not as something trying to achieve the same level of quality as a major developer created game like SoTN. Also they were clear up front that they were doing procedurally generated levels. The procedural generation probably didn't help the game, that's for sure. I am of the mind that a metroidvania should have well designed levels and maps, not some algorithm stitching shit together. This game showed that you could make something that was OK with procedural, but they probably would have had more success putting the time that went into getting that to work on designing a decent map instead.

I think Chasm was the last crowd funded game I backed and actually played. I still have Bloodstained installed, skipped Ultima Ascendant, and skipped Shenmue because they had terrible reviews, and am still waiting on Ghost Song and Star Citizen. For the most part, the money I spent on kickstarter was wasted. Divinity was a good backing, but most games tended to show their budgets or took so long to come out, I forgot about them.

 

[KungFucius]

That lady thing in the middle has a ridiculously strong crotch area wtf

Steel wool pubes?

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Wasnt this new castlevania game another awful game that got deliverd?

How dare you. Bloodstained was phenomenal.

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

Takedown: Red Sabre.

Jesus Christ. It's just awful.

It was supposed to be like the old school Tom Clancy tactical shooters. What we ended up with was a rushed, broken con-job cash grab.

Bitterly disappointing.

 

[Arimer]

Project crotch shot.

Unfortunately doesn't count in this thread as she never delivered anything. Also there are still sad people making comments on that project asking when it's coming to this day.

 

[ReBurn]

Amplitude

I backed Amplitude. It wasn't a bad game but the game it was based on was better.

 

[The Dead Flag Blues]

As someone mentioned, Broken Age is meh, but that Kickstarter delivered the documentary which is quite interesting and well worth backing the project (which arguably had the documentary as one of its primal deliverables).

OUYA yeah. That was a trash fire that kept on burning.

Don't agree with Broken Age being meh. I won't argue with you if you say that the second act was a bit disappointing, but act 1 was amazing and all in all it was great. And yeah, the documentary was very interesting imo.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Banner Saga was pretty good from what I played. So was Pillars of Eternity. I think we are well past big kickstarter games though. What was the last high-profile one?

 

[Gifmaker]

I played Bloodstained on Switch and it was fantastic. Note - it was way after launch after it had been patched.

I've been thinking about picking it up on Switch for some time now, but I never got "closure" on whether or not the port eventually got patched so much that it was considered a good version of the game. Can you recommend it on Switch? I don't play a lot on other platforms either.

 

[Saber]

I think your expectations were too high, but mediocre is fair. Awful is a bit too harsh.

I took Chasm as a metroidvania made by some indie dev to learn how to make a game on a small budget, not as something trying to achieve the same level of quality as a major developer created game like SoTN. Also they were clear up front that they were doing procedurally generated levels. The procedural generation probably didn't help the game, that's for sure. I am of the mind that a metroidvania should have well designed levels and maps, not some algorithm stitching shit together. This game showed that you could make something that was OK with procedural, but they probably would have had more success putting the time that went into getting that to work on designing a decent map instead.

I think Chasm was the last crowd funded game I backed and actually played. I still have Bloodstained installed, skipped Ultima Ascendant, and skipped Shenmue because they had terrible reviews, and am still waiting on Ghost Song and Star Citizen. For the most part, the money I spent on kickstarter was wasted. Divinity was a good backing, but most games tended to show their budgets or took so long to come out, I forgot about them.

Maybe your expectations were very low(or didn't have expectations at all). And lmao with small budget, Sal and Sanctuary was smaller and has like 2 people doing the entire game. There are also a good amount of other games that were small budgets and with less people and happen to do a better job than them. Also, precedural is pointless if you don't know what you can do with them. 2 changes in the map is not even enought to be called different, is just for the sake of fooling the player into to think their experience will be any different.

I'm not here to dictade what people can play or not. This thread is for Kickstarter games that delivered a terrible game, and my experience with Chasm was terrible. Chasm is that game that happen to be basically a bad copy of what is supposed to be. If you are into those things, cuddles for you. I'm actually impressed you came that way since you have Bloodstained, which plays remarkly better in comparison. If I could say anything about the developers, this what happens when you lack passion and love for what you do. Money is meanless.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Banner Saga was pretty good from what I played. So was Pillars of Eternity. I think we are well past big kickstarter games though. What was the last high-profile one?

Probably Eiyuden Chronicle, last year, which was the third most funded Kickstarter gamer of all time. So we're not totally past it.

Mighty No. 9 was this huge wet blanket on the crowdfunding phenomenon. It wasn't the worst kickstarter game or anywhere close, but it was this very high profile disappointment that sent everybody crashing back down to earth with unchecked faith in the system.

I think it's kind of a shame because there were projects that deserved to succeed and failed in that wake, like Starflight 3. But since then, we've seen some projects like Bloodstained, Divinity Original Sin 2, Everspace 2 and soon Psychonauts 2 that have restored some of people's optimism. I think people are still open to it, they just need to see more than just concept art and promises before they open their wallets.

Kickstarter has given me a mix of games, some are really special to me, these great games that I have wanted forever and are finally real and I love them. Stuff like:

Elite: Dangerous
Tex Murphy: Tesla Effect
Toejam and Earl
Dreamfall Chapters
Overload
Prodeus
Shantae: Half Genie Hero
Freedom Planet

Then there's stuff that delivered on its promises and released but I didn't love them as much as I hoped:

Armikrog.
Bard's Tale IV (some people love this one, didn't clock with me)
Shenmue III
Moebius

And a handful that flew off the rails:

Descent Underground
SpaceVenture
Jack Houston

When I look at that overall, the good games more than make up for the disappointments, as long as you understand that those good games wouldn't exist otherwise, and some of them are important to me. That's kind of how crowdfunding should be. It's a hedged bet. You're just planting seeds. It's not as preorder, you're just putting this out into the universe and if enough of it results in these games that are really special than it was worth it.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Takedown: Red Sabre.

Jesus Christ. It's just awful.

It was supposed to be like the old school Tom Clancy tactical shooters. What we ended up with was a rushed, broken con-job cash grab.

Bitterly disappointing.

This one wasn't very high profile, it just landed at the right time to piggy back on Double Fine, but it is really one of the very worst KS games.

 

[TheMan]

Star Citizen is in a weird place. They are technically delivering something and it’s of very high potential. But the product being sold at this time is janky, unfinished, and perpetually behind schedule to the extent that they just scrapped their roadmap. Extremely undisciplined development to the point that actually delivering a finished product seems impossible.

 

[porkchopexpress]

Underworld Ascendant

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

This one wasn't very high profile, it just landed at the right time to piggy back on Double Fine, but it is really one of the very worst KS games.

It hurts more as it didn't need to be anything special, it just had to be competent. Everything about it just feels cynical and rushed. From the brain dead AI, poor graphics and clunky game feel.

It speaks volumes that Serellan abandoned their next project after this one too. Glad I never fell for that.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

I've been thinking about picking it up on Switch for some time now, but I never got "closure" on whether or not the port eventually got patched so much that it was considered a good version of the game. Can you recommend it on Switch? I don't play a lot on other platforms either.

Wholeheartedly. There was one area where there was slight slowdown but for the most part it looked and played fine

 

[Silvawuff]

Indivisible. It had the pedigree to be an amazing title (Skullgirls devs release spiritual Valkyrie Profile? Hell yeah!), but when I played it, it was...ugh. Technically it needed a lot more time in the cooker.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Hero U is pretty garbo

but they tried so dunno if i can truly fault them...


and I don't even know what happened to the SpaceVenture one....but it has looked like trash since day one

 

[SinDelta]

The Mandate would have been Imperial Russia in space. Devs tries to do too much and combine a space sim with x-com tactical combat on ships.

Instead of focusing on one doable thing they tried two impossible things for their resources and the game was never made.

By far my biggest disappointment.

 

[GeorgPrime]

Have you heard about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?

Best Kickstarter game ever. Loved the shit out of it.

 

[M1chl]

Best Kickstarter game ever. Loved the shit out of it.

Glad you enjoyed it, I was part of the team.

 

[SpiceRacz]

Chasm.

Jesuz christ, the creators should be ashame to create a game like that, let alone be even considered a Castlevania like game. Chasm is an offense to anyone who loved and played Symphony of Night, total piece of crap.

Had a really good time with Chasm for what it was.

 

[Lanrutcon]

If you like Symphony or any of its clones, seriously avoid this game at any cost.

I'm not kidding. If theres a generic of a generic, must be Chasm. The guy even created a roulette mechanic that have chance to give you permanent negative stats.

I could give you all the details about how bad this game is, but it would take a lot to write and Im not on pc yet. If you still want my feedback, just say the word and then I give you my proper analisys.

You son of a bitch.

...you are absolutely right.

 

[purpletentacle]

can i even say Project Phoenix? motherfuckers owe me money.

 

[wolywood]

Star Citizen, the Chinese Democracy of videogames.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Star Citizen, the Chinese Democracy of videogames.

To deliver an awful game, one must first deliver a game.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

As someone mentioned, Broken Age is meh, but that Kickstarter delivered the documentary which is quite interesting and well worth backing the project (which arguably had the documentary as one of its primal deliverables).

OUYA yeah. That was a trash fire that kept on burning.

Broken Age is the only one I ever crowd-funded, and it was actually pretty great. My wife and I enjoyed the final product, particularly the dialogue and characters. Although I agree that the best part turned out to be the documentary.

 

[BadBurger]

Theres still a few I backed years ago that haven't delivered lol. Luckily they were cheap.

There was one I backed that had almost no updates for a year. Then they finally released a very rough demo. After that they went radio silent, and have been that way for about three years. Any company webpage or other entity related to the company simply vanished.

Since then I decided never to Kickstart shit. I'll just wait and see.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I wish I could get my $20 back from that Kickstarter - Unsung Story. I would say my favorite has been Bloodstained. Last Year or whatever that high school/serial killer multiplayer game wasn't worth it either. I use to back more than I do now. ShenMue 3 was okay, but it’s been so long. You could feel so much hype just by the announcement. I sorta felt some sorta dark shadow from it all. I liked it back when it was on Dreamcast, but I couldn’t finish 3. I just read some summary online. I did get the nice Kickstarter cover.

 

[iHaunter]

Crowfall. Not happy with how it launched.

 

[SF Kosmo]

There was one I backed that had almost no updates for a year. Then they finally released a very rough demo. After that they went radio silent, and have been that way for about three years. Any company webpage or other entity related to the company simply vanished.

Since then I decided never to Kickstart shit. I'll just wait and see.

Never back anything unless you're prepared to take the L. I would argue that collectively the good games make failures worth it if they're games that are important to you and wouldn't exist otherwise.