A Kick for Kickstarters: Unbeatable

It’s not easy for a video game crowdfunding campaign to stick out on any of the platforms these days, though not because there are too many of them. The gaming audience is largely not paying attention to them and few stand-out projects have gone live, at least partially thanks to financial uncertainty that emerged alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of an “A Kick for Kickstarters” entry in months has also been a personal decision, because I haven’t liked the way these posts have turned out when I don’t have enough interest in the project being crowdfunded. The last one I wrote about was Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the Suikoden spiritual successor project that appears to be progressing well in development.

There’s finally a new project worth talking about by the standards I laid out above: Unbeatable. Developer D-Cell Games describes this as a title that occurs in a location “where MUSIC IS ILLEGAL and YOU DO CRIMES,” a hell of a way to sell a concept. A small girl has an idea to bring it back and make the location vibrant again, though in a twist, she’s not the protagonist.

The actual main character is Beat, the girl who gets roped into the “small girl” Quaver’s plans. Beat is the band’s main singer while Quaver is the guitarist, joined by brother and sister duo Treble and Clef on the keyboard and drums, respectively. The characters are notably named after musical notes and styles, perhaps the best musical theme naming since the Rockman games (though not the localized Mega Man games, which changed several names).

Unbeatable is partly a rhythm game, and partly a narrative and exploration-focused adventure game. One portion involves wandering around the world performing assorted tasks, like planning upcoming concerts, meeting NPCs who can sometimes be terrible, practicing with the band, and sleeping. This implies a possible mechanic that involves simply sleeping, perhaps with a penalty, given how it’s highlighted on the pitch page. It won’t be a dealbreaker if that’s not the case, but I would appreciate it.

The game’s other half involves participating in a rhythm game described as “simple but frenetic.” It’s ostensibly welcoming by only relying on two buttons, but the promised variety comes in how players will have to be in tune with the rhythm for its original music tracks. There’s an Arcade Mode available from the game’s start, but other stages will have to be completed as part of its story. Accessibility features will be present so players can adjust the rhythm gameplay to their personal styles, at least partially geared toward players inexperienced with the genre.

The most immediately noticeable aspect of Unbeatable is the art style, a remarkably unique one for a video game overall, let alone a crowdfunded one. It channels the look of a Studio Trigger work, while not being a wholesale pilfering of the style. I looked around to see if I wasn’t the only one who thought this, for concern that watching very horny action series Kill la Kill and the hot-blooded and less horny Promare recently might have influenced my conclusion, but I’m not alone in thinking this. Whether this is an intentional channeling is anyone’s guess (yes, even considering the possibly-coincidental with the Lose Your Way tagline), because it’s also believable to think the developers only wanted to channel 90s VHS titles — specifically a style from the tail end of the 90s. They even jokingly note how the style resembles a (good-looking) Dreamcast game, and the cel shading techniques indeed channel Jet Set Radio.

The style and cel shading make the game look very appealing in motion, through exploration sequences and rhythm gameplay shown in detail through the pile of animated GIFs on the page. Samples of the soundtrack are also present. They’re clearly proud of the style they’ve created, and they should be.

D-Cell Games asked for $55,000 to complete development of Unbeatable, but it didn’t even take one day to sail beyond that. The project is at just over $100,000 as of this writing, nearly twice the initial goal, with stretch goals within reach to maintain funding momentum. It just reached the first such goal at $100,000 to add online leaderboards and custom profiles, and a map editor will be added if it reaches $150,000. Stretch goal features beyond that haven’t been specified, but it’s a case of “when” and not “if” they will be considering how well it’s doing.

Everything about Unbeatable looks and sounds good, but hopefully not too good. It’s a clear looker despite its low initial goal, but I’m not concerned about the developers not being able to finish it. The project started development in 2018 and was in pre-production until mid-2020, which explains why it looks like a fully-functioning game. It was also previously playable at MAGFest in 2019. The funding sailing well beyond the initial goal means the developers should have the funding and resources to complete and release it.

Completion will take a while, though, a fact they aren’t hiding. Unbeatable isn’t due for a release on PC until the end of 2023, nearly three years from now. I’m having trouble thinking of a crowdfunding campaign that wasn’t delayed before release, outside those for completed projects that merely needed distribution funding. Don’t be surprised if it slips to 2024, though it wouldn’t foretell doom for the project if it did. It would be best for everyone involved if there are no serious tumbles in its development from here.