Zakuro, an RPG about fighting grotesque angels, is seeking crowdfunding

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-03-03 20:26 JST)

Japanese indie game development team Mitsuzou Pomeranian has opened a cloud funding campaign for their upcoming title Zakuro. The campaign is scheduled to run until April 5 on the Japanese crowdfunding website Campfire. The team explains that their budget was used to commission illustrations and art assets for the game but that more money will be needed in order to polish and improve the overall quality.

Zakuro is a side-scrolling RPG where players take on the role of an undertaker to defeat grotesque angels. The game takes place in the near future in a quarantined Shinjuku, a district of Tokyo, Japan. Decades ago, there was an incident in Shinjuku where people started turning into horrifying monsters. In response, the Japanese government quarantined the area. Around the same time, a religious group appeared and started calling the monsters “angels” and seeking salvation.

In current day Shinjuku, there’s a young man named Yatarou Ashihara working as an undertaker under a violent crime syndicate fighting the angels. Players take control of Ashihara as he fulfills his undertaking duties in a game that depicts the story of these angels overrunning Shinjuku and the young people that stand up to them.

Between the angels and other hostile organizations, there are plenty of enemies in Shinjuku. If you make contact with an enemy while exploring, a battle will begin. Battles take place in real time where position also needs to be considered. Allies are placed across four spaces that each correspond with a directional button. When your action gauge builds up, it becomes possible to move and attack.

One unique aspect of battle is likely the game’s defensive options. Before an enemy attacks, the space they are attacking will change colors so that you know beforehand. This means you can use your action gauge to move characters and avoid attacks. In addition, characters can also guard which activates when the action gauge is charged and lowers the damage of incoming attacks. And with a well-timed attack of your own when an enemy attacks, you can nullify the damage without consuming your action gauge. Timing your attacks and managing the action gauge looks like an important element of the game.

Furthermore, according to the above video of the demo version’s gameplay, options to adjust gameplay speed are being planned as well so even players that aren’t good with quick inputs can play. They are also introducing other elements like being able to adjust your 3-person party composition, full voice acting for the main scenario, and a skill tree system for strengthening characters.

According to the Campfire page, taro, the developer behind the game, has 7 years of experience working in the video game industry and quit their job to focus completely on Zakuro. After using their budget to order illustrations and art assets, taro and the team of 2 other programmers have been scraping together money to continue development. However, in order to improve the game’s graphics, additional funding is needed, which led them to start this crowdfunding campaign.

The goal is set at 500,000 yen (roughly $4,333), and as of this writing they have raised 170,000 yen. The team plans to use the money for background illustrations and to improve character and enemy animations. Illustrations for the game are being handled by artist Yuu Huyuki.

Zakuro is scheduled to launch on PC (Steam) in December of 2022. According to a tweet from the official Twitter account, the game is expected to cost around 2,000 yen (roughly $20) and have a playtime of around 30 hours. The official website can be found here.