One of SAGE’s hottest showings this year was a little demo for a rather spooky game called Vertebreaker! It’s being developed by Head Cannon, one of the driving forces behind Sonic Mania, and now it’s come to Kickstarter to get a boost in funds to become a full-fledged indie title!
Hitting the ground running with a hot new trailer, we can see a fun physics-based action platformer in the works! While the slopes and use of momentum (and occasional rolling) might elicit some Sonic the Hedgehog vibes, make no mistake: Vertebreaker is it’s own bony beast! You whip and zip the skeletal protagonist with their spine to take out ghoulish enemies, and fling them across the landscape at fast speeds! Here’s a blurb from the Kickstarter page:
“Rest in Peace?!” You wish! “Vertebreaker” is a brand-new and authentic pixel-based side-scroller from Headcannon, the studio that helped bring “Sonic Mania” to the masses. Starring a stubby-yet-seemingly-unstoppable skeleton who’s thrashing their way to victory, it’s gothic, cartoonish, and unabashedly retro!
Take control of our bony hero in a crusade to crush the undead and look cool while doing it! In “Vertebreaker”, traversal is key as you slash, bash, and grapple your way through the most wicked 2D adventure yet! “What is ‘traversal'”? It’s slinging, swinging, and launching from floors, walls, and ceilings to propel yourself forward or even upward with serious speed!
Save the day with our pearly-boned mascot, their mysterious golden half-skull, and their sick grappling hook made from the spine of a demon! “What demon”? It doesn’t matter … does it … ?
Sonic Mania’s Simon “Stealth” Thomely isn’t the only one at the healm; there are other familiar talents such as Andy Collins from A+ Start, Matthew Weekes who worked on Freedom Planet, and Michael Staple who worked on the music for Spark the Electric Jester.
If you’re curious to try the game for yourself before you back it (and you should), check out the demo here on their Kickstarter page. They’re looking to raise $275,000 by November 30th, so get to it!
We’ll be following this one pretty closely, so stay tuned for more news as this develops.
That’s a massive goal. Sorry but I doubt they’ll make it, as much as I want them to.
With Kickstarter’s opposition to unions and the news that came out a few months ago of them firing people for trying to start one… Not comfortable using the platform any more. Plus that is a LOFTY goal.