Intriguing “Anti Shoot’em Up” ‘Dark Stars’ Needs Your Support on Kickstarter

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Alex Hiatt recently unveiled his plans for Dark Stars, a game which — based on the fact your vessel doesn’t contain any ballistic weaponry — he has chosen to call an “Anti Shoot’em Up”. This isn’t to say that you’re wholly unlethal — quite the opposite, actually — since the ancient technology aboard your vessel allows you to endlessly pull souls from nearby ships, and then store the macabre harvest as digital energy. It is this energy that in turn powers your shields — allowing you to take damage — and more importantly enables you to summon “The Maw”, which is your only real method of actively striking back.

The Maw seems to be a burning rift in space from which two giant eyes gaze into our universe, and you appear to believe that this tear in space is a salvation filled gift that you’re bringing to people everywhere. When opened — which takes up all of your energy in the process — The Maw will not only rapidly consume the souls of everything nearby, it will additionally negate all attacks that pass by (providing a safe place for you to hide). The Maw additionally has many other esoteric uses that can readily be put to your advantage, but you’ll have to discover those abilities on your own as you strive to bring a macabre salvation to the entire galaxy.

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Just why — exactly — is all of this going on, and what ancient commonality ties together the three super-advanced civilizations upon which you have come to forcefully bring The Maw’s blessed salvation? Using a mixture of in-game dialogue, mixed with environmental storytelling, Alex Hiatt promises that players will experience a rich narrative detailing how everything inexorably led towards this moment. The plot has been described as a mixture of Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz combined with the tight-lipped environmental storytelling of From Software’s Dark Souls series.

However, in order to release Dark Stars on nearly every mobile format available — Android, Windows, and iOS — Alex Hiatt was going to need funds, which is why he recently turned towards Kickstarter with a request for $2,000. Currently nearly $1,300 of this amount has so far been secured by various backers, yet — with less than three days remaining — much work will have be done to secure The Maw’s salvation for everyone. Right now a pledge of just $5 is all that’s needed to ensure your very own launch day copy of Dark Stars on any platform of your choice (including even iOS), while those whom donate further can additionally receive both a soundtrack and world-lore art book.