Laika Believes Seeks Kickstarter Funding

Russia’s space dog deserves her own homage in the form of a retro platforming action game, and now you can have a hand in making it happen.

Laika Believes is the title of a proposed series of episodic games starring an alternate history/future version of a dog scientists from the USSR shot into space in 1957. We discovered this game (which is currenly in development at Minicore Studios) a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love with the premise. Consider this article your reminder of that – and more specifically, a notification that any spare cash you have lying around should go toward the newly-created Laika Believes Kickstarter effort.

Why? Have a look at this features list taken from the game’s Kickstarter page:

Laika Believes is a 2D action platformer in the same vein as Cave Story and Iji with some Metroid influences as well. What makes Laika unique?

-Massive, nonlinear levels that model the layouts of real locations in a way not yet seen in other platformers
-Large, choice-rich skill trees that let players approach the game the way they want to
-A novel defensive mechanic that lets players turn the firepower of Laika’s enemies against them
-Smoothly flowing, fast-paced shooting action
-A story of struggle and hope, full of twists and revelations
-Rich, evocative art depicting a world dominated by a technologically ascendant Soviet empire
-Secrets and rewards hidden in every corner for the determined player

Still not convinced? Watch that video embedded at top. It’s a teaser for the first episode, dubbed Laika Believes: The Sun At Night and should offer a good look at what this game will eventually entail.

As of the time of this writing the fundraising attempt has pulled in just under $1,000 of its $100,000 goal. Like I said, this Kickstarter project only just debuted, so there’s still 29 days left for Minicore Studios to attract the remaining $99,000 in funding. Particularly if you readers are feeling generous.

Or if not, just think of how dark and sad your life would be without a game based on a dead stray dog from the streets of Moscow. Unless you’re reading this from the time-displaced war bunker of Josef Stalin, Laika didn’t exactly die for you, but the pup still deserves her propers. We can think of few better ways to honor her memory than by giving her the a laser gun and dropping her into a pixelated war with the forces of the Soviet Union.

Source: Kickstarter