An RPG inspired by Silent Hill and Undertale is kicking off on Kickstarter, having already blown past its funding goal in one day.
No Body is billed as a genre-hopping turn-based RPG starring Clownface, who's described as "an average, anxious teenage boy," which seems a little harsh on average, anxious teenage boys. After several years at a local "'Residence For Unwanted Children and Teens," things start to get weird following the arrival of "Malignant and Benign, two messengers from another world, and the recent surge in star showers."
These strange events lead our hero to the otherworldly Well, an evolving area that's one of the game's biggest Silent Hill echoes, and drive him to party up with some odd allies. That includes – let me just double-check this – a punk-rocker named Marked, a mage named Witch, a "weeaboo" named Angel, and a dingus robot named T0B-13, or Tobie. This unlikely crew also comes with combat roles: Clownface is a healer and support unit, Marked is apparently a tank bard, Angel is a physical DPS, Witch is shockingly a magical DPS, and Tobie is... just happy to be here.
No Body's combat system actually looks fairly sophisticated despite a simple interface that will feel familiar to Undertale fans. There's a weakness exploit system that lets you rob enemies of their physical form, for starters, and a Stress bar that fluctuates as enemies and party members use different skills. High stress buffs your offense but lowers your defense, and low stress has the opposite effect.
Less violently, you can choose the Sense option "similar to interrogating a demon in the Shin Megami Tensei series," which is music to my ears. Follow your five senses while conversing with enemies to "gain rare gear, hidden lore, permanent stat boosts and more."
You don't actually have to fight every enemy, interestingly enough, as some can be one-hit out in the open with a swing of your sword. But "combat is a large part of this RPG experience, almost as much as the story," developer Ghost Coast Games says. The studio itself actually consists of one core developer, Magnum Phoenix, though they've gotten help on many elements from art to voice acting.
Speaking of the story, I gather some Really Weird Stuff is going on from all the disturbing flashing images scattered around the trailer. There's a clear parallel of physical and inner demons, and like Silent Hill, it seems to have a very messed-up town. Phoenix says there are multiple decision-based endings, an "open area" structure that allows for exploration and backtracking despite a clear linear path, and lots of NPCs to meet. I'm sure they're all very nice people.
No Body is shooting for Xbox, Switch, PlayStation, and PC (Steam), seemingly sometime in early 2024 based on its Kickstarter delivery target. If you want to try a few hours of the game for yourself, you can join the Ghost Coast Discord via its Kickstarter page, though you'll have to wait a bit to get access to the demo channel.
Here's another bonkers RPG pitch for you: a Pokemon meets Stranger Things collect-'em-all.
