BEDLAM Kickstarter Campaign Launched

Another team made of experienced professionals (NCSoft, Epic Games and Vigil are among their credits this time) has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a small-budget isometric title. This time we’re talking about BEDLAM, a post-apocalyptic roguelike/RPG with turn-based combat and a comic book-like art style powered by the same technology used for The Banner Saga, that is coming to PC and Mac.

The Kickstarter campaign has already managed to raise $81,247 out of its $130,000 funding goal, has had a number of updates, including an explanation of the gameplay flow, and has currently only 10 more days to go.

Here’s a quote on the game’s basic premise and the combat system:

BEDLAM is a strategic single-player roguelike turn-based role-playing game, created for the PC and Mac utilizing ‘The Banner Saga’ engine.

The player is cast as the mysterious Mechanic, the last known member of a once-thriving guild of brilliant inventors, intrepid travelers and operators of the rolling fortresses called Dozers.

As the Mechanic, you are in charge of commanding your crew in battles, managing your resources, improving your Dozer, interacting with various characters, and protecting your passengers while navigating through the post-apocalyptic wasteland known as Bedlam.

Remember One chance and one crew to make it through!

Think you have what it takes? Then grab the controls, equip your Dozer, load your passengers, assemble your diverse battle-ready crew and prepare for your journey to a new destination on the far edge of Bedlam!

Features:

Our unique blitz battle system! Turn-based combat with swift play, over-the-top animations, action point based movement and attack system, environments and battles gradually affect your crew, crew-buffing Dozer upgrades, and tide-changing Dozer weapons!

Roguelike influences and RPG features, including randomly generated encounters and discoveries, meaningful permadeath, three different supplies to manage, crew veteran rankings and incredible replay value.

Dozers, the gargantuan rolling fortresses covered in armor and weapons to protect passengers and crew during the journey through Bedlam.

Four unique enemy factions: Marauders, Mutants, Cyborgs and the A.I. – all with their own strengths and weaknesses.

(Double-Down) (a New game+): Travel back through Bedlam for the opportunity to defeat merciless overlord King Viscera and his minions for untold riches… or the sacrifice of everything!

…

The combat in BEDLAM is turn-based and incorporates our exciting blitz battle system, which has four main features: no turn-order for combatants, action point based movement and attack system, powerful Dozer upgrades (various abilities your crew can use on the battlefield), and a primary Dozer weapon that can turn the tide of a battle in an instant!

During battle there is no turn-order among your crew members, allowing you to select anyone on the battle board to move and/or attack each round. Combat plays like carnage-filled chess, with different classes (melee, shotgun, pistol and rifle) that each have a specific movement distance and optimal damage range.

Dozer upgrades are technologies that can be purchased through NPCs, discovered by exploring locations, or acquired after successfully negotiating a hostile situation. You never know what you’ll find on any given playthrough!

Dozer upgrades can be used during battle with major effects, giving your crew members various buffs and powers, calling in reinforcements, or even raising the dead! Possible upgrades and technologies include an alchemist laboratory, robotic research department, nuclear engines, science facility, cloning vats, agricultural center, meat processing plant and sick bay.

Last but not least are the devastating Dozer weapons that can be discovered during your journey through Bedlam. Only a single weapon can be installed on your Dozer at a time, and each has a specific impact and recharge timer. Spin up the Gatling cannons to deal vicious area-of-effect damage, or trigger a laser strike to blaze a lethal line of light across the battle board!

During your navigation through Bedlam, these primary Dozer weapons can also unlock inaccessible areas if you have the proper tool for the job — with lasers equipped, you could cut through a crashed spaceship’s hull to search for extraterrestrial technologies, while missiles could demolish that landslide blocking your path, revealing a new route through Bedlam.

While forming a battle strategy, you must factor crew member positions, relative health of all friend and foe combatants, control of key battle board areas, crew-impacting Dozer upgrades and, of course, the primary Dozer weapon.

If you plan your battles effectively, triumph is assured! On the other hand, a few wrong choices could result in grisly death… and once a crew member falls in combat, they are lost for the remainder of the game (“permadeath”). The wasteland is a cruel and unforgiving place!

Successful outcomes in battle earn resources that can be used for barter, upgrades, or Dozer improvements. However, enemy victory can result in game failure a Dozer is defeated once its armor is obliterated or when all passengers and crew are eliminated, sending you back to the beginning for a fresh start.

You have a lot of choices on the battlefield, and must consider them all if victory is to be achieved!