After 6 years of solo development, anime-inspired Metroidvania riffing on Cuphead relaunches on Kickstarter with a $1 goal and raises over $9000

Screenshot of a boss battle from Exil
(Image credit: Mystic Clockwork Studio)

Exil is another gorgeous side-scrolling Metroidvania that's just hit Kickstarter, and it's absolutel𒅌y smashed its modest funding goal of... a singular dollꦑar.

In true Metroidvania spirit, Exil has you traversing ''mystical landscapes'' to ''uncover hidden pཧaths and secrets'' with fast and fluid action that lets you switch between different ability loadouts on the fly. What really caught my eye in the trailer below was how it riffs on Cuphead's delightfu💙l parry - where you can double jump off of pinkish projectiles - which encourages you to put yourself in danger if you want the extra advantage.

Exil Kickstarter Teaser (2024) - YouTube Exil Kickstarter Teaser (2024) - YouTube

Exil also has a vague ''multilayered story'' that asks you to piece together its disparate fragments and is inspired by Attack on Titan. I'm wondering if that manifests in a Breath of the Wild or Outer Wilds way where you actually need to collect nuggets of information to find out what's really going on - or, if it's more of a wordless, 'make of it what you will' ty🅘pe of affair like Inside.

Developer Mystic Clockwork Stu🐼dio also cites Nier💟 Automata and, of course, the modern classic of the genre, Hollow Knight, as inspirations.

Exil actually had another 𝄹go at crowdfunding last year, but failed to reach its goal. ''While I'm really proud of how✱ the game looks, I also see there's room for it to get even better,'' the game's developer at the time. ''My personal style and skills have evolved over the years, and this evolution has unintentionally added to the game's inconsistency. So, what's next? I'm all set for a significant revamp.''

Now, after asking for just $1, has raised over $9,000 to cover ''essential developme🧸nt costs, such as digital tool fees, legal fees, miscellaneous expenses, music/sound, and marketing.''

There's no release date for this one at the moment, but the developer says it's about 75% done and should come to when it's ready with ''with future plans for Nintendo Switch, PlaySt𝔉ation, and 𒊎Xbox releases, though they may not launch simultaneously.''

In the meantime, why not wait with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Metroidvania games list?

Kaan freelances f🥀or various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particꦦularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.