Developer Sleepy Castle Studio has today begun its Kickstarter campaign for Flynt Buckler Wakes the Sleepy Castle, a turn-based RPG with a Paper Mario aesthetic and attractive visuals all around. The game will be launching in early 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The Flynt Buckler Kickstarter is seeking roughly $30,000 USD, and it has generated more than $14,000 at the time of this writing.
The premise of the game is that the adventurer Flynt Buckler has gone to confront his dragon arch enemy at its evil fortress, but he discovers that its interior has been transformed into corporate offices controlled by “real-world conglomerate Ever After Inc.™.” Basically, stuffy executives from the “real” world are using the fortress as a base to commandeer storybooks, take control of all the fairytales and magic in the world, and sell them for profit. Now Flynt must hop in and out of storybooks and team up with fairytale characters to wake the “Sleepy Castle” and liberate the fairytales.
The story will shift in tone along with the setting as Flynt moves from one book to the next. Sci-fi, noir murder mystery, and Lovecraftian terror are just some of the elements you can expect while you explore. Meanwhile, combat will be familiar to Paper Mario fans, but there is also a modifier mechanic reminiscent of a modifier deck in deckbuilding RPGs to offer greater customization.
The Kickstarter page for Flynt Buckler Wakes the Sleepy Castle offers plenty more details, including a stretch goal for a “Gladiator Mode” that asks how long you can last in a “100-fight challenge.” If you’re willing to take a chance on this game, the best-case scenario is that you’ll have another classic Paper Mario or Bug Fables-caliber experience on your hands.
