Indie developer Mongoose Rodeo has been teasing its Metroidvania Crowsworn on social media for a long time now, drip-feeding fans with gifs showing off Crowsworn's Bloodborne and Hollow Knight inspiration. In April, Mongoose Rodeo confirmed that Crowsworn would be coming to Kickstarter to help fund the devs for the game's final stretch. Now Crowsworn's Kickstarter has launched and to say it's been successful would be a gross understatement. Crowsworn's Kickstarter goal has been demolished.
The initial Kickstarter goal for Crowsworn was a substantial $100,000, a sum that many indie games would struggle to reach even in a 30-day campaign. Crowsworn broke that goal in just three hours, doubling it in the campaign's first day. Now it's just a question of reaching Crowsworn's stretch goals, of which Mongoose Rodeo has set several. Many of those Kickstarter stretchgoals have already been burned through by Crowsworn's funding, adding major features to the game.
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Crowsworn was funded at $125,000 Canadian, which is equivalent to $100,000 American. Four stretch goals beyond that have since been met. The $200,000 Canadian goal added Boss Rush Mode to Crowsworn. The $275,000 Canadian goal added Nightmare Mode, Crowsworn's most challenging difficulty. The third goal, for $325,000 Canadian, added an arena area named Tribunal of the Damned. The most recent goal, for $375,000 Canadian, confirmed that Mongoose Rodeo will be adding voice acting to its Metroidvania game.
Five more stretch goals remain unmet on the Crowsworn Kickstarter page, though four of them are currently listed as "???" It's possible that Mongoose Rodeo could eventually add more if the Kickstarter campaign ultimately climbs high enough to demand it. The one goal that has been revealed but hasn't bet met is named "Crowkart?!!! (Dev Version)." It requires $500,000 Canadian, which the campaign is approaching, and adds "features that may not otherwise be possible." The Crowkart name implies that Mongoose Rodeo may have some creative ideas for fun in-game features to add.
There's a ton of time left before the Crowsworn Kickstarter campaign ends, which means that it's likely to reach one or several more stretch goals before all is said and done. The project currently has pulled in more than $366,000, or around $460,000 Canadian. There are 24 days left in the campaign before it ends.
It's easy to see why Crowsworn has proven successful. It looks heavily inspired by the incredibly popular Metroidvania Hollow Knight, with fans extremely anxious about news regarding its sequel Silksong. Crowsworn is a great surrogate for the time being. Also, there's a new wave of excitement for Metroidvanias, with the E3 2021 announcement of Metroid Dread. It's excellent timing for Crowsworn to launch its Kickstarter.
Crowsworn releases December 2023 on PC, as well as Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.