Yet another promising visual novel Kickstarter landed in our inbox with Spherical Studios‘ Wingdaria Destiny. This project out of Denmark already had a crowdfunding campaign back in July of 2015 that was unfortunately unsuccessful. But this time around they are asking for less money with kr80,000 (approx $12,000 USD) reduced to kr70,000 (approx $10,500 USD) and the project page has more content than before. With the game already greenlit through Steam and with nearly 25% of the end goal raised, Spherical Studios is looking to find true happiness this time around.
In Wingdaria Destiny you’re introduced to Evan Adeney and Princess Aria, two ill-fated lovers who must try to find happiness in a world that wants to split them apart. In their home of Wingdaria, the royal guard named Soldan Grai disapproves of their secret love and the king has other plans for his daughter. Princess Aria is betrothed to royalty from a another country, Prince Raymond, and rumors suggest that a marriage between the two lands will bring prosperity to impoverished kingdoms. Evan is a blind teenager born into that poverty and Aria’s charity towards him might be the undoing of them both.
The character and background art are nice and have enough small details to give them personality. However, when the two are mixed together the dramatis personae look bland against their backdrops. Both Arianna Conte (characters) and Riley Chen (backgrounds) are talented artists but their styles are just not complimentary, especially when you compare them to the few static story shots.
There’s a lot going on aurally for this Kickstarter as there are at least 4 musicians and over 9 voice actors working on the project. A.M. Joy Jørgensen, the creator of Wingdaria Destiny, is also credited for her singing and voice work. While her vocals are quite beautiful in the ‘OP Theme’ that plays in the pitch video, it is a little concerning to see the leader of the project spread so thin. Her speaking role isn’t even a bit part but is the lead Princess Aria. Luckily Aria and a few of the other characters like Gavin De Valles (Zack Maher) and Sodlan Grai (Thomas Whiston) are quite good. Unfortunately Andrew Hally, who plays the other main Evan, seems to be out of his league as he over enunciates and stumbles from emotion to emotion.
Wingdaria Destiny has a range of backer rewards some more tempting than others. Kr100 (approx $15 USD) gets you a digital copy of the game, kr1000 (approx $150 USD) gets you a physical copy of the OST and the art book, and kr3000 (approx $440 USD) gets you beta testing privileges and a ‘hangout’ with the staff of the game where you can ask questions and so forth. Stretch goals include a Japanese translation with voice actors at kr80,000 and secret unlockable scenes at kr90,000.
While not stated in this Kickstarter but the older one, Wingdaria Destiny will be a PG game with ‘includes violence, blood, partial nudity, sensual scenes and strong language.’ That unsuccessful crowdfunding attempt should’ve also been included in the new one for transparency sake. On the plus side Spherical Studios gives a decent breakdown of their costs and seem more focused with their goals this time around. The music is pleasing to listen to and it seems like a majority of the voice actors have done it before. There’s also an updated demo available that I suggest you play before backing this project since research is always integral for any crowdfunding backer. If you’d like to support this project you have until Apr 18th, 6:00am EDT. And if not, love might receive the ‘bad ending’ this time round.
