Oh Double Fine, you sneaky sods. How dare you give me this glimpse of unrealistic hope? Yes, the company say they will finally make a sequel to the greatest game about heavy metal ever made, but there’s a pretty big caveat.
First, some context. Double Fine has recently become an independent studio once again after Microsoft cut them loose earlier this year, which resulted in Double Fine having to lay off some employees. Double Fine is bringing back Amnesia Fortnight, an internal studio tradition where they create a heap of prototypes to help figure out where they want to put their focus.
This time, they’re going public with the whole thing by putting it on Kickstarter where people can donate money and vote on which project they would like to see be made into a fully realised small-scale game. A documentary is also being filmed behind-the-scenes, tracking the event and all the projects being made.
Which brings us back to Brutal Legend 2. The original game starred Jack Black as a roadie who gets sucked into a world of heavy metal where icons such as Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne dish out quests. It featured a crazy mix of hack ‘n slash combat, RTS segments, a badass hotrod and heaps of other awesome elements.
As part of the stretch goals for the Kickstarter, Double Fine says they’ll make Brutal Legend 2. “Yes, really”, says the Kickstarter. The catch is they would need to raise $100 million for this to happen, which is probably how much the game would need for its development, especially if they wanted to get Jack Black back as Eddie Riggs.
At the time of writing the Kickstarter has been live for a day and has another 29 days to do. it’s sitting at £248,953, meaning it’s already well on its way to hitting the £295,399 goal that Double Fine has set.
So basically, there’s just another £97 million to go until we get a sequel to one of the most underrated games ever. Yes. I bloody love Brutal Legend. Go donate already!
Of course, the reality is Brutal legend 2 will not be made. At least, not right now. But it is intriguing that Double Fine is bringing up the idea, and even put a number on it.