Hopetown Kickstarter campaign launched
Seeking £25,000 in funding.
Longdue has launched the Kickstarter campaign for “psychogeographic” RPG Hopetown, which is seeking £25,000 in funding.
“I was in the ZA/UM cultural movement from the offset, and recruited key team members that went on to make major contributions to Disco Elysium, such as the art director and writing lead,” said team member and ex-ZA/UM founder Martin Luiga in a press release. “I will be helping Longdue expand the team in a similar way with local Estonian and international talent to build something more than Disco Elysium 2—we want to push boundaries, not just meet expectations. I call upon the fans of the RPG and adventure genre to back the Kickstarter to help us make the game.”
Get the latest details below.
About
With the launch of the Hopetown Kickstarter, Longdue delves deep into the game’s mechanics, story and setting, as well as introducing players to the mix of industry veterans and upcoming talent working on the game. The campaign features a quantity and time limited (48 hours) pledge to allow early backers to have their name featured in an in-game memorial and design in-game objects. A further quantity-limited pledge will allow backers to get a copy of the game, or two copies, at a discounted price.
Hopetown is set in a mining town decades after a coronal mass ejection wiped out electronics and global communications. Here, they found the quicksilver, a substance that’s changed everything. Since the incident five days ago, people are dead, others are missing and mining operations have screeched to a halt.
Enter you: middle child of one of the richest men on the planet (voiced by Lenval Brown, narrator of Disco Elysium). You’ve drifted through life knowing only luxury and power, shielded by privilege and surrounded by sycophants. You’ve just stepped off an impossibly long train ride, wheeling an overpriced suitcase across the muddy cobblestone and nursing a four-star hangover. Your mission, or punishment, seems simple enough: figure out what happened, cover it up, and spin a better story. You’re a journalist, after all.
Different schools and methods of journalism will be your RPG classes: Gonzo. Investigative. Gossip. Conspiracy. Words will be your weapons, and you’ll make your own truth. In Hopetown, the actions you take, the friendships you make and destroy, the change you bring — these things don’t just live in your head, trapped in consciousness and fading into memory. They take shape in the physical world around you, real in every sense of the word. Just like the connection between you and your environment, which is enabled by a unique gameplay mechanic dubbed ‘psychogeography’.
The environment all around you — the town above and the mine below — will change during the game, based on the choices you make. Wasn’t that postbox at the other end of the street? Wasn’t this road uphill two days ago? Wasn’t that gambling hall a pub when you woke up this morning? Things will change under your nose and under your heel. Make surprising new connections between characters, break longstanding friendships, and see what happens.
Hopetown is being created by a team that includes a mix of industry veterans and fresh talent, drawing expertise from the RPG-space, as well as writers with experience in games, theater and screen. Team members include ex-ZA/UM founder Martin Luiga, narrative director Grant Roberts, technical lead Piotr Sobolewski, Disco Elysium narrator Lenval Brown, Kentucky Route Zero developer Ben Babbitt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt composer Pawel Blaszczak and art director Astri Lohne.
Key Points
- Kickstarter Live Now – The first video and key details on the project are available now on the Hopetown Kickstarter page, along with a number of time and quantity-limited pledge types.
- Continuing the Legacy of Legendary RPGs – Hopetown carries forward the thoughtful, narrative-first approach of titles like Disco Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero.
- Psychographic Mechanics – The game explores the intricate relationship between mind and environment, offering players a story-driven experience where their choices shape both the world and its characters.
- Gonzo, Investigative, Gossip, or Conspiracy? – Play as a journalist with different schools of journalism being your RPG classes.
- A World That Burns Bright – You arrive as a spoilt nepo-baby journalist five days after an incident in a Northern English mining town. Find out what happened and choose how to tell the story.
- Veterans and Fresh Talent – Longdue’s team includes ex-ZA/UM founder and Disco Elysium writer Martin Luiga, narrative director Grant Roberts, technical lead Piotr Sobolewski, Disco Elysium narrator Lenval Brown, Kentucky Route Zero developer Ben Babbitt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt composer Pawel Blaszczak and art director Astri Lohne.
Watch the Kickstarter campaign video below.