Fear Effect Returns with Fear Effect Sedna now on Kickstarter

It has taken more years than most would have liked, but thanks to the Square Enix Collective, Fear Effect is returning with a new title!

For those who didn't get to play the first time around, due to the adult themes or having not been born yet, Fear Effect and its prequel Fear Effect Retro Helix were PlayStation games set in a cyberpunk world, released in the early 00s. They were notable for having quasi-cel-shaded graphics for the characters, on top of FMV backgrounds to give it a very distinctive style.

Making their return after four years (for them, not us), Hana leads Glas, Deke and Rain from the second game, as they travel the world from Hong Kong to Greenland. They are joined by new characters, including Axel who is a member of the French secret service.

According to the screenshots revealed on the Kickstarter page so far, the game will have a similar art style, but the graphics and gameplay will be markedly different. No longer taking the Resident Evil fixed camera-style, instead you will control the team in a isometric view. This was to make sure you can see all of the characters on-screen at any given time, as well as what effect each one and their actions have on the others.

The graphics aren't the only changes, as now instead of the health bar being governed by fear (hence the title of the originals), and recovered by doing actions which calm the character, you will have both a health and a fear bar. The fear bar will govern what actions you can take, and will be affected by what is going on, or what you have done. Extended fire fights will stress you out, and might affect how reliable your line of sight is, for instance.

If you want to see the rewards for various backing amounts, then check the chart below. If you just want to go ahead and back this project, and help them get to the stretch goal of a PS4 release to join the PC release, then click here. At time of writing, they are at €23,479 of their €100,000 goal.