Apocalypse Now now has a Kickstarter for a game adaptation

Throw my heart into darkness

In the old-school era, nearly every film had some kind of video game adaptation. It didn’t matter if the film hadn’t been relevant in decades, you were bound to find some form of interactive adaptation for a beloved classic. The Angry Video Game Nerd covered one of the weirder transitions to gaming, but I think he may have met his match.

Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope studio is teaming up with video game industry “veterans” to give us Apocalypse Now, a psychological horror RPG. Now, this is a game based on a 38-year-old film that is based on a 116-year-old novel; Dante’s Inferno, eat your heart out!

“Forty years ago, I set out to make a personal art picture that could hopefully influence generations of viewers for years to come. Today, I’m joined by new daredevils, a team who want to make an interactive version of Apocalypse Now, where you are Captain Benjamin Willard amidst the harsh backdrop of the Vietnam War. I’ve been watching videogames grow into a meaningful way to tell stories, and I’m excited to explore the possibilities for Apocalypse Now for a new platform and a new generation,” the famous director has listed on the Kickstarter page for the game.

Yes, the game is going into crowdfunding to seek the funds necessary to bring this creation to life. There are a plethora of stretch goals with an estimated delivery of 2020. I mean, I know games take a long time to make, but was it really that hard to find a proper publisher for something as revered as Apocalypse Now? With how long the possibility has been thrown around, is this project ever even going to come to fruition?

Putting aside that there is already a pretty decent game based on Heart of Darkness (*cough* Spec Ops: The Line *cough*), what would this game possibly accomplish that the movie didn’t already do? If the game ends up a series of cutscenes with some loose gameplay elements, wouldn’t that just prove film was a better fit?

No platforms are mentioned on the Kickstarter page, but seeing as how 2020 is the potential release year, I’ll just say PC, PS5, and Project Scorpio. Heck, those might even be outdated by then and I sincerely doubt a Nintendo Switch version is even being considered. Whoops! My mistake; one of the stretch goals mentions PS4 and Xbox One, so my overly cynical final statement is kind of null and void. Still, I’d be really surprised if the game actually makes it on current generation hardware.

Apocalypse Now – the Game [Kickstarter — Thanks, Steve]