American McGee's Spicy Horse brings OZombie to Kickstarter

OZombie, the twisted take on L.Frank Baum's Oz from American McGee's studio Spicy Horse, has made its way to Kickstarter. The dark interpretation of Oz, revealed in May by McGee and crew, is seeking $950,000 in funding.

In OZombie, players will battle a brain-eating Scarecrow for control of Oz with the help of the Lion, Tin Woodsman and the great-great-granddaughter of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. The game will feature "recognizable versions of the characters" from Baum's Oz books, McGee says, and touch on "themes related to conformity, self-reliance, society and the impact that religion has on all these topics."

Spicy Horse is developing OZombie in Unity and plans to target Windows PC, Mac, Linux and "latest-gen tablets." The developer promises a multiplayer mode that unlocks upon completion of the game's single-player campaign that places an "emphasis on role-playing, tactical combat, exploration and storytelling."

McGee says players will be able to explore "all the original countries" of the Land of Oz, including its iconic Emerald City. OZombie's Kickstarter page describes the game's world thusly:

"Our Oz, distant and remote, is an island set in the Pacific Ocean. Freed from the constraints and conventions of Western culture, we can explore themes of society and self-reliance in a sort of 'clean room' environment. Dorothy will arrive by boat, a refugee from a world on the brink of ecological and societal collapse."

OZombie appears to follow the tradition of Spicy Horse's spin on classic fantasy and fairy tales in the vein of American McGee's Grimm, Alice: Madness Returns and Akaneiro: Demon Hunters.

The game's Kickstarter campaign runs until Aug. 5. OZombie is estimated to arrive in early 2015. More details, including a long list of backer rewards, additional concept art and stretch goals, are available at OZombie's Kickstarter page.