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Mercury Abbey taking collections on Kickstarter

Spending time in an abbey may not be anyone's idea of a fun time, but it's a whole different story when it's the Mercury Abbey, the titular location of an upcoming new pixel art adventure that is currently raising funds on Kickstarter. 

Despite being called an abbey, the building in question is really a sanitorium deep in the mountains, perpetually shrouded by fog. Legend tells of "strange things" repeatedly happening there, and rumours abound of "midnight societies and ghostly patrons," as well as the "recurring curse of an alchemist and the return of an immortal." Seeking inspiration for his next book, an adventure novelist named Harold brings his young nephew Willie with him to investigate. What they find is far more than they bargained for, however, as "dreams and reality are intertwined, the barrier between past and present is broken [and] secrets lurk in obscure corners." Before long, both uncle and nephew are swept up in a tale of unexplained phenomena and secret conspiracies.

Created by the "original team" that designed 2019's Tales of the Neon Sea, this time under the new studio name of YiTi Games, Mercury Abbey shares a number of things in common with its (unrelated) predecessor, in particular its side-scrolling perspective and stylish pixel art. This world isn't similarly steeped in film-noir atmosphere but the game still "embraces the spirit of early suspense novels, interspersing classic cultural elements throughout the story." The setting very much resembles a pastiche of our own with its patchwork of technology from various decades, but instead of being populated by humans, the cast here is comprised of anthropomorphic creatures, including "foxes, lions, tigers, bears and other kinds of animals." 

The two protagonists are "furries" themselves, as Harold is a tall, proud greywolf, and his "lively and expressive" nephew Willie a crossbreed between wolf and Corgi. Players will control both characters at times, sometimes working together to solve puzzles cooperatively, and sometimes apart as they split up for their own adventures. Each has his own abilities, as Harold is stronger while Willie is a master climber and his small size allows him to get into spaces that Harold cannot. As players explore "fossil halls, greenhouses, hedge mazes, botanical gardens, underground cave systems" and more, there will be a variety of characters to talk to, and your actions will affect the dialogue during conversation. There will also be many items and documents to collect, puzzles to solve, and minigames to complete along the way. 

In order to complete production of the game, the four-person Chinese development studio has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise a little under $8,000 US by March 4th. If successful, we could see the game released on Steam for Windows PC sometime before the end of this year.

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