Lince Works' Failed Kickstarter Game ‘Twin Souls’ Mixes ‘Tenchu’ With ‘Portal'

While the crowd-funding site Kickstarter has seemed like a godsend for those who want to work on nostalgia projects and video games, one has to keep an open mind and note that not all Kickstarter projects are guaranteed to succeed. One example is “Twin Souls: The Path of Shadows,” a stealth game that promised to be a spiritual successor to the “Tenchu” series, with some unique gameplay elements, but failed to reach its Kickstarter quota.

However, game developer Lince Works is still determined to release the game. According to GameSpot, the developer sought $70,000 from Kickstarter backers, but managed to attract only $31,000 by the end of its 30-day funding campaign. Though the effort didn’t succeed, Lince Works has released a stylish new gameplay video that may make some gamers regretful about not making a donation.

Fans of the “Tenchu” series can see some of the series’ influence in “Twin Souls,” like the way the ninja walks and the stealth kills. What separates “Twin Souls” from “Tenchu” is the ability to travel through the shadows in a “Portal”-like capacity, making the travel between shadows look like Nightcrawler’s teleportation from the X-Men comics.

Players also have some decent control over the shadows, as the ninja doesn’t just travel through them, but also can create pockets of shadows in which to hide -- which could be useful when enemies are nearby. So far, the shadow gameplay is quite unique, as there haven’t been too many video games that involve shadow manipulation, unless one counts the moves of Shikamaru from the “Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm” games. The ninja can also manipulate the shadows offensively by summoning shadow dragons to take out enemies in this creative stealth game.

The ninja in question is named Aragami, who looks like a cross between a member of “Assassin’s Creed” and the Marvel character Deadpool. Aragami is trying to rescue a noble woman from the hands of an unnamed foe, which the official “Twin Souls” site has decreed a “battle between light and darkness.”

It seems that Lince Works was not only undeterred from the disappointing Kickstarter support, but was invigorated to make the game better than ever. “Twin Souls: The Path of Shadows” will come to Sony’s PlayStation 4, Microsoft’s Xbox One and the Windows PC via Steam from Valve. No release date has yet been announced.

Twin Souls: The Path of Shadows - June 2015 Gameplay (Credit: YouTube/Lince Work)