There’s an Apocalypse Now video game on Kickstarter, seriously

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” – Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall)

Now that that’s out of the way, there’s an actual Apocalypse Now video game project up on Kickstarter. What’s more, it’s from Francis Ford Coppola, the man behind the classic movie (and here social media said 2017 was going to be a rubbish year).

In it, players will take on the role of the movie’s protagonist, Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) during the Vietnam War. Players won’t have to make the same decisions as in the movie and it’s about “not being killed, rather than being a killer”.

It’s billed as a survival horror experience where you can “sit on the boat and drop acid if that’s what you want to do”.

The project needs US$900 000 to reach its goal (which is no easy feat) in order to create a “game adaptation of the legendary film by the producers, directors & writers of Fallout: New Vegas, Wasteland 2, Far Cry & a dozen RPGs”.

The stretch goals are interesting, with the developers wanting to expand the soundtrack with licensed music, create console and Mac editions, as well as additional voice actors and gameplay content.

Besides Coppola, there are a lot of big names attached to the project, such as Rob Auten (Gears of War), Lawrence Liberty (The Witcher), Montgomery Markland (Wasteland 2), and Josh Sawyer (Obsidian Entertainment).

Now, before everyone gets excited at the prospect of this Kickstarter project, it’s worth noting this link on the project’s page: “We want your help because the traditional game publisher system won’t let this happen.”

Coppola even mentions that he found traditional game publishers to be similar to Hollywood studios in the project’s video. He is known to be one of the must difficult directors in Hollywood, which means the game could go beyond its intended (and estimated) 2020 release.

There will apparently be a prototype teaser available soon.