Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is a dark, maddening, sprawling masterpiece about the horrors of war. It’s still one of the best movies about Vietnam and its impact on the American psyche, and it’s often ranked among the best films ever made.
But would you play a video game based on it?
A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to make a video game adaptation of Apocalypse Now. Montgomery Markland, Josh Sawyer, Lawrence Liberty, and other developers and designers are collaborating with Coppola himself on the project, which is billed as a survival horror game rather than a shooter.
Check out the official video for the crowdfunding campaign below.
I mean, they did make a Platoon game for the NES.
In all seriousness, I’m intrigued by the idea of making a psychological survival horror game out of Apocalypse Now, but I also wonder whether or not it will work in practice. Or maybe I’m afraid it will work too well. Giving a player agency as Captain Willard might expose the bleakness of human nature in an appalling way. Imagine giving in to all those dark impulses while in the thick of Vietnam. From what ugly soil in the player’s mind is this decision tree growing?
On top of that, I also wonder if the ambition of the game is outside of the scope of a crowdfunding campaign. To make Apocalypse Now work, they’ll need AAA money, a dedicated team, and lots of time. Worst case scenario is that Apocalypse Now: The Game winds up compromised and mediocre (Mighty Apocalypse No. 9?).
The Kickstarter campaign is seeking just $900,000 for its initial goal. As of this writing it’s already made $127,000.
What do you think about Apocalypse Now as a video game? Let us know in the comments.
[via Apocalypse Now on Kicksarter]
