Americana Dawn announced

Greetings, loyal readers! After a bit of a break for Thanksgiving, we’re back with more indie RPG news.

Speaking of Thanksgiving: word reaches me that international indie devs Bit Bonton are hard at work on a new jRPG based on early American history and folklore called Americana Dawn.

The premise:

we follow Foster, the spirit of the sea, a gentle and innocent being who arrives in America with no apparent heritage or home. Lost to the wilderness of Shenandoah Valley, he lives in complete isolation for a hundred years until he is found and recruited into the provincial militia. Thus begins his strange journey, spanning across three wars and the entire eastern seaboard of North America: from the French and Indian War to the American Revolution, from the colony of Georgia to Quebec City.

Foster witnesses once loyal English become American rebels. He fights against dear friends turned foe, watches mortal companions blossom and wither, bears witness to the chain of events that would create the United States, and is left with revelations both inspiring and woeful.

This is not a story about a man who changes the world, but a world that changes a man.

There is an early trailer up showing some shockingly lovely sprite work, large scale battles that remind me more than a little of Suikoden, and party-based combat that is decidedly Breath of Fire-ish in appearance:

Americana Dawn originally received some funding via Kickstarter way back in May 2012, though the amount raised was not adequate to the task of funding an ambitious jRPG like this. The original team eventually disbanded, and project lead Maxwell K. Lam recruited a new one, funding development costs out of pocket while working multiple jobs. (Frankly, I’m feeling exhausted just writing about it.) I’m glad that they kept going, though–this looks lovely.

In order to fund the remainder of the project, Bit Bonton are now giving Kickstarter another go. They’ve raised a little over $16,000 out of their $70,000 goal so far, with 20 days left on the clock. (If they don’t hit their goal, I am assured that they’ll continue development–but hopefully they won’t have to scramble to make that work.)

Assuming this hits its goal, Americana Dawn is tentatively planned for Windows release in July 2017.