The Kickstarter page for Mika and the Witch's Mountain has only been live for a little under a month, yet its pitch has so thoroughly won over the hearts and minds of anyone who’s seen it that it’s already rocketed past every stretch goal its developers had laid out. Even more impressive for this small open-world game inspired by the Hayao Miyazaki classic Kiki’s Delivery Service is that it’s exceeded its Kickstarter stretch goals with plenty of time left on the clock, as of publication.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain tells a coming-of-age story about a young would-be witch who uses her flying broom to deliver packages to residents of a small town. Mika will make several fantastical discoveries along the way as she explores the various nooks and crannies of Mont Gaun. At the top of Mont Gaun is the Stellar Lighthouse, home to Master Witch Olagari, who Mika is trying to reach to continue her magical training. In short, it’s a video game version of Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain’s Kickstarter page plainly lays out the game’s inspirations. After coming up with the idea from playing the 2019 indie mini-open-world hit A Short Hike, its creators over at indie developer Nukefist drew up concept sketches that naturally aligned with the The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's more cartoony cel-shaded art style. Mika and the Witch’s Mountain wears inspirations on its sleeve and respectfully honors everything that brought it to life.
With three days to go, Mika and Witch’s Mountain has already blown well past its initial fundraising goal of $42,356. At the time of publication, the Kickstarter campaign is sitting at just over $1.1 million contributed by close to 19,600 backers. It’s met all its stretch goals, which means its developers not only get the chance to honor The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker in Mika’s art style but now get to add three “Zeldaish” dungeons to the game that they otherwise would not have had the funding to include. Some other stretch goals that have been exceeded include the $700,000 goal of getting the composer of A Short Hike to create a musical theme and the $850,000 goal of adding flying tricks with the broom. With all its financial goals exceeded, the developers have added three additional secret bonus goals that will be unveiled as they are met.
The Kickstarter page states that Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is already “in a state of advanced development.” The page promises that most of the content and mechanics shown off in the game’s advertising materials are already built and integrated into the game. The developers need the extra money to ensure quality PC and console ports, along with language localization. They’re also hoping to release a physical copy for the Nintendo Switch.
Mika and Witch’s Mountain is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in October 2023.
Source: Kickstarter