

#Final fantasy xiv mac os x full
Square Enix ended up asking Platform if it could achieve what they wanted to do with Retro Revenge: A full retro game that could be used as a promotional pre-order tie-in. While Retro Revenge ultimately had a messy launch because of the eternally delayed Dead Island 2’s development, it made a lasting impression on Square Enix, with whom Platform also worked. “Sure, it was a promotional game, but we were putting it on console, and we were treating it like a real game project.” It never got to be the pre-order promotional thing that we wanted.” “That was a shame as we didn’t get to see it reach what we built it for. “ Dead Island 2 did not make it to release, but Dead Island: Retro Revenge did, so they put it in a collection,” he explains. But there was a problem: Dead Island 2 was never released. Ultimately, Deep Silver and Smith were thrilled with how Retro Revenge turned out.

but surprises them by where we can take it in spite of our limitations,” Smith explains. “I love taking someone else’s IP and doing something that respects it and honors what they’re doing. The result of this effort was Dead Island: Retro Revenge, an on-rails beat ’em up set within the Dead Island universe. They got a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of what that game was supposed to be and additional information to draw from. When designing it, Smith and his development partners didn’t have a playable build of Dead Island 2. “Sure, it was a promotional game, but we were putting it on console, and we were treating it like a real game project,” Smith tells Digital Trends. Smith and his partners now had to build something that wasn’t done much before and hasn’t been done much since. While his pitch had a high budget, Dead Island 2 developer Deep Silver and Platform accepted it. He found game development and animation partners to craft a small but satisfying retro game that could tie into the then soon-to-be-released Dead Island 2. Smith asserted that it was possible, but thought it had to be done the right way to avoid producing a bad game. Around the time Dead Island 2 was in development and set to release, Smith and other people involved with channel marketing at the company pondered whether it could make a retro game that marketing could use to sell a notable game. This agency would often produce screenshots and trailers used in the marketing of video games. In the mid-2010s, Smith worked at a creative agency called Platform.

How did this project come to be? Why is it so polished? And why aren’t more short but sweet games like this used to excite fans for notable game releases? I spoke to Cord Smith, executive producer and creative director on the project, to learn its history and how this forgotten Final Fantasy spinoff connects with everything from Dead Island to Masters of the Universe to Stranger Things.Īt its heart, this is a story about an ambitious marketing agency that created a new kind of game through a multi-studio effort on a tight budget. It was a pleasant surprise to find this deep within my backlog ahead of the fifth anniversary of its stand-alone release, but its existence also raised many questions. Though A King’s Tale only lasts an hour and doesn’t have co-op, it’s a polished and exhilarating experience that Final Fantasy fans shouldn’t forget.
