New 3D Dreamcast Dungeon Crawler “HarleQuest!” now on Kickstarter

A brand new indie dungeon crawling RPG has just been announced for Dreamcast and PC (Including Mac and Linux), called HarleQuest!, and has begun its bid for crowdfunding on Kickstarter on April 1st. No foolin’.

Being developed by Ross Kilgariff, with assistance by Alastair Low of LowTek Games (Who have experience with Dreamcast development, porting indie NES games to the console), HarleQuest! is envisioned as a “high difficulty, procedurally-generated dungeon crawler” inspired by Gauntlet, Diablo, The Legend of Zelda, MidiEvil, and “SoulsBorne” games such as the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne. The dungeon layouts will be randomized, many different weapons and loot will be scattered around for the taking, fearsome enemies and giant bosses lurk around most corners, the option of co-op multiplayer is there, and best of all, the game will be in full 3D, a rarity for independent Dreamcast games. At the time of this writing, HarleQuest! has raised $8,214 of the $13,811 needed and has kept a good momentum after the Kickstarter campaign went live.

Go check out the Kickstarter page now, which is running until April 30th 2023, or check in after the break for more info from us at SegaBits.

Should you decide to fund HarleQuest!, the lowest priced reward tier that earns you a copy of the game is the Digital Edition Bundle, which entitles you to both a downloadable .CDI file of the Dreamcast game and a Steam Key for the PC version. along with keys for any other platforms the game is planned to release on based on whatever stretch goals are reached. This will cost you £20, or $25 USD. For a physical copy of the Dreamcast game, along with a soundtrack and manual all in a case matching the look of official US, EU, or JPN Dreamcast game releases, you can get the Standard Edition for £35, or $43 USD. Beyond that are higher priced tiers, including one combining the rewards of the Standard and Digital Editions, while the rest are of varying special physical editions. Every tier besides the Digital Edition Bundle is limited though, so if you’re interested in any physical rewards, then don’t take too long deciding which ones you want.

Of course, it is important to remember that Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website, not a store. You are funding a project to help it toward completion on Kickstarter and anything can happen to a project behind the scenes. We have actually covered a Kickstarter project for a Dreamcast game that has since failed to materialize despite a successful crowdfunding run, but we have also covered some Dreamcast games on Kickstarter that got funded and did go on to see a release. You’ll just have to decide for yourself whether or not you want to take the risk putting money down.

Of course, we do want to wish the best of luck to Ross Kilgariff, who is clearly putting a lot of time and passion into this game. We are entering a boom period for indie games for classic consoles, especially on Sega systems, so HarleQuest! has a chance to truly impress Dreamcast fans itching for something new to play especially.

For more updates, you can check out Ross Kilgariff’s YouTube channel ross_codes, which has videos detailing his progress on development up to this point. You can also checkout the HarleQuest! website, which includes a downloadable demo of the game to try on your Dreamcast by burning it to a CD-R or by use of a Dreamcast ODE such as the GDEMU. Of course, don’t forget to look at the Kickstarter page and decide for yourself if this game is worth pledging money towards. Let us know in the comments below whether or not you are interested in this game and if you plan on pledging.

With that, I leave you with a Q&A video from Ross Kilgariff himself