Update [Mon 14th Apr, 2025 18:00 BST]: The Kickstarter for Aurascope is now live. For those who want to back the project, there are various tiers available to show your support and grab some neat rewards in the process.
These range from a $20 digital edition (featuring a digital copy of the game) to a bunch of significantly more expensive options that let you design your own items, enemies, NPCs, and minibosses, as thanks for helping bring the project to life.
You can view all of the available tiers here.
Original Article [Fri 28th Mar, 2025 14:00 GMT]: It seems like not a week goes by anymore without us encountering a new indie title that immediately shoots to the top of our most anticipated titles, with the latest example of this being Nick Oztok's Sonic & Mario-inspired platformer Aurascope, which is currently in development Steam.
Described by Oztok as "basically a 2D SM64 styled collectathon", the game recently came to our attention thanks to a cool new trend on Twitter/X, which sees indie developers sharing a video of their game alongside a breakdown of the "hard facts" about the game. And, immediately, upon seeing the smooth gameplay and its GBA-esque style pixel art, we found ourselves becoming instantly smitten with the project.
According to the description on Steam, the game follows the story of two friends Trace and Aurora who set out to uncover the secrets of the Aurascope — "a mysterious drive from beyond the stars" that allows players to interact with objects, attack enemies, and gain an additional jump boost while in the air. The goal of the game is to use its abilities to maneuver quickly around a bunch of worlds collecting objects called Energy Cores to restore power back to the Islands of Starlight.
Though the game is clearly a platformer first and foremost, it also reportedly features a mix of "light puzzle and RPG elements", with Oztok also listing Zelda among the game's influences.
There are also apparently various challenge modes to complete, as well as online leaderboards, and a head-to-head battle mode that sees you either teaming up or competing against your friends.
According to Oztok, a demo of the game is already available on Steam, with a Kickstarter expected to launch for the project next month, on April 14th.