Almost a year since launching their Kickstarter, Tribute Games has finally released Mercenary Kings to Steam Early Access. A stylized 2D run and gun in the style of Metal Slug, Mercenary Kings will also support four local players and will feature a weapon customization system. Tribute Games initially pitched the game for PC, but later got official licenses for Sony and Nintendo. Much later, they confirmed that the game was coming to Ouya and PS4, although no release dates were provided.
The game's trailer confirms weapon customization, multiple selectable characters, and multiplayer are already available in the Early Access version. They explain in the Kickstarter update that as it is, this game is essentially a souped up version of the original demo, with future assets to be created and funded by incoming purchases.
Following the footsteps of Double Fine's Broken Age, Mercenary Kings will be taking advantage of Steam Early Access to get funding and early feedback from the community, as well as to deliver early access to backers as promised with ease.
The Kickstarter post also explains the long development time was used to make the most of the $ 116,064 initially raised. The time and money was spent on making more levels and adding an online component.
It's easy to get cynical when game development goes a long time without updates, but let's not forget that game development is a labor intensive, time consuming process. Indies don't have the resources AAAs have to speed up development time, and it's generally unfair to compare one indie's progress to another, given differences in games in terms of genre, scope, assets, etc. Steam Early Access is a blessing in disguise, allowing these projects to get to fans early so they can experience what they paid for.
