Early Gameplay Footage on PC computer.

Cult County is an all-new first-person survival horror game that blends the episodic story-telling of The Walking Dead with the classic tension-filled exploration and action of Silent Hill and Resident Evil, presenting an opportunity for fans to help a veteran team produce a new experience that is fresh, exciting, and scary!

• Rebirth of the survival horror FPS genre, crafted with fan input.
• Story-driven gameplay, featuring memorable character interactions.
• Small West Texas town filled with tension, mystery, and scares.
• Vulnerable and personalized melee and firearm combat.
• Varied cast of creepy enemy encounters and devious boss battles.

Development is being handled by Renegade Kid - the team behind the award-winning survival horror series, Dementium, and the critically-acclaimed sci-fi first-person adventure, Moon - and includes the same director staff: Jools Watsham (design), Gregg Hargrove (art) and Bob Ives (programming).

And, YOU! Backers will have access to seeing the team's work during production, their concept sketches, design notes, sound effects, music, and more! Through blog posts, photos, videos, concept art, and live streams, you will feel part of the team - and help shape the game!

We have brought Cult County to Kickstarter so it can involve you, the fans!

Not only does Kickstarter make it possible, through crowdfunding, for us to develop the game with creative freedom away from publishers, but it also allows us to bring our dedicated fans into the team to help us craft how the game plays and how the game looks!

We need your help! Let's make Cult County an amazing survival horror experience, and let's do it together!!

We have wanted to return to the survival horror genre for many years. And, our fans have told us the same thing! Many players have contacted us asking for Dementium III. Without going into any icky details, certain contractual ties from the past make that impossible, unfortunately. So, instead of letting that hold us back, we decided to take matters into our own hands and develop a new survival horror experience with the same spirit.

Having the freedom and independence that a funded Kickstarter campaign provides means that creative freedom during development is maintained, presentation of the game via trailers, and screenshots is controlled directly by the team, and finally - perhaps most importantly - the team retains its rights to the game… and any future sequels and ports!

PRESS PLAY! Listen to this music while reading on... 

You assume the role of Gavin Mellick, whose mother has fallen deathly ill. Unable to reach your older sister, Alissa, by phone you drive the 6 hours across Texas to visit her in person and share the sad news. You return to the small town where you spent your summers as a child with Alissa, at your late aunt's house. There is a particularly savage dust storm rolling in when you arrive.

Unable to locate your sister, you ask some of the locals for help. You quickly learn about their suspicions of a cultish group that recently moved into town, and the unexpected suicide of Father Pearce. The locals offer very little help finding your sister, and it isn't long before your search takes an unexpected dark turn, leading you down a road of no return.

You are alone. You are unarmed. You see strange "people" linger on the edge of the dust storm, who seem to be watching your every move. But, as soon as you turn your head to face them, they disappear. Who are they? Where do they go? What do they want?

As you explore deeper into the town, searching for any clues that might lead to your sister, you meet various town folk who offer their own anecdotes on what the "people" might be. Some claim they are just your imagination, and some say they are part of the new cultish group who recently moved into town. One person even goes as far to name them "Dust Devils"!

With each step you take, it feels as though the town is pulling you in closer to its rotten core. What may have seemed normal before, now looks distorted and corrupt. Is it the town or is it the people? Or is it you? You soon find yourself bearing arms with anything you can find to defend yourself against... (to be revealed)!

Founded in 2007 by industry veterans Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove, Renegade Kid is an Austin-based indie studio that quickly established itself as a company not afraid to take creative risks. Their first title, Dementium: The Ward, stood out like a bloody thumb on the Nintendo DS against the myriad of cute and movie-license titles, and earned awards from numerous reputable media outlets.

Not reliant on controversy, Renegade Kid’s debut title – along with their subsequent titles in the genre – was critically-acclaimed and award-winning, receiving praise from players and press alike. Having taken a break away from the genre, and developed successful new original titles such as the critically-acclaimed Mutant Mudds, the same twisted minds behind Dementium are itching to get back to their renegade roots with Cult County.

Serving as an opportunity to revisit the first-person genre, and bring one of their beloved titles to new fans, Renegade Kid recently completed the development of Moon Chronicles for the Nintendo 3DS. Rebuilt from the ground up, the game has been remastered in glorious 3D and offers a unique, exciting episodic lunar journey with a gripping narrative.

Recently, someone asked us which two games would we use to describe Cult County? Our response, "The Walking Dead meets Silent Hill 2 from a first-person perspective." Cult County has story-driven gameplay, with story-arcs that are self-contained within one episode as well as arcs that span across multiple episodes, while also offering town exploration, moments of isolation, and combat scenarios.

We have spent many months developing the story for Cult County – even beyond season one - and are thrilled with the results. We have focused on characters – both friends and foes – plot twists, enemies, bosses, weapons, and how this all fits into Episode 1, and then leads to Episode 2, and then that thing you remember happening in Episode 1 is resolved in Episode 3, while new mysteries and sub-plots are revealed in Episode 4. We're having a lot of fun!

This is not to say that Cult County is non-stop story-telling, though - far from it. Moments of quiet tension are very important too. You will often find yourself exploring the town - exterior and interior - searching for important items, or encountering dangerous enemies. What lurks around the next corner? There's only one way to find out.

Over the next 12 or so months - and with your help - we will carefully create the town environments, NPC characters, enemies, and weapons needed to support the narrative and craft a unique gameplay experience that helps bring the classic survival horror experience back from the grave. The player-character will not be armed to the teeth, but instead you must carefully search the town for any weapon you can find (melee and basic firearms), and any bullets.

Every backer gets a say! Cast your vote on enemy designs, prop designs, sound effects, musical scores - and more! Everyone gets a "Backer" credit in the game. Here's how it will work:

1. We post a selection of choices.

2. You vote for your favorite.

3. We count the votes.

4. Most popular choices goes into the game!

Those who have opted for the EARLY ACCESS pledge tier can dive into the game experience early with the Beta Build on Windows PC. Willing participants can also provide feedback on the game to help us improve the experience for everyone.

Backers who have chosen the CONTRIBUTOR pledge tier will have exclusive access to the Alpha Build and also get to view ultra special game assets that delve deeper into the creation of the game. You will help us decide on key art concepts of NPC characters, landmark environments, audio clips, and even weapons and story arcs to help us decide which is best for the final game. Includes "Contributor" credit.

If you're really feeling like getting into the nitty gritty of game design, and have chosen the ENEMY DESIGNER pledge, you're in for some serious fun helping us design the look and gameplay of your own enemy for the game. Each of the 5 available ENEMY DESIGNER pledges will have their own unique enemy to help us create. You'll be able to cackle at those who fall at the hand of your enemy! Includes credit as "Enemy Designer".

For those who want their likeness to be immortalized forever, choosing the YOUR FACE & VOICE IN THE GAME pledge is an excellent opportunity to be a virtual star and boast to your friends! Whether our casting director chooses to cast you as a shuffling enemy, town folk, or gurgling corpse, they're sure to find a special place for you. Also includes "Special Appearance" credit.

We are utilizing the power of the Unity Engine, which enables us to support multiple platforms at once, as well as our proprietary engine for Nintendo 3DS.

The minimum funded goal for Cult County covers the following platforms: Steam (PC, Mac & Linux), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS. Each backer may request one platform, and we'll send you one download code for that platform for you to get your game on!

Cult County will be released in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Special Note for Steam Players: Cult County is already approved for Steam. It will not need to go through Greenlight! Thank you Valve!!

We want to also support Xbox 360, but it requires extra license fees for Unity and development hardware to test on. Also, indie developers are unable to self-publish their games on the Xbox 360. Therefore, a third-party publisher is required to release it. We can only support the Xbox 360 if we reach the stretch goal. If we reach the stretch goal, backers will be able to choose from any of the available platforms.

We find behind the scenes stuff really interesting, and have a feeling that some of you might too. We have teamed up with our pals over at Dvelop.TV and asked them to shove cameras into our faces at the most awkward moments for your entertainment. We think the excitement and drama behind the development of Cult County will be entertaining and educational for anyone with an interest in what it takes to create a video-game.

With seven years of video production experience, working on promo video segments for the BBC and popular web shows, Dvelop.tv's founder and Editor-in-Chief, Mark Zamora has a goal: to inspire, educate, and entertain through the world of game development. Current projects include a Game Development Documentary with University of Texas at Dallas' Game Lab, official Documenteer of TinyThumbs Pop-Up Arcade, and an untitled Documentary with the Perot Museum.

If the documentary stretch goal for Cult County is reached, all backers will receive a digital download copy of the documentary.

Whether you just want the desktop wallpaper, the game, or digital artbook, we hope there’s something unique that fits your needs.

     

If we reach our initial Kickstarter funding goal, and nothing more, you can rest easy that we will deliver the complete game as promised! If we're lucky enough to meet our goal and exceed it, we have some exciting stretch goals planned, which will be revealed later.

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Email us: kickstarter@renegadekid.com