Mega Man Legends spiritual successor Red Ash will be made, with or without Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign for Red Ash: The Indelible Legend, the Mega Man Legends-like adventure game from Keiji Inafune's Comcept, looks unlikely to hit its crowdfunding goal. With just four days to go, the campaign is more than $300,000 shy of its $800,000 target. But Comcept says development on the game's prologue, Red Ash: The KalKanon Incident, will go forward, regardless of whether the campaign meets its goal.

"It's official: Red Ash: The KalKanon Incident is a GO for full development, along with ports to PlayStation 4 AND Xbox One," the developer said in an update posted to Kickstarter.

Comcept says it's working with Chinese game company Fuze Entertainment to help fund development of Red Ash: The KalKanon Incident, which is described as the game's first, eight-hour-long chapter.

"Alongside our Kickstarter campaign, we've been in negotiations with hardware makers and development partners, keeping your feedback and comments in mind," Comcept said. "We hoped by introducing the world setting, art documents, creators involved, our latest prototype, and more, we could convey the charm of Red Ash. And it seems like that work has paid off with Fuze Entertainment deciding to join your ranks as backers, in a major way!"

Comcept says that any funds collected through Kickstarter would go to toward extra content for the game, telling backers to consider their donations "a contribution to stretch goals from here on out." Since Comcept has not yet posted up-to-date stretch goals with Fuze Entertainment's involvement in mind and there are just a few days left in the Kickstarter campaign, it's not clear what backers will get out of further funding (especially since the current campaign seems likely to fail). On Twitter, the Red Ash team said it "will be re-purposing the KS for stretch goals to make the game even better."

It's not clear what impact the involvement of Fuze Entertainment will have on the game's release date, which is currently estimated for July 2017.

Comcept launched its Kickstarter campaign for Red Ash on July 4. The game will feature versions of the characters Beck and Call from Comcept's other crowdfunded game, Mighty No. 9, and promises to "tell a story on a grand scale."

A second Kickstarter campaign was launched alongside Red Ash: The KalKanon Incident for an animated short based on the characters and setting. Titled Red Ash: Magicicada, the Studio 4ºC-produced cartoon is also short of its funding goal of $150,000.