“After being rejected by over 50 publishers,” stylish indie RPG smashes its $60,000 Kickstarter in less than 24 hours in a “defiant shout” to the industry

After “years of challenges” attempting to secure a publisher, the indie RPG/life-sim hybrid Crescent County attained the financing it required through a Kickstarter initiative that reached its $60,000 target in under a day.

Developer Electric Saint mentions that its title – referred to as an open-world “delivery life-sim” where you relocate to an island abundant with “witch-tech” broomstick innovation – was “turned down by over 50 publishers.” Choosing a distinct method to obtain the necessary funding, the studio sought out Kickstarter – where it achieved its $60,000 objective in merely 24 hours.

Indeed, with more than 1,000 supporters at the time of writing, Crescent County is moving significantly beyond that initial target. Presently, it is already nearing the $70,000 threshold. This display of backing demonstrates, regardless of all that endeavor “endeavoring to secure their game funded through conventional methods,” that “there is undoubtedly an audience for the game.”

Electric Saint is eager to highlight that its challenging path is not an uncommon issue. When it revealed the Crescent County crowdfunding campaign earlier this week (pleading, in the process, for GTA 6 not to experience another delay), its trailer recognized that “the gaming industry is ablaze,” with art lead Anna Hollinrake conceding that “we might have chosen to go indie at a peculiar time.”

“Funding games is exceptionally, exceptionally challenging right now,” the campaign emphasizes, with the studio asserting that “we’ve invested two years and considerable effort pursuing this avenue, and it’s been draining. We simply want to produce the game.”

This newfound show of support (and influx of funds), however, does seem to indicate that Crescent County will, indeed, ultimately come to fruition. There’s currently no release date in view, but the Kickstarter suggests a projected delivery date for its pledge rewards of October 2026 – hopefully far enough from the launch of GTA 6 that it doesn’t get overshadowed by Rockstar’s giant. Between now and next October, however, you can explore the Crescent County demo, which is currently available on Steam.

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I’m the Managing Editor for news at GamesRadar, directing the news strategy across the team. I commenced my journalistic journey while pursuing my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I