Campaign Ends: March 6th
Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, and Consoles
Hello RPGFriends, and welcome to 2025’s first installment of Crowdfunding Chronicles! Today we present the Kickstarter debut of a title that may be familiar to some of our readers: Alterium Shift, a SNES-inspired 2D-HD RPG featuring brisk turn-based combat and an epic journey through parallel dimensions.
Enter the war-torn world of Alteria and follow one of three novice warriors eager to improve themselves and protect the land. What starts as a training mission eventually evolves into much more, with hostility brewing across the dimensions. Who or what could be responsible for this chaos? The Dark Elves of conflicts past? An even more sinister force? Or just some random guy with nothing better to do?? Let’s hop dimensions and find out!
Alterium Shift‘s three playable characters each come equipped with unique combat and exploration abilities; we have Atlas, a gentle and timid archer; Pyra, a fiery spear wielder; and Sage, a sarcastic but loyal mage with a stylish ‘do. I love their anime-style concept art featuring rich watercolors and a bit of a bande dessinée flair! Each character offers a unique perspective on events, and their respective storylines intertwine; expect to run into the rest of the trio as you play. You’ll shape your hero’s personality and the world itself through choices large and small, but be careful, as even a rude tone might come back to bite you. All in all, there seems to be plenty of replayability in Alterium Shift, promising a different experience with each playthrough.
Throughout your journey, you’ll shift between two parallel worlds to solve puzzles and change the environment. You can even utilize special switches that unlock secrets and new areas in other save files, and if you’re feeling particularly brave, go ahead and sacrifice a save file to see what happens! But let’s not try anything too risky. Instead, let’s spend some quality time petting the local dogs and relaxing with a fishing minigame, or perhaps enjoying a day at the carnival. Safe and gentle activities only! On that note, I don’t think turn-based battles against giant tree men or disgruntled robots can be considered safe and gentle, but they’re certainly less anxiety-inducing than destroying a save file. Phew!
Alterium Shift is currently available on Steam Early Access, with around 50% of the game complete. The Kickstarter funds will help flesh out the world and gameplay and translate the game into more languages. Meanwhile, stretch goals include player housing, alchemy and cooking systems, Japanese and German versions, and, most importantly, pets!
I definitely like what I’ve seen of Alterium Shift so far. The graphics remind me a little of Grandia (an old favorite, for sure), and I’m intrigued by the idea of interacting across parallel worlds. A few technical hiccups still remain, though the devs welcome community feedback and have assured that they will iron these out. A demo of Act One is available on Steam if you’re hesitant about Early Access, with the full game set to release in Q4 2025. We may already be halfway through the 2020s, but it’s never too late for a trip back to 1997!
Disclaimer: While it’s possible some of us at RPGFan may be backers of the games mentioned in these articles, this does not influence our coverage or our featured game choices. We make our selections simply based on the active campaigns we feel our readers might find interesting, and we are not given special access or perks by the developers.
tl;dr: We think these games show potential and want to share them with you.
