I fell in love with Mercenary Kings the moment I watched the debut trailer. Honestly, I think love at first site is a total crock … unless we’re talking about video games. Mercenary Kings just has that awesome retro art style that still manages to look neat and polished. Additionally, the prospect of a looting element and crafting system make it a potentially unique new entry in the shoot ’em up genre.

Now, though, developer Tribute Games has taken to Kickstarter to reach out to gamers so that it can get some much-needed funding for Mercenary Kings. Consisting of the folks who brought us Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game and Wizorb, Tribute Games is really hoping to deliver yet another old school-inspired 2D romp. Judging from the look of Mercenary Kings, it may very well do exactly that.

Kickstarter rewards range from t-shirts and soundtracks to digital copies of Mercenary Kings and Wizorb. Hell, donate enough and Tribute Games will throw you into the game … as a hostage! As of this writing, Mercenary Kings has hit $15,000 in pledges of its $75,000 goal. While that much cash will get you a pretty promising game, higher milestones will result in the addition of more levels and even an online co-op mode.

Mercenary Kings, we’ll be waiting for you.

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