Lilith Walther, the genius behind that excellent Bloodborne PS1 demake, has been hard at work making Bloodborne—sorry, Nightmare Kart, changing the name after a letter from Sony.
The whole fiasco, which forced Walther to remake the game’s shockingly large cast of Bloodborne characters, delayed the whole thing considerably since it was meant to arrive in January of this year. “Long story short,” Walther wrote back when the news hit, “I need to scrub off the branding … that requires a short delay.”
Well, said delay is over. Not only is Nightmare Kart now its own legally-distinct thing with its charming unique character designs (not-Micolash has a little tweety bird in his head-cage, now), it’s going to be released for the low low price of absolutely nothing on both Steam and Itch.io.
Despite the non-existent price-point, Nightmare Kart seems like a full-fledged indie in terms of content. 20 racers, 16 maps, an honest-to-old-gods campaign mode with its own boss fights—while that PS1 demake was a fun experiment, it seems like Walther and her team just pumped as much nitrous into their engines as they could, making a full game out of an idea I can only assume was cooked up in a fugue state at 3 am.
🏁🩸INTRODUCING: NIGHTMARE KART🩸🏁Releasing for FREE 5/31/2024 on Steam and Itchio!!➡️ 20 Racers!➡️ 16 Maps!➡️ Legally distinct!➡️ Full campaign mode w boss fights!➡️ VS Battle mode!💉 THIS NIGHTMARE WILL NEVER END 🐥#NightmareKart 🏍️ pic.twitter.com/XR5ury6kxlApril 2, 2024
The game actually has 21 racers, technically, as Walther’s also put her own fursona—Bunlith—in the game. She’s unlockable via cheat code, as is secret bonus character tradition. Honestly? That’s fair, if I had an OC and I was making a kart racer, I’d stuff ’em in there, too. That’s the reward you get for making something rad as hell as a labour of love, then giving it away for nothing.
Walther’s also been sharing the process of making Nightmare Kart legally distinct enough to be a unique selling point—starting with the menu rebrand. She also mentions having to swap “the starting ‘fansoftware’ joke logo out with a temporary texture, as we figure out how we want to organise the logos that will replace it.”
Replaced the starting ‘fansoftware’ joke logo out with a temporary texture as we figure out how we want to organize the logos that will replace it. I also replaced the title announcement by @GetGianni to be the new title read. pic.twitter.com/ZCdk7shZWzApril 2, 2024
Personally, I kind of want her to just keep it as-is—it’d be a good bit for an entirely bit-driven game. Nightmare Kart will be doing donuts in your nearest gothic parking lot May 31.
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