Film studio American Zoetrope is collaborating with a team of veteran video game developers to make a new game based on "Apocalypse Now." Alongside the game's announcement is an official Kickstarter campaign aiming to garner $900,000.
The Kickstarter page reveals that the game's story and characters will be based on the 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola. Players will take control of Captain Willard, played in the film by Martin Sheen, who takes a team through the midst of the Vietnam War to hunt down the rogue and possibly insane Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, who was played by Marlon Brando.
However, the game is not advertised as a shooter despite being played in a first-person view. Instead, it will focus on stealth, horror and survival. Firing a gun is stated to be a last-resort when all stealth tactics and negotiations have failed.
The developers also point out that the game is primarily an RPG. This means Captain Willard can be trained in skills that do not reflect how he was in the game. The RPG elements will also extend to dialogue options and maintaining stealth and strategy while going through the war-torn landscape of Vietnam.
The team of developers includes Lawrence Liberty, who worked as a director and executive producer for games "Fallout: New Vegas" and "The Witcher." "Gears of War" and "Far Cry" veteran Rob Auten is also included as well as Mongtomery Markland, who worked on "Wasteland 2."
Josh Sawyer, who directed both "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Pillars of Eternity," is listed as a game design advisor. The original film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, has also given his blessing for the project.
"Forty years ago, I set out to make a personal art picture that could hopefully influence generations of viewers for years to come," Coppola announced in a written statement, via Polygon. "Today, I'm joined by new daredevils, a team who want to make an interactive version of 'Apocalypse Now,' where you are Captain Benjamin Willard amidst the harsh backdrop of the Vietnam War."
No official release date has yet been announced. The trailer for the original film can be viewed below: