CryEngine action-RPG Umbra appears on Kickstarter

Umbra is being made in CryEngine, and so it has all of the physics and all of the particle effects. As action-RPGs go, it's not as whoosh-bang-wow looking as Lost Ark, but still offers some neat tricks—from Divinity: Original Sin-style elemental combat to a set-piece fight on the shoulders of a giant. Take a look at the Kickstarter pitch video, and see if it doesn't make you go "hmm," or "ooh," or similar.

In addition to the wielding of magicks, Umbra's protagonists boast an "Apocalyptic Form" that allows players to shape-shift based on playstyle. For instance, melee characters might grow a third arm, and fire casters might gain lava-skin.

Umbra's Kickstarter page goes into exhaustive detail about the world, story and systems. For all of this to come into being, the developers want to raise an ambitious $225,000. They have until June 14 to meet that goal.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.