Iron Harvest, the RTS about farmers and mechs in the 1920s, is a Kickstarter success

Iron Harvest is an upcoming RTS set in a 1920s we never actually experienced, with giant, steam-driven war-bots and farmers earning fortunes digging up the "iron harvest" of weapons, ammunition, and shrapnel left behind by the First World War. We got a brief look at it in December when developer King Art Games released a trailer showcasing the game's dynamic, destructible cover and said a 1v1 multiplayer mode would be out in the spring. Now the studio has taken the project to Kickstarter in search of funding to support the creation of single-player campaigns.

The base goal of $450,000 will enable three single-player campaigns—21 missions in total—with an estimated 20 hours of gameplay spread across three playable factions: The Saxony Empire, the Polania Republic, and Rusviet (you can probably figure out which real-world nations they're standing in for), each with its own units and unique hero characters. Stretch goals, beginning at $500,000, will add features such as a New Game Plus mode, cinematic cutscenes, multiplayer, a co-op campaign, and at the top end, a DLC campaign.

Interestingly, the developers said that no matter how successful the Kickstarter is, they won't be adding any more features to the base game than what's already been announced. "It is very dangerous to make a game bigger and bigger, just because you can," the Kickstarter says. "Instead, we’ll release the base game as planned and add a free mini DLC campaign later on. Think Company of Heroes - Tiger Ace."

Kickstarters are inherently risky ventures because there's no guarantee of what, if anything, will come out the other end, and you don't get your money back if they tank. But King Art is a well-established (albeit small) studio with some really good games to its name, including The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief (a remastered version of which was just released) and The Book of Unwritten Tales series. Its most recent release, The Dwarves in 2016, wasn't great, but everyone is allowed a whiff now and then.

On a personal note (and acknowledging that I know nothing about the actual gameplay), I think Iron Harvest looks great, and I'm clearly not alone in that: The Kickstarter launched just a couple of days ago, and it's already achieved its goal.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.