These Kickstarter games will never get finished / crowdfunding documentary

Overview

The video argues that while crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter are often associated with great game projects, many campaigns end with significant hype, money raised, and promising demos—followed by abandonment.

It frames the theme as “kick scammer time,” but narrows the focus to games that met their Kickstarter funding goals yet were never finished or released.

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Case Studies

1) Radio: The Silence (Kickstarter launched Dec 2012)

• The campaign is described as a stunning, dystopian, Zelda-like/pixel-art futuristic game with distinctive combat that rewards precise timing and damage management.
• Despite raising $81,719 from 3,567 backers (likely surpassing $100k with late PayPal contributions) and having a Steam demo, the creator claims:
  • The project’s developer vanished (no socials, no updates for years).
  • The backer forum is inactive/“derelict.”
  • The demo has been taken down in parts of the world, implying abandonment.

The argument is that after more than a decade, most backers have lost hope, leaving the community waiting indefinitely for a “final completed build” that is unlikely to arrive.

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2) Forsaken Castle (Kickstarter launched Apr 2017)

• Positioned as a “Metroidvania/Castlevania-like” game with an anime-cute aesthetic, with updates frequently coming early on.
• The campaign reportedly raised $35,360 toward a $10,000 goal from 943 backers, and it reached funding successfully.
• The video suggests the reason for non-release is unclear, but points to internal/production problems:
  • The brothers Clint and Lance were involved; later Clint took over art and programming after Lance shifted life priorities (marriage, kids, separate career).
  • Clint allegedly rebuilt the project in a new Unity version, which derailed progress and likely created further confusion and delays.
  • Ongoing criticism from backers reportedly contributed to a dysfunctional development environment.

Net result: only a demo exists, while the full promised release never materialized (the video mentions a planned October 2017 release that clearly did not happen).

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3) Grave (Kickstarter launched Mar 2014)

• Described as a survival/resource-gathering game akin to a “big Minecraft,” with day exploration and nighttime danger/locking down.
• The campaign reportedly raised $37,622 from 1,111 backers for a $30,000 goal.
• The video argues it failed due to scope creep and misguided feature additions:
  • The creator kept adding new ideas rather than completing the core game.
  • A major pivot was introducing VR, despite the campaign not emphasizing VR in its materials.
• It claims a multi-part “why it failed” documentary series was started, but only earlier parts were released; the “failure” installment never came out.
• The most recent update (January 2021) cites COVID disruptions, but the channel concludes progress is not genuinely restored—leaving backers checking in periodically with minimal substantive updates.

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Overall Conclusion / Message

Across all three case studies, the video’s main claim is that successful funding isn’t enough. Projects can still die due to:

• developer disappearance
• internal restructuring/rebuilds
• scope creep
• feature pivots (such as adding VR without groundwork)

The creator portrays these outcomes as emotionally frustrating “lost media” situations where backers effectively fund demos and hope rather than finished games.

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Presenters / Contributors

• DJ Slope (host/creator of the video)