It might have slipped through the nets of gamers worldwide, but Kien, a game that entered development in the early 2000s, has just been released on Game Boy Advance. Back in 2002, a group of aspiring developers got to work on Kien, seeking to produce a game for the GBA platform – fast-forward some 22 years and only one of the original developers remains with the project, but he never gave up hope.
From facing financial ruin to balancing game development and marketing while studying at university, Fabio Belsanti from Italy finally crossed the finish line a couple of weeks ago, releasing Kien in physical form for the Game Boy Advance after a 22-year delay.
That’s Got To Be A Record
Kien is a full-fledged GBA title that sees players assume control of either a fearless warrior or a mystical priestess, fighting through a series of environments on the way to save the planet of Malkut. Here’s the trailer for Kien:
Belsanti, who was the sole developer left working on the project when it was finally released in June, addressed why it felt like the right time to push the game into the market:
I believe we are in a phase similar to the revival of vinyl or cassettes for music – a return to previous, more primitive forms of the medium driven by nostalgia from the generations who lived those eras, and curiosity by those who came after such technology. On a romantic level, the thought of releasing the game on its original console is simply magical. To see Kien come to life on the very platform it was designed for is a dream come true.
The feedback already received on the trailers has been stellar, with retro gaming fans welcoming the arrival of an entirely new game some 15 years after the Game Boy Advance was discontinued. It promises to take them back to days gone by, fuelling their nostalgia-riddled passion for gaming that was likely kickstarted decades ago.
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