Awakened takes to Kickstarter, is the successor to Midway's Hero

Awakened, an ambitious sandbox game Chicago indie Phosphor Games, is the project formerly known as Hero. And you can help make it happen.

Awakened is a superhero sandbox action game but unlike rivals Infamous and Prototype it lets players create their own character. Built on Unreal Engine 4, it boasts of "a game world that responds to your every move", "scores of abilities and weapons that modify each other" and "seemingly limitless outfit and gear customization options".

Developer Phosphor Games is seeking $500,000 via Kickstarter to help bring the title to completion, and has nominated a couple of distant stretch goals, limitless multiplayer and mod support among them.

"The idea of Project Awakened is so different from what is out there, publishers don't know how they can fund it," the Kickstarter campaign said.

"We've pitched this idea to every major publisher, and while they are all like the concept, they are also afraid of uncharted waters. Their data shows that studios can only sell a familiar gameplay experience or a sequel, not an innovative new IP. We disagree. And we think gamers do, too."

Phosphor hasn't made any promises about platform and release date, but describes Awakened as having the potential to be "one of the first next-generation games".

The whole project seems to have a lot of potential and is packed with interesting ideas; visit the aware of the project since January 2011, when it was concept art and videos were discovered among the ashes of by then defunct publisher Midway.

By the end of the month, a group of former Midway Chicago employees at Phosphor Games had announced Awakened, describing it as the spiritual successor to Hero. Although the team had the same design in mind, Midway Chicago's sale to Warner meant it had to start all over again, without the code and assets it had put together. Still, comparing some early trailers to footage of the lost title showed a marked resemblance.

In the interim, Phosphor has produced mobile titles The Dark Meadow and Horn.