After gaining independence from Xbox, Double Fine promises it'll make Brutal Legend 2, but only if it can raise $100m on Kickstarter. - Eurogamer.net

Almost two decades on from its first heavy-metal-infused open-world game, Double Fine pinky promises it'll finally make Brutal Legend 2… if the developer's new Kickstarter campaign somehow manages to scrape together $100m (about £74m).

Double Fine slid out from under Xbox's ownership earlier this summer, after the console maker kickstarted another round of layoffs affecting 3,200 jobs over the course of the next year. Four Xbox first-party studios also changed ownership, with Double Fine managing to regain both its independence and its entire gameography (Psychonauts, Kiln, and Brutal Legend included).

Now, the famed developer has returned to Kickstarter to raise money for 'Amnesia Fortnight 2026, Indie Reboot' - a two-week game jam that'll eventually result in a retail-ready game, plus a behind-the-scenes documentary from the 2 Player Productions crew (of PsychOdyssey fame).

Hidden all the way down the crowdfunding campaign is a very, very short list of stretch goals. The first is, simply, for Double Fine to reach its initial fundraising goal. The second stretch goal? The one asking for $100m? "We make Brütal Legend 2. Yes, really. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see…"

Double Fine's Brutal Legend 2 stretch goal is likely the studio holding onto its signature cheeky humor because, not to burst anyone's bubble, raising $100m on Kickstarter is almost impossible. The most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time raised $46m for a 3D printer. In the video gaming world, Shenmue 3 reigns supreme with a $6m haul.

In comparison, Amnesia Fortnight 2026 has currently raised over £236,000 of its initial £295,399 funding goal. As much as I would love another Jack Black-fronted RTS-action Frankenstein, I'll gladly settle for a different, all-new project from the studio.

"It's a long-standing tradition of ours that started in 2007," the studio wrote in its campaign description. "It's a two-week period in which we forget about all the things we should be working on to pitch one another our wildest game ideas, choose our favorites, and make prototypes of them."

Several Double Fine games - Costume Quest, Kiln, Iron Brigade, more - started out as game jam projects first. This time, backers can vote for four ideas, which will then become small, playable games after two weeks. One of those will then be chosen "to become a real (small) game, published under our new label for weird little games, Double Fine Action Labs," the developer said.

Double Fine's 26 pitches include some very inspired names. Lesbian Sled Death? Friendslap? Brouroboros? Yes, please.