Fight your wizard friends in XCOM creator's Chaos Reborn

Julian Gollop, the original creator of 1994 PC and Amiga strategy game X-COM: UFO Defense, will launch a Kickstarter project for the resurgence of another strategic game early this year. Titled Chaos Reborn, the game is described as an update to one of Gollop's other classic games, Chaos: The Battle of Wizards.

First announced in November 2012, Chaos Reborn will fit into the turn-based strategy genre, which tended to have plenty of success on Kickstarter last year. The game will include "strong RPG elements" as well as "extensive multiplayer and single player options," according to the description on its Prefundia page. The single-player mode has players customizing their wizards and leveling them up through trials in the "Realms of Chaos," acquiring new equipment and treasures along the way before partaking in arena-style battles for up to six players. The 3D arenas will be procedurally-generated, and the leaderboard and tournament-speckled battles will be both live and asynchronous. Gollop also promised a guild and item trading system, in addition to cooperative multiplayer modes.

Gollop said the 1985 ZX Spectrum game "stands out as a game with unrealized potential" of all the projects he's credited on in his 30-year development history. "I have spent the last year working on Chaos Reborn, writing the game design, creating a playable prototype and building my team," Gollop added, assuring prospective backers that he intends to complete the project "within a year."

Chaos Reborn's development is targeted at PC, Mac and Linux. The development team currently has a functional prototype of the game's multiplayer working, though it uses placeholder art, so backers can expect it to look much different in the coming months. Gollop's Prefundia page noted a target window for the Kickstarter project next month, though it's unclear just when it will launch.