Kismet: Privateer is a short, light-hearted, action-packed, gleefully anachronistic dungeonpunk western. Note immediately that it is not a western aesthetically speaking: you'll find no sixguns, spurs, or ten gallon hats. The aesthetics on display here are vintage RTP, about as classically jFantasy as you can get. Aesthetics are not the only thing that define a western, there are also themes and archetypes, and Privateer is a western thematically. The short version is "high fantasy with an attitude". The game's meant to be funny in places, it's not meant to be a comedy game, and there's none of the breaking of the fourth wall typical in those.

The Story So Far...
Kismet is set in a parallel world to our own in a time before the barriers between that world--the Fey Lands, also called The Green Lands or just Path--and ours began to dissolve. That world is nothing like our and our problems are not it's problems. Yet. And The Green Lands and their folk soldier on with no knowledge of our world.

People born in the Green Lands are either born with the gift of Magic or without it. Those born with are called Karcists, and take two forms--Mages who can cast spells and summon spirit beings, and Adepts whose magical talent manifests as superhuman physical, social, or creative ability. Those born without are called Mundanes, and are, in some places, second class citizens doomed to low social station and the dirtiest of jobs. This is not the case in the Kingdom of Umbria, where our story opens; Umbria is ruled by a Mundane royal bloodline.

Or it was, until somebody killed the king.

The game opens with you in control of Zander, a Karcist Mage and Davan, a Dragonfist Adept. The two have formed a lifelong bromance based on verbal abuse and mutual disrespect (as such things are wont to be formed) and the pair make their living as mercenaries, doing others dirty work for vast sums of coin.

They've drifted to Umbria, where they are hired by the acting ruler, Viceroy Kale on a mission of great importance. Track down the king's killer, the bard known only as The Magpie, retrieve the Jewel of Shadows that he's stolen, and rescue the king's only heir, Princess Mia Grimaldi, who he's kidnapped.

Of course, things are rarely so "simple" when so much coin is on the line.

The Gameplay
First off, this game is going to be short, so if you are looking for an epic, you need look elsewhere. I very much doubt this game will be more than a handful of hours long. Of course, I also doubt it will take more than a handful of weeks to complete, and I've already gotten a solid start. It's so short there's no need for a demo release. There will be nothing playable up until the first full release. I do enjoy the setting and characters, so I've left myself room for a sequel (or multiple sequels), if it turns out that other people enjoy them too.

Yes, that is why there is a subtitle.

Second off, this game is very simple. Unambitious might a better word. The goals here are to tell an entertaining story, provide some fun gameplay, and teach myself the ins-and-outs of VX Ace. That said, there are going to be some cool features, because Ace and Yanfly combined makes implementing some cool features really, really easy.

* Really fun and engaging battles. Zander and Davan have unique and powerful skill sets with deep but easily grasped mechanics and synergies. There will be no space bar mashing here. Combat will also be on the easy side, to avoid getting in the way of the story. The core experience here is one of being a badass and ruining the opposition's shit. At least until you get to that one boss...
* On-touch encounters because random battles suck.
* Several field environments and dungeons, lots of treasure to collect.
* The ability to hire and customize one of three mercenaries out of the gate. If you really dig the game, you can do multiple play-throughs to explore their different playstyles by trying the game with all three. Or if you want to save some coin, you can do "iron man" mode and send Zander and Davan into their mission without any outside help.