Step into your gi, Digital Eclipse has announced that their interactive documentary, The Making of Karateka, launches on August 29, 2023.
The Making of Karateka is more than just a new port of Jordan Mechner’s legendary 1984 Apple II brawler. It also promises video features, playable prototypes, and design documents providing an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at Mechner’s work. Digital Eclipse has even gone to the work of extrapolating on a prototype to provide it into a full-fledged game called Deathbounce: Rebounded. It’s a dual-stick shooter, which is a pretty great sub-genre.
Digital Eclipse has last tested the interactive documentary concept with the Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. It goes beyond the simple remaster format by going in-depth into the making of the games. Karateka is a great starting point, as Mechner made it years before the more renowned Prince of Persia. It’s a formative game known for its cinematics and rotoscoped animation.
I personally haven’t played Karateka. I’m pretty sure I have a copy of it for my Commodore 64 that I haven’t dug into yet, but I’ll probably just wait for this release to try it. After all, it’s out in just a couple of weeks. The Making of Karateka releases August 29, 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. The Switch version is lagging behind those versions, with a planned launch in September.
