Grin Gamestudio

It's strange, isn't it, that more folktales aren't considered as a source of inspiration for games? They usually involve a sympathetic hero, trials and tribulations, and -- if done well -- can have something interesting to say. Tale of Tales' The Path and American McGee's Alice are good examples of what can be achieved when mixing the two.

Antwerp, Belgium-based Grin Gamestudio has tapped the well with style, drawing on the tale of the girl who wanders off the path in the forest and meets the wolf therein -- Little Red Riding Hood. But our naive little girl is all grown up -- and facing down the barrel of industrialisation.

Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries -- currently seeking Kickstarter backing -- takes place when Red, having lost her father, sets out, axe in hand, to find the truth about his disappearance -- and take up a vendetta against B.B. Woolfe, the CEO of Woolfe Industries, a factory that threatens to engulf her home.

The gameplay -- originally shown off at E3 -- combines a mix of 2.5D action platforming, hack-n-slash combat, and boss fights, all played across a variety of environments, from forest to factory.

Grin Gamestudio

And, with backing from Kickstarter, the developers hope to add new features: magical abilities for Red, such as shadow stealth, teleportation, wolf senses and attacks; and a customisable enemy for Kickstarter backers that will allow you to add skill points to make him harder to fight for an additional challenge.

And, of course, it will all be wrapped up in a fairy tale package -- the way fairytales used to be, before the centuries blunted their teeth.

"Little Red Riding Hood's origins turned out to be equally disturbing: in some versions she was tricked into eating her own grandma, in others the wolf tricked the girl into bed after ordering her to perform a striptease," Grin wrote. "It's these raw and rather cruel storylines that inspired us while developing Woolfe -- The Red Hood Diaries' plot, its main characters and enemies."

The game is currently being offered as a Steam download for a minimum pledge of $15 on Kickstarter, with higher reward tiers including stickers, an artbook, the soundtrack, beta testing, and alpha access. Head over to the campaign page to read more about the game and pledge your support.