(Image credit: Happy Broccoli Games)

School Wars is a topdown, pixel-art adventure game about winning a high school talent show. If you're like me, that premise may be cause for anxiety rather than excitement. But never fear: your "underdog" school, Armadillo Academy, has somehow recruited a magical kraken with time travel capabilities in order to smite the rich kids over at Hawk High School. That's more like it!

You play as the new kid at Armadillo Academy, and with the help of said magical kraken, you'll manipulate time in order to figure out the routine of the school's attendees. This Groundhog Day-style system is all about figuring out your fellow pupils in order to better prepare them for the talent show, but you'll also be making friends, going on dates, and stuff like that.

The game does sound similar in theme to Mars Underground, which released earlier this year and is also about manipulating time in order to adapt to a first day at school. But School Wars!! studio Happy Broccoli Games cites Zelda: Majora's Mask as a key influence, which makes sense. Also, there's a character called Broccoli Girl in School Wars!!, and she's literally a sentient broccoli that plays the drums.

Studio founder Annika Maar writes that School Wars has been a dream project since 2017. "I want to recreate the feeling I had when I immersed myself into the crazy worlds of early 2000s anime like Ranma 1/2 or Hitman Reborn," she writes. "I love the over-the-top characters and bizarre interactions, which I want to capture in this project."

The game is on Kickstarter, where you can also find out more info. It's expected to ship late next year. There's a trailer below.

(Image credit: Happy Broccoli Games)