What is Kandyland – Answered

Videogames can get their start in many ways, and not all of them are the smoothest of sailings, Kandyland is a game that has been treading some rocky ground for gamers as to how they have gotten their upstart. Inspired by Five Nights at Freddy’s and Poppy’s Playtime, the animation of this video game is by no means your average indie horror game in the making.

Everything to Know About Kandyland

Mascot horror games have been prevalent among indie games in the last decade, and the trend doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. While Security Breach may have been less than followers expected, games like Poppy Playtime and My Friendly Neighborhood have still been well-received by gamers. Not only have they spun their own story that makes their game more unique, but the puzzles and gameplay have made them stand out for different aspects not before seen in other popular mascot horror games. 

Kandyland was started by GoldenLane Studios, a game maker in the making who previously did FNAF fan edits for the game, but in the last year, they’ve begun to branch out into original content. Thus far, the cast of characters consists of four different mascots that perform and guide visitors at what seems to be either a carnival fair or mall building; Kandy Kangaroo, Suzy Snacktime, Tooki Toucan, and Mr. Smiles. While inspired by previous mascot horror games, these characters have their vibrancy and uniqueness coupled with the few personality traits we see shine in the three episodic trailers that GoldenLane Studios has released. 

The animation is beautiful, and the characters are familiar yet unique in their design, so what is the downside to Kandyland? Well, many of the images on the game’s official online handles turn out to be NFTs. NFTs stand for Non-Fungible Tokens and allow for buyers to own digital elements available online. There have been many feuds over the involvement of NFTs within games over the last few years, and sadly, involvement with NFTs has dampened fans’ excitement for the game’s potential. 

However, with these proceeds provided from their NFTs, Kandyland has been able to make their game available on Steam. It will be a work in progress that we hope to see develop over the next year. The game could have likely used funds from just about any other avenue since there was a lot of hype generated around the game from both their YouTube Channel, but also having spread around on TikTok. It’ll be nice to see what the game developers come up with and how they can spin this hauntingly beautiful sight into a true masterpiece of an indie game. 

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The wonderful thing about these types of games is that they can come from anywhere and while there is speculation as to the intention behind the game being made after all this time, fans are hopeful that the game developers will not bring NFTs into the game and leave them at the funding site for the game. 

Thus far, Kandyland does only have its trailer and a couple of episodes, but the dedication behind these designs as well as the layouts of the areas players are likely to explore, have great potential. And as someone who is always hungry for a good old horror game, I’ll continue keeping an eye out on the game’s progress and keep you updated on any future developments.

While we wait for Five Nights at Freddy’s next installment, Help Wanted 2, be sure to check out our news coverage on Poppy Playtime since the next chapter may just be sooner than you think and boy, will it be a doozy.