Akaneiro: Demon Hunters officially launches today, offering access to this action/RPG from American McGee's Spicy Horse Games, as the Kickstarter for the game enters its homestretch with under three days to go. Also, there's a new interview on Gaming Nexus talking with Spicy Horse's Ben Kerslake, who serves as the game's Creative Director. Here's the announcement:

January 31 2013. Shanghai. Spicy Horse Games, makers of "Alice: Madness Returns," "BigHead BASH," and "American McGee's Grimm" announced today that "Akaneiro: Demon Hunters" is now available for play via SpicyWorld and Kongregate for Mac and PC.

Based on the Little Red Riding Hood story combined with Japanese folklore and myth, and illustrated in Spicy Horse's unique dark fantasy style, "Akaneiro: Demon Hunters" is an action-RPG that lets players hunt legendary monsters in Edo-era Japan.

Akaneiro launches with 20 maps of content with more options on the way, including Steam integration. If the now-running Kickstarter is fully funded, Linux and mobile versions and additional systems including co-op gameplay and equipment crafting will be arriving in the near-future. To check out the Kickstarter plans and reward tiers, please visit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spicyhorse/akaneiro-demon-hunters

The game is free to download and play, with a $20 "unlock all maps" one time purchase option for those who'd like to get all the content in one shot as well as various options purchasable with the in-game currency, karma, for those planning to buy things piecemeal.

To play Akaneiro now, players need only visit the official site at http://www.angry-red.com and sign up.

For more on Spicy Horse Games, visit http://www.spicyhorse.com

Kickstarter Update!

As of last night, the Akaneiro Kickstarter is at over $160,000 with under 60 hours to go. It's going to come down to the wire, but there are still a lot of awesome prizes. I think my favorite of the new additions is the Designer's Pack in the $100 tier, which includes Mission design, level design, concept art, and production process documents. Aspiring game designers can also pledge and earn themselves an hour to talk shop with American McGee himself!

You can check it all out here.