Stray Kite Studios, the indie developer co-founded by BioShock lead designer Paul Hellquist, has unveiled its first original title: fantasy-themed real-time tactics roguelite Wartorn, coming to Early Access for PC sometime this year. “spring”.
Stray Kite, whose other co-founder is Age of Empires Online lead programmer Shovaen Patel, has previously collaborated on titles such as Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep and Fortnite, but Wartorn will be their first original release. Follows two elven sisters, Yara and Elani, as they journey across the war-torn islands of Talaur, a fantasy kingdom “torn by extremism and the disintegration of ancient ties,” to reach the safety of their home. ancestral.
Wartorn is described as a “roguelite single-player, squad-based campaign experience” in which players will recruit groups of strategically diverse fantasy creatures, including goblins, elves, demons, tree people, and more, for their Caravan. Squads can be mixed and matched before skirmishes, and battlefield positioning, squad combos, and careful skill deployment are said to be key. Losses, however, will reduce morale and the game will end if all hope is lost.
Additionally, there is talk of emergent combat with elemental themes, allowing players to harness fire, water, lightning, tar and plants to create unique tactical opportunities: tar amplifies fire, lightning emerges through water, etc. This is in addition to a physics-based environmental destruction system, intended to add “depth and unpredictability” to battles, and there’s also a time slowdown feature, which gives players a pause to issue precise commands to do.” even the most complex ones. scenarios… accessible”.
Stray Kite is also touting a heavy focus on narrative, with players facing “unpredictable” events with each new attempt to get home. They are said to involve difficult and impactful decisions (from who gets fed to what lives can be saved) as well as “moral dilemmas of violence and sacrifice.”
“Wartorn challenges players to navigate the chaos of a divided world while finding purpose and joy in altruism,” explains Hellquist (who was also creative director of Borderlands 2) in today’s announcement. “We’ve put our whole heart into creating a game that not only entertains but also makes players think deeply about sacrifice, survival, and the bonds that unite us.”
Wartorn is currently scheduled to enter early access on Steam and the Epic Games Store sometime this “spring.” Stray Kite promises a “polished experience and a wide range of units, squad upgrades, hero upgrades, family members, biomes, maps, events and missions” at launch, with more to come as development progresses towards release. Wartorn release 1.0.
