Alder’s Blood seems like a turn-based tactics game precision-made to fit my interests. A little bit XCOM, a little bit Darkest Dungeon and a whole lot of Bloodborne. It’s due out this year, and last night developers Shockwork Games released a new trailer, showing off a world that they call a “fusion of dark Victorian fantasy and wild west”. That means flintlock rifles and blades at dusk, as long-coated and masked Hunters sneak around, chopping up werewolves, vampires and more otherworldly and ‘orrible servants of an undead god. See the grim darkness below.

The setting here is as grimdark as they come. God is literally dead, and now undead, which is bad. Day and night aren’t working right, monsters rule and it’s up to a bunch of folks who look like they’ve wandered straight out of Bloodborne to re-kill god (and properly this time). The developers call it a “tactical stealth game”, putting the emphasis on sneaking around and hitting hard. The game even tracks the direction the wind is blowing across its hex-based maps, and standing upwind seems like a great way to get stomped by werewolves you weren’t ready to deal with otherwise.



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Between fights, your nomadic camp of hunters will be exploring and taking on missions given by the various human survivor factions on the map. The still character art is especially impressive, and even more Bloodborne-tinged. Earlier in development, there was a playable demo of Alder’s Blood, sadly no longer available, accompanying the game’s (unfortunately unsuccessful) Kickstarter. You can watch a bit of this early version here via YouTuber Retcon Raider. The game has since received a major art overhaul, and appears to be in the final stretch of development.

While the trailer says “coming soon”, the Steam page for Alder’s Blood narrows it down to a third or fourth quarter release this year. It’s published by No Gravity Games.