Moon Studios is best known for Ori and the Blind Forest, a breathtakingly beautiful 2D Metroidvania that sees you tackle environmental puzzles and engage in some perilous platforming as an adorable bunny-like creature. Both it and its sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, are right up there as some of the best Metroidvanias money can buy, but despite its expertise in the genre, the developer is instead cooking up something entirely different for its next game, No Rest for the Wicked.
Unveiled during The Game Awards 2023, No Rest for the Wicked is an isometric dark fantasy action RPG set in a hand-crafted world featuring painterly visuals and rife with vicious foes. To give you a taste of what's in store, Moon Studios has released a new video via IGN showcasing eight minutes of gameplay.
The setting for this sneak peek is a gloomy forest area, made all the more uninviting by the relentless rain and the corpses littered around - presumably the remnants of those unfortunate enough to have encountered the foul creatures that call this place home.
It's not long before one such creature crawls out of the woodwork looking to make short work of our protagonist with a massive axe. Defeating the foe requires a skilful approach, and from the considered attacks and careful dodges on display - both of which rely on stamina - you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd accidentally stumbled across an isometric Dark Souls.
As the footage also shows, downed enemies drop various bits of loot, including food, armor, and weapons, and there are campfires dotted around where you can cook health-restoring meals to help you live to fight another day.
To top it all off, we're treated to a look at one of the bosses you'll encounter, Warrick the Torn. Looking like a nightmarish cross between a spider and a skeleton, the only thing more terrifying than this guy's appearance is how ferociously he fights. Using wide-sweeping attacks and powerful piercing lunges, Warrick is a force to be reckoned with, and we're both eagerly anticipating and wholeheartedly dreading taking him on when the game launches.
Moon Studios is planning to initially release No Rest for the Wicked in Early Access on Steam, after which it will be fully released on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. No date has yet been set, though the digital showcase the developer is airing on March 1 may give us a better idea of when we'll get our hands on this promising action RPG.
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