The dev who turned Bloodborne into a Zelda game has now made his very own Soulslike Western with a map that's several times larger than A Link to the Past

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Exclusive | Tombwater is looking very promising, and its full map reveal has got me even more intrigued

A zoomed-in screenshot of Tombwater shows a character with a large hat stood on some stairs in front of a large building.
(Image credit: Moth Atlas, Midwest Games)

The developer behind a viral 2D Zelda-flavored Bloodborne tribute is cooking up a new Soulslike called Tombwater, and its enormous map looks like it's going to keep us busy for some time.

Indie dev Max Mraz (Moth Atlas)'s Tombwater is immediately reminiscent of Bloodborne, in its own unique way. The upcoming title's Steam description teases that we'll be able to "lay bare the eldritch horrors that lie beneath" the titular town of Tombwater, and splat and stab some monstrosities in 2D top-down combat (including over 20 "horrifying boss battles"). Much like FromSoftware's 2015 game, you'll also have a wide selection of weapons – from blades, to firearms, and spells.

Before Tombwater, Mraz created Yarntown, which first surfaced back in 2020 and was described as "a Zeldalike tribute to Bloodborne," allowing players to explore "a cursed, gothic town, hunting beasts and uncovering twisted bosses" in a top-down format with Bloodborne's signature shooting, Blood Vial heals, and more. Its cutesy, Zelda-like visuals now shine in Tombwater – the dev's "Soulslike Western."

Now, we can get a better gauge of all its main areas. In a press release, it's estimated that Tombwater will take between 20 and 25 hours to complete, and it sounds like a lot of that will come just from traversing and exploring, with interesting landmarks including a traveling circus, cathedral, abandoned ranch, and many more.

Those can be found amongst almost 20 "distinct biomes," which can be explored in a non-linear way.

Tombwater map.

(Image credit: Moth Atlas, Midwest Games)

"We were having so much fun exploring what could be in each area that we didn't realize how big the map was growing," Mraz says in a statement. "We got together one evening to play through the game's main path – and, six hours later, we weren't even halfway through!"

In addition to the main world map, Tombwater also boasts "various mines, sewers, tunnels, or Lost City deep in the heart of the mountain," which aren't pictured in the image above. So, there's loads to explore underground, too.

Although Tombwater doesn't currently have a release date, it has a free demo to try out on Steam. This only includes around 5% of the full map – leaving plenty to look forward to in the full release.

You can find even more to play in our list of the best action games.

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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