Don't chicken out, chicken up. Matelotes is an upcoming adventure inspired by TTRPG dice mechanics, and I'm all in on the story of its all-female crew sailing across the world to find the abducted king's hen. With a new trailer shown off as part of the Future Games Show, Matelotes already looks like an endearing combination of Wildermyth, Spiritfarer, FTL: Faster Than Light, Sunless Sea, Wind Waker and more besides - and frankly, those are inspirations that I'm all in for.
"Manage a not-so-competent crew", declares the trailer, and indeed, we see that much of the gameplay is about coordinating the resources and behaviours of your oddball sailors, assigning them to different tasks and then drawing upon their various skillsets when you make land on a new island and have to confront the new challenges as a result. Examples shown include arguing about unjust taxation with a mythical selkie, fighting off a giant electric eel, or dealing with noise complaints in a tavern.
All this looks to be done with in-game dice rolls in classic TTRPG fashion, though I don't get the sense that this is a particularly dense and rules-heavy system, as Matelotes proudly calls itself "RPG-light" with a narrative focus. If the cute cartoon aesthetic didn't tip you off, this isn't about min-maxing builds, just steering a group of cutthroats across the world in search of a missing chicken.
Matelotes is targeted for early access on Steam in 2027, with a planned release for consoles at some point after that. If you want to know more, make sure to follow developers La Poule Noire on BlueSky, or follow publisher Arte France on BlueSky and Tiktok.
If you're looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.
