Baldur's Gate 3 served vampire love affairs and brain tadpoles on a platter, but those of us starving for the the good ol' days of '80s cosmic horror might prefer The Secret of Weepstone, a newly revealed dungeon-crawler RPG that feels like classic D&D meets Mary Shelley.
"In the shadow of a crumbling abandoned keep lies the forsaken village of Weepstone," a press release says like a warning. "Once a thriving settlement, it now withers in silence, fields barren, crops dead, people in fear. Byron, Lord of Weepstone, is ill and bedridden, haunted by night terrors of unholy rituals and unknowable forces. With no champions to call upon, it falls to the commonfolk of the town to face the unknown, confront whatever powers are to blame, and discover the secrets that are held within the crumbling walls.
"This is not a tale of heroes, this is a tale of those who do what they must to survive."
Arming your hand-drawn crew with magic and daggers might keep some of Weepstone's meanest creatures away, though the press release admits that you should prepare for "almost certain death" no matter what. To account for this, you will be bestowed something called Mortal Favors each time a character dies.
Based on The Secret of Weepstone trailer, which shows off pig-nosed goblins, a deranged banshee, among other enemies, you're in no position to pass up such a macabre good luck charm.
"Did I just see a Rust Monster in a modern game?" says one comment on YouTube, referring to Dungeons & Dragons' nasty, oxidized monster that Weepstone presents with thick claws and a swollen insect belly.
As creepy crawly as they may be, D&D references like these make The Secret of Weepstone look like the perfect vintage dark fantasy... which makes me think indie horror publisher DreadXP is slowly morphing into a haunted powerhouse. It seems to be building on its cult-classic goodwill from 2022 dating sim parody Sucker for Love to do things like impress us with Vincent Adinolfi's recent PS1-style survival horror game Heartworm, and, hopefully, The Secret of Weepstone – whenever it's released on Steam some time in 2026.
