The Stone of Madness: A Real-Time Tactics Game with Psychological Horror
At the Future Game Show, Blasphemous creator The Game Kitchen revealed a brand-new title, The Stone of Madness. This upcoming real-time tactics game marks a departure from the studio’s 2D soulslike roots, but it retains the same fascination with dark, Catholic imagery and themes. Set in an 18th-century Jesuit monastery deep within the Pyrenees, the game tasks players with guiding a group of prisoners through the haunted grounds while battling both external enemies and their own deteriorating sanity.
In The Stone of Madness, players control five unique characters, each with their own set of skills, ranging from spell-casting to assassination. As they explore the vast and dangerous monastery, they must evade guards, solve puzzles, and make strategic use of their characters’ abilities. The game’s structure offers an open space that can be explored more freely during the day, while nighttime adds a supernatural twist as ghosts join the guards in patrolling the monastery.
The dynamic nature of the environment is central to the game. Players will need to carefully manage their team, as each character harbors psychological traumas that can be triggered by in-game events, impacting their behavior and sanity. This psychological element adds another layer of depth to the game’s strategy, creating a sense of urgency and unease as players navigate the eerie and oppressive monastery.
Visually, The Stone of Madness draws inspiration from the works of Francisco Goya, with isometric art and striking animations that evoke a haunting, baroque atmosphere. The Game Kitchen’s expertise in crafting dark, unsettling worlds is on full display, with Catholic themes and imagery once again playing a prominent role in the game’s storytelling.
Scheduled for release in 2025, The Stone of Madness is shaping up to be an exciting addition to the real-time tactics genre. With the closure of Mimimi Games, fans of titles like Desperados 3 and Shadow Tactics will be eager to see how The Game Kitchen’s unique vision brings fresh ideas to the genre.
