WITHERING REALMS

Expanding on 2024's cult-hit Soulslike from another perspective

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The solo developer of Withering Realms, Troy West, doesn't mince words when it comes to his latest effort's predecessor. “I think the main issue with Withering Rooms is the graphics. A lot of people go to the store page and it doesn't make a lot of sense to them, because it looks like this low-budget, asset-flip kind of game,” he admits. It's arguably more impressive, then, that his debut release received a rapturous response from audiences including, to his delight, some of his favourite content creators. A horror-tinged action Roguelite set in the grounds of a Victorian mansion, Withering Rooms garnered critical praise for its robust combat and an enigmatic narrative that, in Souls tradition, teased new questions with every answer.

The sequel, loosely connected to the original and slated for an Early Access release in mid-2026, is set in rural Wales during the interwar period of an alternate timeline. A decade previously, an explosion unleashed occult energies upon the globe and halted the First World War, a ceasefire necessary for the world to come to terms with its new reality.

The game shifts from top-down action to something closer to survival horror