It’s almost commonplace these days to hear that top developers from bigger studios have left to form their own smaller studios in hopes of escaping the hungry business monster and creating games that they actually enjoy playing.
Well, in 2018, that’s exactly what a couple of developers behind Bioshock, Borderlands 2 and the mighty Age of Empires decided to do, forming Stray Kite Studios. Now, almost seven years later, the studio has released a trailer for its debut original game Wartorn.
The game is said to be a “single-player real-time tactics roguelite game,” in which players will follow two elven sisters as they attempt to save their family in a world that can no longer be saved.
Aside from that little blurb on the video though, there is not much else to go on. For fans of tactics games, all we can do is hope that the experience of Stray Kite co-founder Paul Hellquist, from his roles as Lead Designer on Bioshock and Director on Borderlands 2, evolves into a well-directed story, while the expertise of the Age of Empires devs whip out some epic gameplay.
Because it’s still January, I’m going to look at this one with a cup half full, and hope that when Wartorn releases on PC sometime in 2025, it’s a sneaky indie hit. For now, you can wishlist the game over on Steam.