Earlier today, old man James gave us all a stern finger for not writing about Atomfall sooner. It's my turn to puff out my cheeks and look not angry, but simply disappointed: Why haven't we covered The Stone Of Madness before the Gamescom 2024 story trailer below? I mean, this Only A real-time tactical stealth game set in a cursed 18th-century Jesuit monastery, developed by the people behind the wonderfully disgusting metroidvania Blasphemous. Only It's got Goya-inspired isometric art and a sanity/trauma system reminiscent of Darkest Dungeon. It feels like an automated RPS script to me.
The Spanish monastery in question is located high in the Pyrenees and inevitably reminds me of Umberto Eco’s The Abbey Of Crime. As with that monastery, you’ll experience it both day and night, managing five characters with different skills as they investigate the monastery’s secrets and seek an escape route. Time is constantly ticking, and the clock at hand determines the challenges and opportunities that will come your way. The monastery also doubles as a “madhouse” and an inquisition prison, meaning it’s full of unpleasant guards, but it’s even worse after curfew, when the resident ghosts make their appearance.
Five inmates form a Commando-style unit, and you’ll need to combine their special abilities to prevail. Agnes, for example, is a witch with an arsenal of spells and other arcane tools. Amelia is a young thief who can pickpocket and set traps. Alfredo is a disreputable priest who can deliver powerful sermons to draw in crowds and open gaps in area surveillance. Leonora seems quite handy with a knife. There’s also equipment and upgrades to consider. While the aesthetics and premise suggest a more story-driven experience, this feels like a proper tactical sandbox.
But heroes aren't unshakable drones. Each has a “fully realized set of traumas and phobias” that correspond to specific areas and encounters, as well as a sanity bar. If you deplete a character's sanity, they can descend into full-blown “paranoia, dementia, or bouts of violence,” fundamentally changing how the affected character plays. The Steam blurb recommends avoiding wandering at night, as the monastery's ghostly parade will quickly erode your team's morale, but sometimes, of course, “the risk is worth the reward.”
The game will offer two distinct campaigns, “each with their own stories, objectives, special characters, and other surprises.” It's due out in 2025, and speaking as both an Eco warrior and a Goya head, I'm enthusiastic. The screenshots and trailer suggest a neat maze of variables, clues, and terrifying mysteries that you'll learn over multiple failed escape attempts. It's certainly a change of tune for The Game Kitchen, but the grim palette and aura of religious horror is extremely Profane. For a more optimistic spin on priests (and murder), Pentiment is the obvious choice.
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