Psychic Software has announced a new story-rich gothic RPG for PC via Steam called The Lich Wars. The game centers around a musketeer in the 1700s who must fight through two wars of the undead in a 30-year career.
The Lich Wars is a prequel to The Necromancer’s Tale by the same studio, but because this new title is standalone, no prior knowledge is needed to play it. Returning players will meet familiar characters earlier in their lives, as well as discover the events that brought necromancy to the kingdom.
Players begin the game as a new recruit in an alt-history kingdom near Venice called Rulsthen, thrown into a bloody war involving the undead. The story of The Lich Wars is told through a deep narrative of over 300,000 words. The game features an RPG combat system built on handwritten prose, skill checks across nine RPG skills, and randomized critical-hit tables. Battles move seamlessly from duels to skirmishes.
The game’s branching narrative takes form in a 3D book with key scenes staged as hand-painted miniatures on a tabletop. There are hundreds of hand-drawn illustrations, portraits, and maps that accompany the text, along with partial voice acting for key moments to bring the story to life.
Here’s what Sam Redfern, lead developer and narrative lead at Psychic Software, has to say about The Lich Wars:
In The Necromancer’s Tale, the years between 1700 and 1728 were only a brief prologue, yet players kept asking about them. The Lich Wars is our chance to tell that story properly and to lean into the writing that players responded to most. At its heart it’s a Gothic tale about a society haunted by its past. Necromancy works, but nobody fully understands its cost and every character remembers the war in a way that lets them live with what they did. Those questions about progress, responsibility and the ethics of war feel as relevant today as they did in the 1700s.
You can watch the reveal trailer for The Lich Wars below.
There’s no release date planned for The Lich Wars quite yet, but you can check out the developer’s official website right here to keep up with the game.
