Sunless Sea and Masks of the Rose developer Failbetter Video games has unveiled Mandrake, its very first venture away from the Fallen London universe. It is a rural life sim set in a “world of outdated, wild powers” the place horticulture is forbidden, and it will ultimately be making its approach to PC.
Taking inspiration from British historical past and folklore, Mandrake casts gamers because the final in a line of horticultural sorcerers – one who lastly returns to their household’s deserted house within the ‘small, difficult’ village of Chandley after a very long time away.
Initially no less than, Mandrake seems like fairly acquainted stuff. You may are inclined to your backyard, fish, forage, cook dinner, and craft furnishings to embellish your house; you will enterprise into the woods, to the seaside, to the mine in quest of minerals, and into the group to befriend the locals, studying their tales and turning into intertwined with their lives.
However Failbetter’s announcement hints at one thing a bit darker and extra mysterious round Mandrake’s periphery, and it is right here the studio’s knack for the peculiar begins to peek by. Quickly, for example, you will be buying and selling turnips and runner beans for stranger, extra intriguing seeds; you possibly can befriend a river, listen in on the useless, drink with a god who lives in your chimney, and spend a haunted evening on the Butcher’s Oak.
The eccentric locals, in the meantime, embrace a hunter who makes pacts with the woods, and a lady saved from the ocean, who nonetheless hears voices calling to her from beneath the waves. Chandley is house to spirits and different unfamiliar beings too, together with the long-armed Granny Jakes who lives in a hidden orchard, and Hroame, “typically stone and typically not”. However not every little thing is pleasant. “Do not exit after darkish,” Failbetter warns, “the evening is just not for you.”
Mandrake would not have a launch date but, however Failbetter says that because of its complexity and “some very uncommon options” it’s going to be in search of participant suggestions as the sport continues its journey towards launch. To that finish, it expects to run a variety of playtests previous to Mandrake’s launch, so curious types ought to contemplating wishlisting it on Steam.
