New Soulslike Game Is Like Sekiro, But With Cats

Indie soulslike Kristala is launching in early access this spring, Astral Clocktower Studios has announced. The unique soulslike with cats that appears to mix elements of everything from Sekiro to Assassin's Creed will be coming to both PC and consoles following its preview period.

Kristala was one of the indie games that smashed their Kickstarter funding goals in 2023. Its summer crowdfunding campaign saw it raise over $110,000 from nearly 1,700 backers, thus hitting its pledge target 11 times over. While $10,000 is a minuscule amount of money to develop any contemporary game, let alone a large-scale fantasy ARPG of this sort, Kristala was, by all accounts, already getting made irrespective of its crowdfunding success; Astral Clocktower Studios merely used Kickstarter to generate funds for some additional features offered as stretch goals, including a New Game Plus mode and character creator.

Seven months following its crowdfunding campaign, the Pennsylvania-based studio narrowed down the game's preview release window, revealing that Kristala will launch in Steam Early Access this May. The initial version of the RPG will include one of the six territories that are planned to be featured in the finished product, that of the Nisarga clan. Completing this area by beating its final boss will unlock access to the Shard Guardian realm, which kind of sounds like Kristala's version of the Gauntlet of Strength from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

A mode for testing the player's combat prowess with waves of enemies is far from the only similarity that Kristala shares with Sekiro; the upcoming title promises to blend soulslike combat with stealth, RPG elements, and an interconnected world that rewards exploration. Even its setting appears reminiscent of FromSoftware's worlds, as the game takes place in a cursed land full of terrifying creatures whose origins will become clearer as the player progresses through the story.

The humanoid feline protagonist that players will be able to