Former BioShock and Borderlands Developers Announce Chaotic New Game

Summary

Stray Kite Studios has announced Wartorn, a real-time strategy roguelite boasting destructible environments, challenging moral choices, and a striking painterly art style. Launching in early access on Steam and the Epic Games Store in Spring 2025, Wartorn marks the studio's first original IP.

Stray Kite Studios, a Dallas-based developer founded in 2018, comprises approximately 30 industry veterans (as of 2025) with experience on titles like BioShock, Borderlands, and Age of Empires. Prior to Wartorn, their portfolio includes the standalone Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure and numerous creative maps for Fortnite.

Wartorn follows two elven sisters on a perilous journey to reunite with their family. This journey will be filled with intense battles and morally ambiguous decisions, shaping the narrative and gameplay experience.

Wartorn's Chaotic Gameplay

Wartorn's fantasy world is deeply fractured and chaotic, presenting numerous challenges for the player. This chaos extends to the game's physics-driven destructible environments, ensuring each encounter unfolds uniquely. The game explores themes of finding purpose amidst chaos, with co-founder and creative director Paul Hellquist stating, "We’ve poured our hearts into creating a game that not only entertains but also makes players think deeply about sacrifice, survival, and the bonds that unite us."

Difficult Choices and Dynamic Combat

Between battles, players face difficult choices, such as deciding who to save or feed, impacting the narrative and creating unique playthroughs. Combat offers similar freedom, with a dynamic magic system allowing players to combine fire, water, and lightning elements. These spells interact differently with each other and the environment, offering tactical depth (e.g., shocking enemies in water or igniting tar-covered mobs).

We’ve poured our hearts into creating a game that not only entertains but also makes players think deeply about sacrifice, survival, and the bonds that unite us.

Wartorn's roguelite progression system allows upgrades to carry over between runs, making subsequent attempts easier. The game's painterly aesthetic enhances the dramatic setting, while a slow-motion feature allows for precise command control amidst the chaos. The game is slated for an early access release on Steam and the Epic Games Store in Spring 2025.