Empyreal News

It’s official: your journey into Empyreal begins this month when our first playable demo arrives during Steam Next Fest.

To get you ready for your expedition into the Monolith, Silent Games has released the first episode of its behind-the-scenes series. Co-founders Joseph Rogers (Creative Director) and Sally Blake (CEO) are joined by Finlay McDonald (Gameplay Programmer) as they explore the mysterious Monolith on a hitherto unexplored world, and explain how you'll be fighting ancient automatons and searching for long-forgotten secrets in the upcoming demo.

"Empyreal is a true RPG and is meant to be explored with that level of depth. The three distinct playstyles are supported by over 50 different abilities and hundreds of stats. With dozens of armour sets and cosmetic items on offer, there's going to be a lot of customisation options available to players to find and refine what works for them."

There’s a lot to explore in the Empyreal Steam Next Fest demo, including the chance to try out all three weapon archetypes and a selection of armour sets and abilities. Players will be able to explore two distinct locations and even get an early peek at some late-game gear for a taste of the rarer loot waiting to be discovered when the full game launches later in 2025.

Get all the details by watching the full interview!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you for joining us on this Expedition. To stay up to date with Empyreal news, join our discord and follow us on X, BlueSky and TikTok .

Wishlist Now.

Neues Entwicklerinterview gibt Aufschluss darüber, was euch in der ersten spielbaren Version des Action-Rollenspiels erwartet.

» Komplette News auf pressakey.com lesen» Empyreal auf pressakey.com

Hi everyone.

Our friends over at Maximum Entertainment are hosting a Myths & Legends Steam event running January 29 – February 4. Empyreal is taking part, and we encourage you to visit the sales page to discover a wide range of on-sale and upcoming games based on a variety of myths and legends: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/MythsandLegendsSales




How does Empyreal fit into the Myths & Legends topic? While the universe of Empyreal itself is not directly based on or related to a specific culture or mythology from history, when developing the world and narrative we drew heavily from classical and existentialist philosophy, theology, and history. There is one figure in particular who represents an important idea that permeates a core theme of our underlying narrative: the ancient Greek god, Dionysus.

Dionysus is typically portrayed as a drunken party animal in much of modern pop-culture media, but in his seminal work “Dionysus: Myth and Cult”, classical philologist Walter Otto paints a much more complete and complex picture.

While there is truth in Dionysus being the god of wine and the festival, he was also the god of madness and death. Although at first this may seem a perplexing juxtaposition, is there some truth we can learn from it? Otto claims that in “The visage of every true God is a visage of the World”. In other words, even in myth, we invariably find an accurate insight into the nature of the world.

In the case of Dionysus, he represents the paradox of duality. The understanding that life and death, madness and beauty and conflict and creativity are opposites, and yet also pre-requisites for each other. Embracing this paradox is a core philosophy behind Empyreal – to see the universe as both a “Mystic Temple and a Hall of Doom” (an idea introduced by Thomas Carlyle in his text, Characteristics) and to accept this dual nature in its totality. This life-affirming perspective is known as the “Tragic View”.

Empyreal does not feature an encroaching but ill-defined “darkness”, or a “corruption of the land”. Nor does it feature a pantomime villain of inexplicable evil for no other reason than to have an “evil antagonist”. Instead, the story and characters are designed to prompt careful reflection on the nature of humanity, our place in the universe and what it truly takes to guarantee the future of mankind.


To stay up to date with news and to be among the first to test pre-release versions of Empyreal, join our discord and follow us on X, BlueSky and TikTok .

On an unknown planet sits a giant Monolith built by a lost civilisation.

Two years ago, an Expedition led by a polymath and former military commander of the Empire, Morys Lovell, arrived on the planet. Energized by the discovery of the Monolith and fuelled by zealous ambition, the initial exploratory incursions inside were entirely reckless.

The Monolith was filled with danger, and almost all military personnel within the Expedition were wiped out.

For two years, the remaining Expedition members survive with limited resources and dwindling resolve; their experiments and investigations limited by the lack of military might needed to stand firm against the automatons patrolling inside the Monolith’s labyrinthine Quadrants.

Everything changes at the arrival of an elite mercenary: you.
 
Hi everyone,
We are Silent Games, a small, independent development team of 12 based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. After spending many years working on major and successful franchises, we founded our studio in 2018 with the goal of creating complex, and feature-rich action RPGs, starting with Empyreal.

As our Steam tags reveal, Empyreal is a single-player action RPG with asynchronous multiplayer features, and in the coming weeks we’ll introduce you its world and systems, including:
·         The Monolith and its unique Quadrants
·         Character customisation
·         Distinct weapons
·         Player abilities
·         Loot and crafting
·         Asynchronous multiplayer systems
·         The NPCs who represent the last vestiges of the Expedition and who each possess individual, branching questlines
·         The world’s history



We’ll also have news about upcoming opportunities to play Empyreal before release and share your feedback with us.

Thank you for joining us on this Expedition. To stay up to date with news and to be among the first to test pre-release versions of Empyreal, join our discord and follow us on X, BlueSky and TikTok .
 
Wishlist Now.

Last month we unveiled our debut title Empyreal, an action RPG that takes place in a far-flung corner of the galaxy. Today, studio co-founder & creative director Joseph Rogers is offering a glimpse at Empyreal's setting, characters, and quest-lines, plus revealing some of the unexpected inspirations behind Empyreal.

Here's an excerpt:

"...you are confronted with a looming and inscrutable monolith. Why is it here? Who built it? What is it for? And what power does it contain? Naturally, we won’t be answering those questions for you here and now – these discoveries (and more) are for you to make when you play for yourself. However, what we would like to share are some of the esoteric references that influenced some of the themes in the story, and the relevance they hold even to the modern world."

Find out what's in store by reading his Empyreal blog over at Xbox Wire.

We'll be showcasing much more about Empyreal in the new year, so be sure to Follow and Wishlist this page for updates and to be notified of upcoming demos.