Former BioShock and Borderlands Developers Announce Chaotic New Game

Summary

Stray Kite Studios has announced Wartorn, a real-time strategy roguelite featuring 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 is the debut original title from Stray Kite Studios, a team of industry veterans with experience on major projects like BioShock, Borderlands, and Age of Empires. Founded in 2025, the Dallas-based studio boasts approximately 30 employees. Their previous work includes the standalone Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure and various creative maps for Fortnite.

This new title, Wartorn, tells the story of two elven sisters striving to reunite with their family. Their journey is fraught with peril, demanding both strategic combat prowess and difficult moral choices.

Wartorn's Chaotic Gameplay

Wartorn's fantasy world is deeply fractured and chaotic, presenting numerous challenges to the player. This chaos extends to the game's physics-driven environmental destruction, ensuring each playthrough is unique. The core theme explores finding purpose amidst this chaos, as co-founder and creative director Paul Hellquist explains: "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."

Tough Choices Define Your Path

Between battles, players face difficult decisions, such as choosing who to save or feed, adding to the story-driven roguelite experience and enhancing replayability. Combat is equally dynamic, featuring a flexible magic system that lets players combine fire, water, and lightning elements in creative ways. Spells interact uniquely, offering tactical advantages like shocking enemies in water or igniting tar-covered foes.

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.

The roguelite progression system allows upgrades to carry over between runs, making each attempt progressively easier. The game's painterly aesthetic enhances the dramatic setting. For maximum accessibility, Wartorn includes a slow-motion feature enabling 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.