Developer Carry Castle and Thunderful Publishing have just showcased an announcement trailer for their upcoming action roguelite title Source of Madness. With the trailer came the news of its arrival to the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in 2021.
Filled with “Lovecraftian-inspired mythos”, Source of Madness is a dark action roguelite where players can take advantage of a wide variety of magic skills and spells against an ever-changing horde of eldritch horrors. The game is set in an alternate reality where the world did not go into the age of enlightenment. The world’s survival is “steered and controlled by cosmic entities''. In a bid for survival, the Tower of Knowledge initiates acolytes that will have to venture out into the world and beyond and search for the twin tower, “the Tower of Madness,” which may help save the world.
Gameplay mostly revolves around combat by using magical spells and skills. Small RPG elements are also seen with unlockable classes, spell leveling up, and more. But at its core, Source of Madness is still an action platformer with emphasis on tight controls and expects even tighter movement from its players. However, Source of Madness doesn’t expect that players will always face its horrors head on. Depending on their chosen class, skills, and spells, players will have the option to go ham or deal damage from afar.
In its one-minute trailer, we are given a glimpse of what kinds of horrors players should expect from the game. If it is taking inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft’s lore, it is doing an accurate job. In his fictional works, Lovecraft's monsters are often described to be almost indescribable, and in Source of Madness, Carry Castle aims to achieve this terror through machine learning and procedural generation. When we read these terms paired with video games, we usually associate them with locations that are procedurally generated and such and such. However, Source of Madness employs it in their monster creation, guaranteeing a mass of pixels that no human would ever conjure since it has been spit out by a machine.
Source of Madness will launch for the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in 2021.
