Crimson Capes launches on PC via Steam on February 12, developer Studio Poor Locke has announced. The sword-and-sorcery action adventure adapts the core ideas of the Souls genre into a side-scrolling format, blending deliberate combat, open-ended exploration, and online multiplayer.
Set in the troubled kingdom of Amvros, players step into the role of Milon the Tempest, a witch-hunter leading the Crimson Capes, an elite order tasked with hunting rogue wizards. Contracts spread across the realm gradually reveal a deeper conspiracy, with the story focused on the cost of power rather than clear-cut heroism.
Combat is built around animation-commit swordplay inspired by realistic fighting techniques. Feints, thrusts, cuts, and guards create tense encounters where timing, positioning, and reading opponents matter more than raw statistics. Four playable heroes offer distinct weapons, movesets, and skill trees, encouraging experimentation and mastery. Elemental magic, including wind, thunder, fire, and darkness, is woven directly into melee combat rather than treated as a separate system.
Exploration follows a Souls-inspired philosophy. Areas such as ruined towers, caverns, forests, and ancient strongholds can be tackled in flexible order, rewarding curiosity with hidden artifacts, new abilities, and fragments of lore tucked away from the main path.
Crimson Capes also translates classic Souls multiplayer into two dimensions. Players can team up in online co-op to hunt together or invade another session as a Deathblade, introducing unpredictable PvP encounters. Optional Dynamic Hunts add procedurally generated enemies and bosses, drawing comparisons to systems seen in Bloodborne.
Visually, the game combines pixel art animation with hand-drawn environments and rotoscoped movement. Its tone is rooted in classic pulp sword-and-sorcery fiction, with influences ranging from Conan to Elric.
Crimson Capes launches on February 12 at 10am PT / 6pm GMT for PC via Steam, priced at $15, with a 10% launch discount available for nine days. A digital manual, game guide PDF, and printable world map are included, with console versions planned for a later date.
