Today, publisher Secret Mode and independent developer Silent Games have announced the release date of Empyreal. The third-person action RPG will debut on May 8 and will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X for a budget price of £24.99/$29.99/€29.99. It’s also the first game to be published by Secret Mode since they split from Sumo Group earlier this month to become an independent publisher.
The news was accompanied by an overview trailer where Silent Games Co-Founder and Creative Director Joseph Rogers explained what players can expect from Empyreal when it comes to the setting and overarching theme:
The game begins with your arrival on an unexplored planet to join an expedition that’s discovered a monolith built by a lost ancient civilization. You are immediately presented with these grand questions: why is it here? Who built it? What was its original purpose, and perhaps even what power might it still contain? As you progress through the story, you’ll explore themes and ideas about humanity’s place in the cosmos. Some of these themes have largely fallen out of favor in the modern world, things like duty, sacrifice, a tragic view of life, a sense of civilizational impetus, the idea that humanity is on a journey through history and that there is a purpose to that.
As you uncover what this ancient civilization managed to achieve, the question you have to consider is whether this still has relevance to the modern world despite all of its technological advancements. Has the modern world forgotten some things that are important to humanity?
Rogers also revealed that while Empyreal is strictly a single player action RPG, there are some asynchronous cooperative elements. For instance, after defeating a boss, players have the option to send an item into the Aether so that it might find its way to another player. There is no specific reward for doing this, so it’s left to the goodwill of the community to help fellow adventurers.
Our Francesco De Meo recently went hands on with a preview build of the game and relayed positive impressions in the article:
With what seems to be a deep loot system that will allow for the creation of some specialized builds, as highlighted by the three end-game builds that can be used in the demo, and a unique approach to action combat, Empyreal definitely has the chance to stand out among the competition, especially if the developer manages to iron out some issues
