June 18, 2024 - With plenty of games still to come this year, Hooded Horse is keeping one eye on the future by shoring up its 2025 release slate. Drill Keeper, the debut title from ShoulderByte GmbH, combines roguelike mechanics, deckbuilding, and tower defense RTS gameplay and is coming to PC via Steam Early Access next year.
Travel the stars to dig down through completely destructible worlds, stripping them of their riches by building an impenetrable mining fortress in this action-packed genre mash-up. Players must combine cards, artifacts, and runes to power their mining expedition and defend against swarms of monsters for as long as possible. Sooner or later, every expedition is swallowed up by the abyss!
Key features include:
- Explore fully destructible worlds, gather resources, play cards, and manipulate the terrain to build smart defenses.
- Roguelike mechanics where resources persist between runs, which players can use to unlock new cards and abilities for the drill.
- Customize the starting deck to match a chosen strategy before a run. Find more cards during a run and decide which ones to add to the deck.
- Procedurally generated worlds with unique challenges.
- Chaos mode as another fun way to play!
First announced last year and in development since 2021, Drill Keeper is the brainchild of solo developer Dennis Strümpel. “Teaming up with Hooded Horse marks an exciting chapter for my little studio,” says Strümpel. “Their commitment to innovation and quality perfectly aligns with my creative vision, and together, we will drill down to the core of what makes a great strategy game.”
“I love Dungeon Keeper, Slay the Spire, and Dwarves (in any game, movie, or form),” says Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender. “ The existence of this game will significantly hurt my productivity here at Hooded Horse, so might as well make it part of the portfolio so I have some loose business justification for the hours I'm going to spend.”
The game will be localized from English into German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
Drill Keeper will be coming to PC via Steam Early Access in 2025. A press kit is available.
Press inquiries: press@hoodedhorse.com
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About Hooded Horse™Hooded Horse is a publisher of deep strategic and tactical games with people and partners worldwide. Starting in 2019 with a single title, Hooded Horse’s portfolio has grown to 31 games and counting. Our goal is to empower and support developers in doing what they love so that they can create world-class experiences for their audiences. From the distant past of Manor Lords and the haunted woods of Against the Storm, to the depths of space in Terra Invicta and Falling Frontier.
You can find out more about us on our Steam publisher page, as well as our social channels; Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Discord, and website.
About ShoulderByte GmbH(™)
ShoulderByte GmbH is a studio based in Hamburg, Germany, run by solo developer Dennis Strümpel. He has a passion for science and videogames and is working on his debut title, Drill Keeper, which is coming to early access on PC in 2025.
You can find out more by visiting the company’s official website, YouTube channel, and Twitter.