Citadel: Forged With Fire is a 'wizarding sandbox RPG' from the makers of Slender

Blue Isle Studios, the developer of Slender: The Arrival and Valley, has announced that it's working on a new project of a considerably broader scope called Citadel: Forged With Fire. The new game is "a massive online sandbox RPG rife with spellcasting, building, exploring and crafting," the studio said, and it's actually just a couple of weeks away from an Early Access debut on Steam. 

Citadel promises to let players fight or tame Orcs, horses, dire wolves, dragons, and other such fantasy beasts, build (and destroy) homes and castles, learn powerful arcane spells, and form alliances and go to war. The announcement trailer is certainly busy: To my eye it looks like a mashup of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Skyrim, with a dash of Ark thrown in for good measure. I'm honestly not sure if that's good or bad, but it's certainly ambitious. 

"Citadel is a completely new genre for us," Blue Isle managing director Alex Tintor said. "Our biggest goal with this title is to work closely with our community to build the ultimate fantasy sandbox game that is playable online with friends." 

The Early Access release is set for July 26, but the developers are looking for beta testers to get into the game a couple of weeks ahead of that date, to ensure the rollout goes smoothly. You can sign up to take part at citadelgame.com

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.