Aww: These dark fantasy warriors have the cutest widdle kitty faces

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You just wanna pspspspsps at them.

I did not have dark fantasy soulslike action RPG starring humanoid cats on my 2023 bingo card, but if you did, congratulations! Indie developers Astral Clocktower Studios are granting your wish and filling in that space with Kristala, its in-development debut title where your absolutely adorable widdle warrior must master the magic of six sacred crystals to fight a terrible curse that has mutated the other creatures of the world into monsters.

That is presumably, of course, if your ickle bitty cutie warrior can stop trying to jump on top of the bookshelves and/or catch the laser pointer. I mean just look at them, they're such precise little housecat faces.

Cute cate jokes aside, it looks like some interesting ARPG stuff. The game promises to have weapons, spells, armor sets, and items to collect and upgrade as you explore its environment and complete your quest to prove yourself by gathering your sacred crystal powers.

The world design also intrigues me, even if it definitely makes me laugh because of how hard it leans into the cat tropes. The main enemy is, of course, an army of scary humanoid rats, and the most recent trailer shows a scary fish to fight as well. But the design is inventive! Some mousey-looking helmets have designs reminiscent of ears on them, for example—just brilliant stuff.

Astral Clocktower Studios has been working on Kristala for a few years now, and it'll be their first published title. They're currently funding development via Patreon.

You can find out more about Kristala on the Astral Clocktower Studios website, on its Twitter, and see Kristala on the Steam Store. Its release date has yet to be announced.

Jonathan Bolding
Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.