Cult indie RPG Earthlock is getting an action-RPG sequel

Norwegian developers Snowcastle have announced they're returning to the world of Earthlock, their 2016 cult game inspired by the turn-based 3D RPGs of the 1990s, for a sequel. (Snowcastle has said since the first game that Earthlock was planned as a trilogy.) Earthlock 2 will take inspiration from action-RPGs, rather than turn-based ones, but will still be set on the world of Umbra. The short announce trailer shows a blasted landscape in the game's distinctive style, and a hogbunny with a sword, and a little magical mote-creature that heals some of the land and sprouts a new tree.

The plot of Earthlock 2 sounds similar to the first as it "centres around a group of friends who must set out to find and rescue their missing family members." The game description, however, is wildly different from the first game: "Earthlock 2 will be an open-world action RPG with complex interlocking systems that work together to offer players extensive freedom to customise their own experience."

The first Earthlock was a fairly complex, if short, turn-based Japanese-style RPG akin to the Final Fantasy 7 era of the 90s. Earthlock 2 currently has no release date, but it does have a Steam page and you can sign up for a newsletter on the Snowcastle Games website.

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.