Mirage: Arcane Warfare will be out this year, beta expected by summer

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Chivalry: Medieval Warfare developer Torn Banner Studios revealed last week that its next game is a magical murder sim called Mirage: Arcane Warfare. The announcement came with a very brief teaser and a website with a countdown that hit zero today and went properly live, revealing an FAQ and a launch window of sometime this year.

“[Mirage: Arcane Wafare] still has that element of stabbing people in the face, blocking attacks at the last moment. It still has that epic sword fighting that everyone loves from Chivalry,” Torn Banner President Steve Piggot explains in in the debut dev diary. “But on top of that, it's added a layer of magic combat that makes the combat so much more dynamic, so much more organic and flowing. And so you're blasting people from across the room with magic, you're leaping over top of them and attacking from the back, you're phasing through them, dodging projectiles... This isn't pixie dust. This is magic with a real weight and force behind it.”

Mirage will feature six unique classes, from the slick Vypress assassin to the massive, melee-focused Taurant, who can side with one of two teams: the elite Bashrahni Emirate, or the outcast Azar Cabal. The game will take place in a “unique magic fantasy setting” with what appears to be fairly pronounced ancient Persian and Arabian influences. It will be bloody, too: “You'll experience the thrill of fantastic battles with an ultra-satisfying, dynamic gore system as limbs fly, blood gushes, and heads are dismembered in cathartic, joyful destruction.”

I don't think it's actually possible to dismember a head, but you get the idea.

Mirage will not be free-to-play—Torn Banner expects it will hit Steam at around the $30 mark—but there will be a public beta in the late spring or early summer. You may register for the beta now and find out more about the game (although most of it remains “to be announced”) at miragearcanewarfare.com.

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.