The next Spiders game is about the French Revolution, but with robots

Spiders, the company behind Greedfall and Mars: War Logs, unveiled its new project today during the Nacon Connect online event. It's called SteelRising, and it asks a very Spiders kind of question: What if the French Revolution was fought by robots?

In SteelRising, you'll play as Aegis, the automaton bodyguard of Marie Antoinette, who has been ordered to seek out its creator in order to end the massacres being carried out by the robot army of King Louis XVI. It will be a more action-focused game than Spider's previous RPGs, we're told, with an increased focus on verticality and integrated level design to avoid jarring transitions from exploration to combat.

Aegis has a range of melee weapons, "alchemical rifles," and heavier weapons integrated into her body, which can be replaced or upgraded through the game through a range of unique side quests. 

"It's a world we've tried to make as deep and varied as possible," Spiders co-founder Jehanne Roussea said during the presentation.

A release date hasn't been announced. A website is supposed to be up at steelrising.org, but it doesn't appear to be live just yet, so for now you can follow along on Twitter

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.