Here’s an intriguing little number that slipped through the cracks amid the deluge of game announcements pouring out Gamescom. The Killing Stone is a virtual card battler interweaved with a twisted folk horror narrative, where you play against demons and the devil himself in papery duels to the death.
I say card game, but the Killing Stone is also part boardgame, with the action centred around a long, thin board lined with animated figurines which move in a way that reminds me of ye olde chess sim Battle Chess. At the centre of the board is the fanghella, the titular Killing Stone, which players can shunt around through combined use of their cards and figurines, as well as spellcasting and even bargaining with your opponent.
While the specific rules of the game aren’t wholly clear from the trailer, The Killing Stone exists at the heart of a larger experience where you explore a 17th Century mansion owned by the deceased Mariken Svangård, who appears to have entangled his entire family in some dark accord with the Devil. Oops.
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In between rounds of The Killing Stone, you’ll be able to speak with Mariken’s family and their animal familiars, and make wagers with the devil’s minions as you seek to save the family’s souls. There will be a time element to this, with only so many rounds between you and sealing a family members’ fate. But The Killing Stone is designed to be highly replayable, and with each try you’ll unlock new abilities that’ll help you alter the ending.
The Killing Stone is clearly heavily inspired by Daniel Mullins’ brilliant Inscryption, or more specifically, the first half of Inscryption. It’s being developed by Question, the studio led by former Bioshock 2 lead Jordan Thomas, whose previous games include co-op stealth horror The Blackout Club, and the part immersive sim, part game development allegory The Magic Circle.
While Question’s games have tended to fly under the radar, they’ve always had interesting ideas. The Blackout Club ran a fascinating “Enhanced Horror” experiment where the developers roleplayed as gods who would speak to you during play, which could then feed back into other players’ sessions. While I doubt The Killing Stone will have a similar system, I do wonder how that experience has influenced Question’s approach to designing the narrative of this latest game.
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