Stone of Madness allows us to "embrace failure, and we won't hold you back", according to The Game Kitchen

Mention Spanish studio The Game Kitchen and your mind immediately turns to the twisted take on Christian folklore in Blaphemous, their metroidvania genre and, most recently from their announcement at The Game Awards, that they're bringing the Ninja Gaiden series back to life in Ragebound. But before that new take on Koei Tecmo's original Japanese franchise arrives, the studio is preparing to release something very different: The Stone of Madness, a tactical stealth title with a historical setting, to be published by Tripwire Presents.

This has been a different project for TGK precisely because the initial development did not come from within their ranks, but rather they joined the game's production by buying the IP and absorbing the small independent studio that started it. We spoke to director Miguel Ortega and producer Ana Trujillo in a recent interview about this creative process and what to expect in a few weeks when the game is released, which you can watch below.

The Stone of Madness abandons the frenetic action of Blasphemous in favour of a tactical, but very fluid, stealth style, as our colleague Ben told us when he tested it at Gamescom. It's not akin to the tactical espionage action we saw in Metal Gear Solid, Miguel Ortega told us, but instead focuses on a continuity based on trial-and-error learning of the player's plans. "There's no failure condition, there's no fatal condition, there's no 'game over' and you can't save the game at any point you want," the project director told us. "So it means you have to accept failure. You just have to plan how to reach your next goal and then execute that plan. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but we won't stop you. If you keep trying, you'll lose resources, you might lose a character for that day, but the next day you can keep trying".

The Stone of Madness is set in a monastery set in the 18th century, which also functions as a mental institution of the time. Like a prison, we'll have to coordinate with various inmate characters to explore the area... as far as we know. But don't let this change of genre mislead you. This is a The Game Kitchen game, and that particular artistic vision they found with Blasphemous evolves here, leaving aside the iconography of the Sevillian Holy Week to fully embrace the more muted atmosphere of Francisco de Goya's work.

"I would say that the inspiration in Goya, for example, comes a lot from his paintings. It's probably not too blatant. Maybe if you know the paintings you will recognise patterns taken from them. Like, for example, when Agnes transforms herself to cast a spell, she transforms into a witch which you can see in Goya's Aquelarre painting. Or there are these paintings by Goya, they're called Fray Pedro contra el Maragato and there's a set of paintings in which a friar defends himself against a bandit and ends up disarming him, and then shoots him. So we have a character who is Fray Pedro and he has a pistol".

It won't be long before we know the end result of this unique blend, as The Stone of Madness is set for release on 28 January 2024 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch.