11-bit's latest curiosity Death Howl is a sorrowing open world deckbuilder set in the Nordic Stone Ages

rockpapershotgun.com:

Three-person Danish team The Outer Zone and Frostpunk creators 11-bit studios have announced Death Howl, a very gloomy soulslike deck-builder set in a "stone-age Nordic-inspired" open world that consists of biomes with names like "the Forest of Howling Shadows". Lots of howling round these parts.

You play a mother, Ro, whose son has been claimed by the Grim Reaper, or whatever they had instead of the Grim Reaper back then - this was, I think, prior to the invention of scythes? And cards? Anyway, while searching for Ro's son, you'll take part in grid- and turn-based battles against a regular cauldron of unspeakables, including disembodied raven heads and what appears to be a huge pair of subterranean lungs. Here's a trailer.

"Each realm visited offers unique deck types and mechanics, enriching and deepening the strategic layer," howls the press release. "Players can further enhance their decks with shamanic totems, ensuring they are best prepared for the deadly encounters ahead." What's more, "each region not only unlocks aforementioned new cards to craft, but also unveils fragments of Ro's story, steeped in themes of love and loss, and uncovers the forgotten lore of this mysterious spiritual world."

I quite like the game's stark, emaciated, slightly rotten pixelart. It looks like somebody's taken a chisel to a seam of obsidian and discovered a layer of organic matter beneath - pinkish bones, greening flesh. The cards are pleasingly grisly. "Take Skin", for example. Eesh! There's another one with a drawing of an arrow going through somebody's leg - hopefully the owner of that leg survived and is now living out a prosperous second career as a guard in Skyrim.

I'm less sold on the game's self-serious narrative direction, which make me think of Hellblade at its shoutiest. "The loss of a loved one is universal - an inevitable part of the human experience," howls director, artist and writer Malte Burup in the press release. "We believe our narrative approach,