Stevan Anastasoff, a former designer for the Assassin's Creed series, dropped an early trailer for his new adventure title Tales from the Mabinogion this morning, and it makes quite an impression. I don't recall seeing anything else quite like this. Take a look:
I watched the trailer the first time with the sound off, and was deeply impressed by the visuals. The art style is practically begging to be paused, so you can study the individual brush strokes that make up each frame of the impressionistic animation. But then I turned the sound on, and was like "Oh. This is even more original than I thought."
The entire game is presented in the Welsh language (with subtitles, of course), with some fairly smashing folk music from composer Oliver Wilson-Dickson, as well. Combine all three elements, and you've got something that feels entirely new and original.
There isn't much to go on in the way of gameplay, so it is not entirely clear what type of game we're dealing with here. According to this morning's press release, "Pursued by the lethal fog, players must follow the trails of the beasts of Annwn which lead them ever deeper along their quest. Mythical animals will seek to hinder progress as players uncover the thousand-year-old stories contained within the pages of the Mabinogion." Soooo....exploration and adventure? Maybe?
The Mabinogion is a collection of 11th-12th century Welsh stories, so there is a deep lore that the game is drawing upon. Anastasoff has assembled a crack team to deliver this title, including Warhammer writer Gav Thorpe, translator Rhys Iorwerth, and voice artist Phil Rowe, who is the guy speaking in the trailer. All in all, a fascinating project to keep an eye on.
Tales from the Mabinogion is scheduled to release on Steam in 2025.
