I’ve been shying away from The Killing Stone because it’s a deckbuilding card battler, and we do get a lot of emails about those. The game launches into Steam early access today, so it’s time to have a proper gander. Ho now! This is a deckbuilding card battler… set in a mansion somewhere in the Arctic during the 17th century… created by Question Games, developers of ‘unfinished game’ game The Magic Circle and weird suburbia sim The Blackout Club. Yes, the same Question who were founded by people who worked on Bioshock, Thief and Dishonored.

What’s more, The Killing Stone reminds me of Inscryption, in that it appears to be divided between a hellish table-top game and hellish goings-on in the world around that table-top game. To be specific, you’re playing that table-top game against a series of demons, with the souls of the cursed Svangård family hanging in the balance.

Between rounds, you explore the mansion in first person and chat to the Svangårds, together with various animal familiars. Broadly, you’re trying to figure out what happened to your old mate Mariken, who appears to be responsible for the whole mess. The writing, meanwhile, comes in two dialects – “period 17th century English”, and “a more modern prose”, with full text and voice-acting for each.

This is… a lot! I wonder if I’ve hitherto avoided reading about The Killing Stone because my third eye picked up on the sheer occult density of the thing, and steered my conscious mind away. Alas, it is too late for me. And probably you, if you’ve read this far.

The early access build includes three “primary story acts”, each focussing on one Svangård family member and an associated deck of cards, three demon lords to play against, and a bunch of optional ritual missions, encompassing 6-8 hours of playtime.

“As development continues, we plan to add translations into more languages, more story, expand the voice acting, and develop an even more complex mystery for you to unravel,” Question write on Steam. “This element in particular is where your feedback will be crucial, but we want to hear about everything, so be sure to join us on Discord where you’ll find some of the team deep in their own Occult rituals (aka game development).” Bless.

“One of 1.0’s biggest features will be our planned endgame content, The Reckoning, which we will have more information about soon,” the post continues, signing off with a note that “The Killing Stone is the game we’ve always wanted to make”. They’re planning to reach 1.0 in around six months.

What do you reckon, then? I’m quite sold on what I’ve read, but I was similarly sold on The Blackout Club, which proved a bit creaky and lumpish in practice. Here is how young master Nic Reuben (RPS in peace) summarised that game in 2019: “Just like a secret clubhouse, it’s likely to lose its allure if you spend all your time there – but it’s exciting as hell to to visit in a snatched moment.”