TipsWorks, the studio behind the 2020 action-RPG Pascal's Wager, has revealed Ballad of Antara, a free-to-play 1-3 player Soulslike coming to PS5 in 2025.
In case you don't recall Pacal's Wager, it's a Soulslike known mostly for defying expectations for a mobile game by being a huge, fleshed-out RPG with a premium price tag instead of opting for the usual free-to-play, microtransaction-addled pricing model. It fared decently on mobile but its worldwide launch on PC and Switch saw mixed to bad reviews.
Skipping ahead to Ballad of Antara, all I can say at this point is that it's visually quite pretty, if not a bit too similar to Elden Ring and Dark Souls. I mean, it isn't so much quietly confirming itself a proud Soulslike as it is shouting it from the jagged cliffsides of the Lands Between. That said, there are a few different environments in the trailer, and some of them seem a little more original than others.
- Wuchang Fallen Feathers wants to pick up where Dark Souls left off: "If skilled players still rely on the HUD... the combat system has a significant problem"
- Phantom Blade Zero is a "kung fu punk" action RPG that wants to follow in the footsteps of Black Myth Wukong: "there's a lot of pressure on us, but I think in a good way"
Curiously, Ballad of Antara is a free-to-play game even though Tipsworks Studio head Yang Yang describes it as "a new IP, created with the highest fidelity." It also supports co-op play up to three players.
"For this new IP, we set out to create a vast world, both in geological scale and cultural variation. In the normal version of this world, common folk reside," Yang says in a PlayStation blog. "In another version of the world, peculiar sightings and encounters await. We call this unimaginable part of the world “Para”. Fundamental essences of the living world are taken away and trapped inside the Para from the invasion of an ancient power, and that’s where our story begins."
The world of Ballad of Antara has been wrought with devastation from some unknown calamity, and it's up to you, playing as several playable characters called Emissaries, to fix everything. Apparently, the young girl seen at the end of the trailer is "key" to the mystery.
TipsWorks has been hard at work on Ballad of Antara for four years, and it'll continue supporting the game after launch with new Emissaries, new zones, story expansions, "and more."
In the meantime, here are the best PS5 games to play right now.
