Acclaimed Ori devs are swapping Metroidvania for a Diablo rival to create the action-RPG they've been waiting 20 years to play

Ori developer Moon Studios has appeared at Future Game Show to reveal why the team is ditching the Metroidvania genre for a new action RPG. 

No Rest for the Wicked is an upcoming Diablo-style game that will launch in Steam Early Access on April 18. When you're not bopping enemies for loot across the hand-drawn shores of Isola Sacra to quell the return of an unholy plague, you can take a moment to breathe. Visiting the town of Sacrament allows you to purchase property, decorate, fish, or till and harvest food to create meals offering health and state boots. 

All of that, though, is a pretty different experience from what you might be used to when playing Ori and the Blind Forest, a brighter Metroidvania that'll test your platforming skills.

As part of the Future Game Show, Moon Studios creative director, Thomas Mahler, explains why the team is changing things up while showing off some gameplay footage.

For Mahler, No Rest for the Wicked is basically the "dream project" as it's the action-RPG they've waited 20 years to play. You've got soulslike combat systems that strive to be best in class, a fresh approach to exploration that says 'no thanks' to randomly generated lands, and vibey social elements for those who dig farming and fishing.

"It's the kind of game I've always wanted to see someone make, but because they didn't, we're making it now," they say.

Gennadiy Korol adds that the team is combining different genres into one game to iterate on it. The combat borrows from plenty of sources, like Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, and fighting games. The point is that the team isn't just looking to something like Diablo for inspiration.

"We're not trying to follow one game, in particular," they say. "We're just inspired by all these different elements from all these different games. We put them together and try to grow it into the most perfect version we can."

If you’re looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.

CATEGORIES
Deputy News Editor

Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.

Read more
No Rest for the Wicked.
As Metroidvania fans lament Ori dev's plan to work on its Souls-like for another 5 years at least, CEO says "we just had a call with Microsoft a few days ago" and "let's see what'll happen"
Exploring and fighting in Blades of Fire
Blades of Fire plays like a lost Xbox 360-era mashup between God of War and Soulslikes, and it's coming from the studio behind Metroid Dread
Shape of Dreams heroes stand around a fire
Someone combined Diablo and League of Legends for a roguelike co-op MOBA with Risk of Rain energy, and it deserves the hype it's getting in Steam Next Fest
a helmed soldier holds their arm up defiantly
Elden Ring spinoff Nightreign is a co-op roguelike with battle royale and Monster Hunter juice, but FromSoftware says it's "not what we'd consider a live service game"
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Candy Crush Saga
Indie dev slams the handbrake to pivot to what might be the first match-3 Metroidvania after playtests for a “match-3 survival horror comedy RPG” shockingly fell apart
Latest in Action Rpg
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn stares into the camera, holding a sword in each hand.
After 423 hours and over 15,000 total deaths, Elden Ring player finally beats Shadow of the Erdtree without the upgrades FromSoftware urged everyone to use: "Never give up"
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' Gemma actor requests "tips for beginners" from fans of Capcom's action RPG as it's the "first MH game that I've ever played"
Monster Hunter Wilds characters share a meal
Oh no, Monster Hunter Wilds is so good that I'm already counting the days until its inevitable Master Rank expansion
Diablo 4 season 8 boss
Diablo 4 season 8 is revamping the boss ladder system with new mechanics and bosses, including one of the best from Diablo 3
Monster Hunter Wilds characters share a meal
Monster Hunter Wilds is slowly recovering from a rough PC launch, finally hitting 60% positive reviews on Steam – but some big issues remain
a colourful overworld where a sprite rows a boat through a magical ocean
The follow-up to a weird RPG with Undertale energy and over 10,000 overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews is, you guessed it, another weird RPG that's already flying on Steam
Latest in News
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Indy hanging onto a vine as in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release date reportedly set for April after ESRB leak
Fallout
Fallout season 2’s dazzling and dystopian New Vegas is coming to life in a new leaked video
an ai chatbot plays a modded verion of pokemon red and jumps down a ledge to talk to an npc
An AI's mission to 'teach' itself Pokemon Red is going as well as you think - after escaping Cerulean City after tens of hours, it went right on back
Anthony Mackie in Captain America: Brave New World
Brave New World box office crosses milestone for Captain America movies, even though it still might not break even
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor
The first three episodes of the best Star Wars show are now available to watch for free ahead of the Andor season 2 premiere
Mio and Zoe holding a dragon during the trailer for Split Fiction.
Split Fiction blows It Takes Two out of the water by selling 1 million copies in 2 days, becoming Hazelight's fastest selling game ever