Ruined King studio Airship Syndicate teams with Digital Extremes for a new co-op action-RPG

Airship Syndicate, the developer of the League of Legends RPG Ruined King, and Warframe publisher Digital Extreme revealed a new project at The Game Awards tonight called Wayfinder, a "character-based online action-RPG" that's slated to come out in 2023.

As the world of Evenor is consumed by the darkness known as the Gloom, players must assemble a team of characters—Wayfinders—to "control the chaos and reconnect a fractured world." Each Wayfinder will have their own unique background story, abilities, and play style, and will forge unique paths through Gloom-consumed regions called Lost Zones. Once inside these zones, players will battle their enemies with ancient artifacts called Gloom Daggers—but Lost Zones will change up with unexpected augmentations and modifiers in each new play session, to keep everyone on their toes. In each run through Lost Zones, players will collect and craft weapons, increase their abilities, and augment their powers with the "echoes" of defeated enemies.

Along with the obvious hack-and-slash, Wayfinder will feature live events and even player housing, which will confer buffs onto players as it's developed. As you can tell from the trailer, co-op play is the focus: Airship Syndicate didn't get into details but said that "character and housing progression are tied together by the most important thread... each other."

"Four years ago when we set out on this journey with Airship Syndicate to build Wayfinder we had high hopes and expectations," Digital Extremes head of external projects Richard Browne said. "The world they have created, the characters that inhabit it, and the ever-changing adventures players can encounter truly live up to the dreams we held."

The trailer doesn't go too deep into how Wayfinder will actually play, and frankly the art style strikes me as a little generic. Fortunately, PC gamers have a chance to get some hands-on time with it very soon courtesy of a closed beta test that's set to begin on December 13. You can sign up to take part at playwayfinder.com—additional details on accessing the beta will be provided via email to everyone who gets in. PlayStation-exclusive playtests will begin in January, while PC testing will continue. 

Wayfinder is expected to launch into early access in spring 2023, and go into full free-to-play release in the fall. Take a look at a whole bunch of screens down below.