The Stone of Madness
A stealth RTS about escaping a monastery while managing character fears.
The Stone of Madness is a real-time strategy stealth game played from an isometric viewpoint. It was released in January 2025 on Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and Series S, developed by The Game Kitchen and published by Tripwire Presents.
The game has two separate campaigns. Players guide a group of prisoners trying to escape an 18th-century Spanish monastery while uncovering its hidden secrets. There are five playable characters, but only three can be taken on any given mission. Each character has unique skills and individual fears. For example, Eduardo can move heavy objects to open new paths, but he is afraid of the dark. If a character is repeatedly exposed to their fear, their sanity decreases and new weaknesses appear. During the day, characters explore the monastery, gather resources and tools, find clues, and complete objectives. At night, they craft items and recover. The monastery follows a daily routine, and soldier patrol routes change regularly. Players can also sneak out at night for different opportunities, but they must then face supernatural horrors.
The game was originally developed by Teku Studio. The Game Kitchen, known for *Blasphemous* and its sequel, acquired Teku and became a collaborator. Like The Game Kitchen’s earlier work, the game is heavily influenced by Spanish culture. Lead level designer Enrique Colinet cited *The Name of the Rose* and *The Abbey of Crime* as inspirations. The team also drew from *Broken Lines*, *Commandos*, *Darkwood*, *Desperados III*, and *Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun*. They described *The Stone of Madness* as a heist game where preparation is key. Players must observe and understand the monastery’s cycle, making incremental progress to reach their goals. Failing is considered an essential part of learning. The game does not allow frequent saves, forcing players to adapt when plans go wrong. It was designed so players can still succeed even if one or two characters are captured.
Inspired by *Broken Sword*, the team used rotoscoping for character animation and handpainted most of the scenarios. Director Maikel Ortega described this process as "painful and expensive." The art style was influenced by Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The game was first announced by Teku Studios and publisher Merge Games in August 2020, with a target release of early 2021.
Quick Facts
- Title
- The Stone of Madness
- Developer
- The Game Kitchen
- Publisher
- Tripwire Presents
- Director
- José Antonio Gutiérrez · Maikel Ortega
- Programmer
- Rafael Muñoz · Cristina Ramos
- Artist
- José Antonio Gutiérrez
- Writer
- José Antonio Gutiérrez · Laura Rubio
- Composer
- Pascual de Gállego · Kid Peligro
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows · Nintendo Switch · PlayStation 5 · Xbox Series X/S
- Genre
- Real-time strategy, stealth
- Engine
- Unity Engine
- Released
- 28 January 2025
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Stone of Madness was originally developed by Teku Studio. The Game Kitchen, known for Blasphemous and Blasphemous II, acquired Teku and became a collaborator on the game. The game was heavily influenced by Spanish culture, with lead level designer Enrique Colinet citing The Name of the Rose and The Abbey of Crime as inspirations. The team also drew from Broken Lines, Commandos, Darkwood, Desperados III, and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. The developers described the game as a heist game where preparation is key, and failing is an essential part of learning. The game does not allow frequent saving, forcing players to adapt when plans go awry. The art style was influenced by Spanish painter Francisco Goya, and the game used rotoscoping techniques for characters, with most scenarios handpainted—a process director Maikel Ortega called 'painful and expensive'. The game was first announced by Teku Studios and publisher Merge Games in August 2020 with a target release window of early 2021. The Game Kitchen officially revealed the game in August 2024, and it was released on January 28, 2025 by Tripwire Interactive.
Reader's Guide
The Stone of Madness received 'mixed or average' reviews on Metacritic, with OpenCritic assessing fair approval recommended by 67% of critics. Steven Scaife of Slant Magazine compared it to Desperados III and Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, appreciating its uniqueness due to its setting and focus on 'desperation and disempowerment'. He noted that character weaknesses conveyed the harshness of the setting and that the game is 'cleverly attuned to perseverance through incremental progress'. Lewis Gordon of Eurogamer praised the memorable setting, focus on mental health, and gameplay offering 'an electric combination of coincidence, luck, skill and opportunity', though he felt the day-night cycle occasionally overshadowed the narrative. Eric van Allen of IGN cited technical issues and bugs as dragging down an otherwise engaging experience. Francisco Dominguez of Nintendo Life liked the art style and immersive sim inspirations but found the game lacking in quality-of-life features and genre innovations, with high difficulty and confusing objectives leading to frustration. The game's legacy lies in its attempt to blend RTS stealth with psychological horror elements and a unique Spanish Gothic setting.
Did You Know?
- Eduardo can move heavy objects but is scared of the dark, and exposing characters to their fears causes their sanity to wane.
- The game uses rotoscoping techniques for character animation, inspired by Broken Sword.
- The art style was influenced by the works of Spanish painter Francisco Goya.
More in Real-Time Strategy Games of the 2020s 1-19
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