Vambrace: Cold Soul – Anime Meets Strategic Turn-Based Strategy

Turn-based roguelike strategy game Vambrace: Cold Soul, developed by Devespresso Games is due for release April 2019. We take a look at the brief history of the development of this game, and how the developers of ‘The Coma: Recut‘ put so much love into this adventure.

After the King of Shade curses the great city of Icenaire, returning its former inhabitants from the dead to guard as Wraiths, the survivor hide deep underground where they lead an unholy campaign against the darkness. As the King of Shades power grows they become more and more desperate. That is until a stranger appears in the city with a magical vambrace.

You play as Evelia Lyric, the owner of the Aetherbrace, and the only human being capable of entering the cursed city. Choose the party to accompany her, each team-mate adding their strengths to the party. Enter the city of Icenair, defeat Wraiths and avoid deadly traps, the survivors of Icenair are depending on you…

The History

Vambrace: Cold Soul has been a long time in the making. In fact the original concept is nearly twenty years old. Minho Kim, the Lead Developer of Devespresso Games worked on the world of Icenaire in his youth as a form of escapism. He had spent time conjuring a variety of characters and events.

At lot of the elements were already loosely connected, but as he shared and discussed his work on various Korean forums, his fans were keen to contribute and help him build even more to this incredible world. Although he worked on many projects during this time, the kingdom of Icenair remained a fond project.

Tristan Lee Riven, game designer and COO at Devespresso Games recounts the dramatic shift. “I somehow managed to convinced Minho to join me in this harebrained attempt to make our own game. That’s despite the fact we had no experience or knowledge of how to do so under our belts.”

The two had met in Seoul, South Korea, when Tristan saw Minho working on some drawings. “I invited him for a coffee and we had a discussion about his art and some of my own ideas. Everything clicked right away. We both just enjoyed the creative process of making new worlds together,” Tristan recalled. The team eventually managed to figure out the complex logistics of shipping an actual game. After completing their first title, The Coma: Cutting Class, Minho’s new priority was returning to the land of Icenaire he had been working on for so long.

“When we sat down and started discussing this world, I was amazed by the volume of art that he had already made. He had hundreds of sketches and colored pictures of settings, characters, creatures, and items. It was easy to get a grasp of this place that had, for the most part, only existed in his imagination,” Tristan said.

Tristan then began to work on a full story within the setting of Icenair. The team at Devespresso Games have chosen to focus on narrative-driven, hand-drawn games

Features of Vambrace: Cold Soul

• Embark on an epic fantasy-adventure spanning 7 intriguing chapters
• Complete sub-quests to unlock up to 26 new, thematic character skins
• Assemble your party from 5 races and 10 unique classes of recruits
• Craft items and armour from precious materials gathered on your trips that will unlock new skills and enhance stats
• Make crucial decisions – one wrong turn can seal your party’s fate
• Prepare well or condemn your comrades to permanent death
• Find codex pages to expand upon the world’s history and mythical lore

The roguelike fantasy adventure will come to PC and Mac on 25th April with Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One following in Q3 2019. For more information please head over to their official website or the Vambrace Cold Soul Steam page