THYMESIA

An action RPG that certainly doesn't fear the old Blood

Developer OverBorder Studio

Publisher Team17

Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series

Origin Taiwan

Release August 9

For games like these the kind that live in the meeting and repelling of blades, where a single missed parry or dodge means death timing is everything. And in one sense at least, Thymesia's is impeccable. Arriving just as we've all had time to digest Elden Ring and grow hungry for the next delivery from Miyazaki's kitchen, what better time could there be for a game that looks (let's be honest here) like an unlicensed Bloodborne spinoff?

Your character, Corvus, is dressed in black robes and a beaked plague-doctor mask we're pretty sure we nabbed from Eileen The Crow in that game, and stalks the wrought-iron lined streets of a town stricken by a plague -carried where else? in the blood. The comparison, then, is one that Taiwanese developer Over Border Studio seems to be inviting, if not insisting upon. It's a risky gambit, especially for a studio making its debut, to invoke the work of FromSoftware, which after seven games in this vein is an undisputed master of its craft.