Castle Come: Everything We Know

Playfulness aside, Castle Come (doubtful whether the studio will consider renaming it) centers its theme around mortal engines meets anime. It puts you inside a moving castle that repurposes as a tank, decimating hostile enemies on the way to safety. 

So, while you’ll be facing other mortal engine castles, you’ll also be keeping an eye out for resources, scavenging wreckage to bolster your defense forces. Sounds like your forte? Well, stick with us to learn everything we know about the upcoming game, Castle Come. 

What is Castle Come?

Castle Come is an upcoming “walking fortress” roguelike game. Players will trek down to a mysterious land, where mortal engines are the everyday norm. But with powerful machines also come hostile bandits scavenging for valuable machine parts. To defend your castle, you’ll fight off other hostile castles.

Meanwhile, you’ll bolster your attack and defense systems by scavenging through the wreckage. You’re also free to recruit more people to your cause, allowing them to take charge of your growing arsenal of weapons. In the end, you’ll rise up the ranks, upgrading from a gullible machine to a gigantic walking fortress.

Story

We know that Castle Come will certainly feature some form of story, thanks to co-founder Sam Vonasch’s promise to reveal the studio’s “special take on narration” sometime in the future. So, all we have to do is hang tight, keeping our eyes peeled for a possible story reveal trailer.

Meanwhile, we do know that you’ll be trapped inside a strange zone that has mighty walls. The only way out is through a mysterious gate, which you can only pass through when you become the most powerful mech. But when you finally pass the gate, there will be more zones that follow the same idealogy.

In each zone, you’ll discover new resources and Forges. In the end, you’ll uncover the larger mystery about who built these zones and gates. Most of all, why have you been trapped behind these gates?

Gameplay

Thankfully, we do have official confirmation on the gameplay you can expect in the final game. We’ve highlighted the main features of the gameplay below.

Key Features

• Assemble your forces: You’ll be in charge of building your walking caste either by buying new parts or scavenging for resources. You can scoop up better weapons, mods, and towers and slap them onto your castle to bolster your attack and defense systems. The goal is to build your castle from a small machine into a hulking monster. Thanks to a straightforward drag-and-drop system, you’ll be able to expand your arsenal to include tractor beams, flamethrowers, mine launchers, gun turrets, chicken pens, and so much more.
• Battle enemies and scavenge their parts: One of the prime sources of machine parts will be the wreckage of defeated enemies. Alongside bandits, you’ll fight off other walking castles. While you can scavenge wreckage, enemies too can strip you down for parts!
• Fighter-inspired spatial combat: Inspired by Tekken, you’ll engage in a 2.5D fighting view. This will allow you to take advantage of rams, sidesteps and dodges. Other environmental obstacles like rocks and walls will also matter, as you strive to use them to your advantage or corner enemies into tight spots.
• Time-slowing strategy: You’ll be free to slow down time to better align your shots. While you can control weapons yourself, you can also delegate to your crew, giving them the freedom to fire at will. Castle Come will infuse strategy, as you keep track of active reloads, cooldowns, and advantageous positions on the battlefield.
• Profit from past defeats: All won’t be lost when you lose, as you can always retrieve wreckage from your old walking fortress. It’s perfect to avoid restarting from scratch. But there’s another twist: You can protect other castles, and when you lose, you can scavenge parts from them. The best part is the castles you protect may have grown into a flourishing village, giving you more resources.

Development

lauflauf is currently working on developing and publishing Castle Come. They are a Swiss-based studio operating out of Zurich. At the moment, lauflauf is a small two-person team formed in May 2022. Still, the new game’s producer and designer, Sam Vonasch, couldn’t contain his excitement over announcing the project to the world. He adds that they can’t wait to reveal more updates about the project, including the mechanics, unique take on the story and an exact release date in the near future.

Castle Come may be lauflauf’s first game. However, it gels well with the studio’s goals to dabble in “systemic games and emergent gameplay.” It also portrays lauflauf’s desire to craft “punchy visual worlds.” Co-founders Basil Sutter and Sam Vonasch will be combining their backgrounds to infuse “interactive worlds, growth and decay, unconventional game mechanics and visual themes of science fiction and Naturromantik” in the new game.

Trailer

Check out Castle Come’s reveal trailer out now on YouTube. It illustrates the gameplay you can expect in the final game. While the combat mechanics look a little flimsy, the art style has a unique charm.

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

Castle Come will be launching sometime in Q2 2025. Unfortunately, a release window is all we have to go by. We’ll likely receive an exact release date the closer we gear to the launch window. Still, we can confirm that the upcoming game will be coming to unspecified consoles and PC platforms via Steam. 

In fact, a store page is already out now, free for you to slot the upcoming game to your wishlist to be among the first people to get a notification as soon as it drops. If there are any editions that will be available for preorder, they remain under wraps for now. 

Still, feel free to follow the official social media handle here to keep track of new updates. We’ll also be keeping a close eye on new announcements and letting you know as soon as they come up.

So, what’s your take? Will you be grabbing a copy of Castle Come when it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.