A kingdom won a war by raising its dead. Thirty years later, it is still paying the price. Indie studio Psychic Software has revealed The Lich Wars, a new gothic RPG, along with its Steam store page and first trailer.
The Lich Wars combines a branching interactive fiction structure with an RPG skill system and narrative-driven strategic combat. It is a prequel to the studio’s critically noticed CRPG The Necromancer’s Tale, which is sure to catch the attention of existing fans, though it is playable on its own.
The game is set in a fictional 18th-century kingdom near Venice. Players serve as a musketeer and are swept into a great tide of fate over a turbulent military career spanning roughly 30 years. Choice-driven storytelling set in a dark gothic world is at the heart of the experience.
The Story After a War Won by Raising the Dead
The setting is Rulsthen, an alternate-history kingdom near Venice. Players begin as a new recruit in Rulsthen’s Rychva Musketeers.
Drawn into a war won by raising the dead, players witness what follows: fear and superstition spread, civil war breaks out, and a Lich awakens.
The story spans a military career from the Venetian War of 1701–1708 to the civil war of 1727–1728. Events change based on player choices, with three main career paths.
300,000 Words, Nine Skills, and Combat Told in Prose
The Lich Wars unfolds through a branching narrative of around 300,000 words. Nine RPG skills, spanning physical, social, and intellectual abilities, factor into choices and checks.
Combat is inspired by tabletop RPGs. Duels and skirmishes are resolved through hand-written narration and random critical-hit tables, while naval battles and large-scale battlefield maneuvers are woven into the same narrative flow.
Unreliable memory is another pillar of the story: protagonist Aleks and three longtime friends remember the same events differently, and sometimes not honestly.
A Gothic World in a 3D Book and Hand-Drawn Miniatures
The branching narrative unfolds inside a book rendered in 3D. On the table beside the book, hand-drawn miniatures stage key scenes. Hundreds of original illustrations, character portraits, and maps accompany the text.
Some major characters and narration scenes feature voice acting. From what’s been shown, the presentation leans on text and illustration, with a gothic atmosphere tangled in war, dark magic, and superstition.
Psychic Software and The Necromancer’s Tale
Psychic Software (Psychic Games Ltd.) has been making games since the 1980s, with work spanning vehicular combat MMOs, casual mobile puzzle games, arcade adventures, platformers, online racing, and CRPGs.
The Necromancer’s Tale launched on Steam in July 2025 and expanded to Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox, and GOG in June 2026. The Lich Wars is being developed with co-funding from the European Union’s Creative Media Programme.
Lead developer and narrative lead Sam Redfern explained that The Necromancer’s Tale covered the years from 1700 to 1728 only in a short prologue, yet players kept asking about that period.
Redfern describes The Lich Wars as a gothic story about a society haunted by its past. Necromancy works, he explains, but no one fully understands its cost, and the game raises questions about progress, responsibility, and the ethics of war.
How the Previous Game Was Received
By one count, The Necromancer’s Tale earned 91% positive reviews from 877 Steam reviews in roughly its first year.
Critical reception was more mixed. One UK outlet praised its dialogue-driven story but found immersion lacking. Another praised the writing and characters but called the combat simple and clunky.
Because The Lich Wars is also narrative-focused, combat’s role and polish are likely to be key measures for the prequel too.
Who This Is For
Strong fit for: fans of The Necromancer’s Tale curious about the backstory it skipped; interactive fiction and gamebook enthusiasts; players who love tabletop-style dice tension and prose-driven combat; anyone drawn to gothic alternate history, 18th-century military settings, and morally complicated necromancy.
Cautious fit for: players who need Korean or other language support, which isn’t confirmed; those who were put off by the previous game’s combat.
Less ideal for: players who want real-time action or fully voiced cinematic storytelling; this is a reading-heavy RPG.
What to Watch For
The biggest question is whether the TRPG-inspired combat, with hand-written narration and critical-hit tables, addresses the criticism that The Necromancer’s Tale’s fights felt simple. The unreliable memory system among Aleks and his three friends is the most intriguing narrative hook, and how well it pays off across three career paths will define the game. A release date has not been announced.
The Takeaway
The Lich Wars expands a period The Necromancer’s Tale skipped into a full 30-year saga: a musketeer’s career through the war that raised the dead, the civil war that followed, and the birth of a Lich. With 300,000 words of branching story, nine skills, prose-driven combat, unreliable memories, and a presentation built around a 3D book and hand-drawn miniatures, Psychic Software is doubling down on what fans loved about its last game. Whether it can also fix what critics didn’t will decide how far it reaches beyond them.
Steam page: live now. Release date: TBA.
Information regarding ‘The Lich Wars’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Game name | The Lich Wars |
| Developer | Psychic Software |
| Publisher | Unconfirmed |
| Genre | Gothic Interactive Fiction RPG |
| platform | PC (Steam) |
| Release date | Undecided |
| Supported languages | Unconfirmed (Korean support status unconfirmed) |
| characteristic | 300,000-word narrative, nine skills, narrative-based combat, partial voice acting, standalone from the prequel |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
| Official Website | Shortcut |
