Last March, emerging indie developer Laki Studios launched their debut title Oaken. With Red Art Games and Goblinz Publishing attached to the project, the game is a turn-based tactical roguelike. As it stands, Oaken is slated to launch worldwide on all modern platforms, such as Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC. While this global release has been in the air for a while, it was recently covered by Romain Mahut, Red Art Games Communications Manager, on ID@Xbox. Mahut described Oaken as a “new take full of Celtic and tribal vibes on the tactical genre”.
In Oaken, players control a hero character who fights in battle. During combat, hero characters are able to summon spirits and use spells and trinkets. The Talents and Mysteries allow players to gradually increase the difficulty as they progress through the game. According to Mahut, the developers implemented this system to ensure that Oaken wasn’t “overly complex on the first playthrough while also being hard enough for demanding players”; a “Relaxed” mode was also added for a more laidback gaming experience.
Mahut also stated that Oaken focuses more on positioning and rotation compared to other Tactical and roguelikes, describing them as underutilized mechanics in the genre. On this note, every unit in Oaken contains a “front” and “back”, and can rotate in one of six hexagonal directions. Units can use various abilities, backstabs, dodges, and charges depending on position and rotation.
Further, Mahut elaborated on Oaken‘s many influences. Celtic and Slavic folklore was the foundation for the designs and Oaken’s lore, which the developers wanted to twist into a “fun, whimsical direction”. As for video game inspirations, Rayman or Final Fantasy factored into Oaken‘s development. Laki Studios also inspired by physical games as well, such as weaving the fun aspects of card games like Hearthstone and Faeria with Into the Breach‘s roguelike and tactical elements. One of their favorite physical games, Neuroshima Hex, gave Laki Studios “the initial push” to experiment with the hexagonal rotation mechanic described above.
According to Gematsu, Oaken is set to release on July 19th for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.