Demo comes together for Broken Relic

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Full version of comedic point-and-click pixel art fantasy adventure coming soon to Steam and itch.io

The first day on any job is always a little nerve-wracking, but all the more so when an innocent mistake might just bring about the end of the world, like in Sandpenguin's upcoming tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure Broken Relic.

Long ago, an evil being named Kaelvorn, the "Cursed Devourer," was prevented from taking over the world by magical sages who were able to seal Kaelvorn with the help of a powerful relic. Unfortunately, in the process the relic was broken and its shards scattered throughout the realm. The seal held, however, and over the years the story of Kaelvorn gradually "faded into myth." Until now, that is, when you come along and cack it all up. Players assume the role of Tim, a young man who has been invited to intern at the prestigious Nytheris Archive. After performing your duties on your very first day, you inadvertently shatter the seal binding Kaelvorn, and now, "with the world teetering on the brink, it's up to you to piece together the remnants of a shattered relic and set things right."

Broken Relic is presented in a lovely pixel art style that would have looked right at home in the early to mid-nineties. Its intuitive point-and-click interface is similarly traditional, with left mouse clicks used for movement and interaction, and right clicks to open inventory, where you can select and combine items you acquire to use in the environment to solve puzzles. The stakes may sound serious, but the game approaches its subject matter with a lighthearted tone and plenty of humour when chatting with a "strange" cast of fully voiced characters. The nonlinear quest to find and reforge the three pieces of the titular relic will see players venture out from the protagonist's quiet hometown to explore interconnected regions of a medieval-style world filled with "forgotten ruins" and many other mysterious secrets to uncover. There's no fear of failure, and the game promises "no pixel hunting, no filler," allowing you to experiment, "trust your instincts... and try not to make things worse."

There is no target release date for Broken Relic just yet, but you can get a head start in dooming the world with your well-meaning incompetence via the playable demo that's available now to download on Steam and itch.io for Windows PC.