Psychic Software has announced that The Necromancer’s Tale, its upcoming story-driven gothic RPG, will officially launch for PC via Steam on July 17, 2025. Set in an alternate-history version of 18th-century Italy, the game invites players into a richly layered narrative where necromancy is less a power fantasy than a slow, deliberate descent into secrecy, compromise, and madness.
For those who haven’t yet played the demo, players assume the role of a minor noble returning to the city of Mars following their father’s mysterious death. What begins as a search for answers quickly spirals into a dangerous web of occultism and political intrigue, where rituals of death and black magic offer power, but at steep personal cost.
The game’s prologue uses an interactive fiction format to establish your backstory, skills, and career–military, academic, or diplomat– each affecting how you navigate the world. Skills are split across physical, mental, and social disciplines, influencing everything from combat efficiency to persuasion and blackmail. As the story unfolds, players can take on jobs, build trust with factions, and manipulate social networks, all while concealing their necromantic abilities from a city that would execute them if the truth came out.
At the heart of The Necromancer’s Tale is a branching 400,000-word narrative, populated by over 180 hand-crafted NPCs with their own dialogue, portraits, and side quests. Inspired by titles like Disco Elysium and Pillars of Eternity, the game treats dialogue as a weapon as potent as any spell. Whether seducing, coercing, or deceiving, player choice drives the story, and no decision is without consequence.
Combat is turn-based and supported by undead minions, conventional 18th-century weaponry, and spellcraft. For those more interested in story than strategy, an auto-resolve option is available. Magic plays a central role not only in combat but in exploration and story progression: mana is earned through rituals and relics, powering spells that can sway the tide of battle or alter narrative outcomes.
Environmental variety is another key feature. Players will explore not just the city, but its surrounding forests, cemeteries, canyons, and arcane spaces: catacombs, crypts, and realms of the dead. The game also includes partial voice acting across 25 characters, wearable clothing with cloth physics, and procedural animation for greater immersion.
Midway through the game, players attend a royal ball: part political drama, part supernatural thriller, where your investigation into your father’s death may finally bear fruit, or expose your descent into madness for all to see.
“We didn’t want to create a hero’s tale,” said Game Director Sam Redfern and Marketing Director Kirsty Halloran. “We wanted to give players the freedom to write their own descent. Whether you become a savior, a tyrant, or something worse… that’s entirely up to you.”
The Necromancer’s Tale is available to wishlist now on Steam, with a free demo currently live. A console release is planned for a later date.
