HD-2D turn-based RPG · Commercial release planned

Nullborn

A turn-based RPG of majik, the Flow, and a government that has never once been told no.

Majik unmetered is majik unmade.
Founding axiom · The Meridian Authority

Greyhollow, the valley where majik does not reach, as the game draws it behind the title screen

Party members: 4
Places to explore: 22
Foes: 45
Summons: 24
Pieces of gear: 67
Tracks: 12

[SYS.RECORD] — Greyhollow · the Null

A boy raised in the one valley on the continent where magic does not reach is visited by an anomaly that should have killed him. It doesn’t. It wakes him. And because he is the first person in three hundred years to hold majik that no one issued him, the government that ended the last apocalypse decides he must be the beginning of the next one.

Every character, creature and place in Nullborn is drawn by the game itself as you play. Every picture on this page comes straight from it.

The party

Four people, every one of them recruited by talking. Each carries a Path Action that changes what towns will let you do.

Kael Ashe

the Vessel

Null-born. Carries a Flow no one issued him, and it is getting heavier.

Weapon: Sword
Affinity: Null
Path Action · Listen: Hear what they actually think, not what they will say.

Tamsin Rooke

the Runner

Four hundred illegal cockpit hours. Zero licenses. Stole your boots already.

Weapon: Dagger
Affinity: Gale
Path Action · Pocket: Take one item. If they would notice, the option grays out and tells you why.

Oriel Vane

the Conduit-Tender

Twelve years in the Order. Ran the numbers. The numbers did not work.

Weapon: Stave
Affinity: Tide
Path Action · Petition: Authority credentials. Opens Meridian doors — while they still recognize her.

Idris Corwin

Warden-Captain

Thirty-one anomalies collapsed. Four were towns. One report he did not file.

Weapon: Axe
Affinity: Loam
Path Action · Requisition: Warden authority. Commandeer, disperse, or conscript one NPC for a battle.

The world

From Greyhollow to the Meridian, every place built as an HD-2D diorama. Each one is shown just as you see it when you arrive, with its own name card.

PrologueThe Null

GreyhollowThe Null · Southern Karst

Act IThe Ledger

The Karst RoadDay one of four · north

Cormorant LandingSky-dock · Meridian writ

The Weir RoadThe Landing to the Fen · two days east

Thornwake FenDrain basin · silted a century

MilthorpeParish of the Reach · saved

The SweetbrierFour-berth runner · unlicensed pilot

15 more places lie past the Ledger. The road only goes one way: toward the Meridian.

Combat

Read the turn order twelve turns ahead. Enemy shields break only to the right weapon or Strain. Bank Boost points each turn, then spend them to hit harder and more often.

A battle against two Karst Voles: the turn order, the command menu, Boost charge, and enemy shields — [SYS.COMBAT] — A fight with two Karst Voles.

Six Strains

Ember
Tide
Loam
Gale
Lumen
Umbra

Every creature and Wellhead belongs to one. Reading the place is how you win the fight in it.

The bestiary

45 foes, drawn exactly as you meet them in battle. Every one has a weakness. Finding it is up to you. Here are four from the road east.

Karst Vole

Loam

Lives in the limestone cracks above Greyhollow. Bites first. Has never met anything worth being afraid of, which tells you a great deal about the valley.

Scree Adder

Umbra

Lives in the talus and comes out for the warmth of the road. Not aggressive. Extremely bad at getting out of the way.

Bramblejack

Loam

Grows where a Vein runs close to the surface. Not hostile so much as hungry in a fixed position. Greyhollow burns them off the terraces every spring.

Gantry Crab

Tide

Came up on a hull from somewhere warmer and decided the sky-docks would do. Eats mooring rope. Dockhands price it into the budget.

Motes and Summons

Set Motes to buff the party and choose your Class. Unleash a Mote to spend that buff on its effect. Every Strain has its own summons, and they grow through four tiers, 24 in all. This is where each one starts.

EmberCinder
A small fire, entirely unlicensed.
TideRill
Cold, patient, and it takes as much as it gives.
LoamShale
The ground agrees to help, briefly.
GaleWhisk
Fast, thin, and it goes through the gaps.
LumenGlimmer
Shows a thing as it is. Most things object.
UmbraSmudge
A small subtraction.

The score

12 tracks, all recorded on real instruments. Here are five. The Null is gut, wood, and breath: strings, dulcimer, flute, frame drum. The Authority is glass, metal, and reed, and the first glass you hear is walking into a Spire.

Follow the journey

Get studio news and updates as Nullborn heads for release.