Vaunted is one of the world premieres from today’s Xbox Partner Preview and comes from upstart studio Lost Lake Games. This team consists of former developers behind strategy hits like StarCraft and Guild Wars, and is channeling that expertise into its debut strategy title.
The game takes place in a galaxy ruled by chaos, following the collapse of a galactic empire a millennium ago. Mercenaries and treasure hunters dominate the cosmos and regularly clash over the pursuit of priceless imperial relics. This includes the dysfunctional team treasure hunters Dyse, Gendril, and Kyvaath, who players will control in their quest to find the ultimate treasure.
Vaunted is described as a tactical RPG that blends real-time third-person shooting with turn-based combat; imagine an amalgamation of space westerns and the Valkyria Chronicles series, a combination Lost Lake Games cites and leans into. Vaunted has no initiative-based turn order, so players control when characters perform actions while alternating turns with enemies. In addition to the three main heroes, you control companions, and each unit boasts skill trees, randomized upgrades, unique loadouts, and diverse build options.
Lost Lake Games promises “rich RPG mechanics” and that players will experience fleshed-out motivations for the main protagonists. The team also promises an element of unreliable narration, as the death of one hero will give players a chance to rewrite the current chapter from the skewed perspective of a surviving hero, opening new conversations, loot, and skills. We’re especially curious to see the narrative implications of this approach.
The studio is led by James Phinney, formerly of Blizzard and Arena Net. Vaunted is coming later this year to PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store. It will also be available on PC Game Pass.