Free League Announces Anime-Inspired Twilight Sword RPG

Free League Publishing has announced Twilight Sword, a new collaboration with Italian games studio Two Little Mice. The new game is a fantasy RPG inspired by video games like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Ni No Kuni. Players explore the world of Radia in the game, exploring Landmarks and collecting Hope by defeating bosses. A 16-page preview of the game revealed five Kin that players can choose from, including the Huma, the cat-like Kedi, and the penguin-like Pengu. The preview did not reveal any details about the game system, but there appears to be a focus on exploration and defeating monsters.

One interesting part of this announcement is the collaboration with Two Little Mice. The Italian publisher was purchased by CMON back in 2021 to bolster that company's line of RPGs. However, CMON has had struggles this year, in part due to tariff uncertainty. CMON has sold off several IPs to other studios and has paused new game development to focus on current fulfillment, with many questioning about the publisher's future. Free League also partnered with Two Little Mice to publish Outgunned, so it's unclear whether Two Little Mice has gone independent once again or if this is an arrangement with CMON.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Geeks: I would love a Zelda RPG!
Designer: Here's a "Zelda" RPG. :nudge, nudge, wink, wink:
Also Geeks: Oh my god! This is too much like Zelda! How unoriginal!

Could you imagine the responses if they'd made it LESS like Zelda?

You literally cannot win.

I get what you're saying but I think it's pretty clear there's a "Goldilocks zone" here.

In fact, I would argue that's the case with virtually all "file numbers scratched off" RPGs (and a lot of videogames too). You want to find a middle-place that's like, close to the original source material, not far from it, not a "weird take" on it, but also not identical to it.

You're flatly wrong to say "you literally cannot win", because people have won. A lot of times. The issue is judging it exactly right. And it's not easy to do right - no-one is saying this is trivial - it's harder than it looks.

I can give you specific examples that prove "You literally cannot win" is wrong, even. Fellowship for one. Or what about Against the Darkmaster if you want one that's a bit more literal and has a specific setting (I mean, people see at as a Rolemaster successor but it's much more a MERP successor)? And that's the tip of the iceberg.

With this one they've chosen to go very, very on-the-nose, but I suspect when the book comes out in full, attitudes will soften, especially as we see more people who aren't their Link/Zelda figure depicted.

 

[Aldarc]

Right now, though, what I really want is more news a bit more directly from Two Little Mice about this project.

 

[overgeeked]

Right now, though, what I really want is more news a bit more directly from Two Little Mice about this project.

Check out their Discord.

 

[schneeland]

As far as I know, 2LM also haven't shared too much. But the Discord is definitely a good source (at least Rico is active there quite regularly). And there's 2LM Adventurer's Club Facebook group, where 2LM also post news.

 

[ColinChapman]

So, do we have any ETA on more info. Keen to know if it'll work for me system-wise or not. I'm assuming not, and I have signed up, but I'm not online enough to catch everything.

 

[Aldarc]

So, do we have any ETA on more info. Keen to know if it'll work for me system-wise or not. I'm assuming not, and I have signed up, but I'm not online enough to catch everything.

Yeah. I've been on the Discord. It's been pretty quiet so far. Free League broke the news about this before Two Little Mice did. But what I'm really curious about is what you say here: what will the system look like?

 

[stadi]

Yeah. I've been on the Discord. It's been pretty quiet so far. Free League broke the news about this before Two Little Mice did. But what I'm really curious about is what you say here: what will the system look like?

A Quickstart will be released "later this year". It will showcase the rules (at least enough to judge if it is something that one likes).

 

[ColinChapman]

According to the Discord, the game will use d12s, which I approve of. It's a criminally underused die.

 

[aramis erak]

Almost perfect for getting me onboard... AARRGGHH!!!
Too many good games, too little time.

 

[ColinChapman]

I imagine this won't surprise anyone, but apparently it's not an isekai either.