Andrew Teo, the solo developer behind Ghostlore, has given a first look at his next game. Shadow Rush is an isometric hack-and-slash RPG due in 2027, and a demo is already available on Steam.
The game draws on Diablo and Kingdom Hearts for inspiration, with an art direction influenced by Final Fantasy’s Tetsuya Nomura. Its main hook is a combat system that handles much of the ability use automatically. Every attack or dash moves the character through one of four combat phases, with each phase triggering a different ability or spell. Those four abilities are chosen through the equipment slots in the inventory.
The aim, according to Teo, is to let players pull off impressive combos without having to juggle a long list of hotkeys, while still requiring quick thinking and a fast pace. The controls themselves are kept simple, with the depth coming from how abilities are set up and layered.
Speed is the priority throughout. Runs are short, and health pickups are common so players can push forward without worrying about every hit they take. Lingering is not an option either. Spend too long in an area and a huge wave of darkness engulfs the arena, ending the run. Clearing an area quickly earns a completion bonus before moving on to the next.
Each run begins by choosing one of six characters, each with a different weapon and playstyle. Abilities and spells are added on top of that through collectible Shards, which can be equipped, removed and swapped between characters to build a Shard Deck. Combining Shards creates skills that work together and trigger automatically, opening up a wide range of builds to experiment with across repeated runs.
