This year's Gen Con showcase from Swedish tabletop RPG supremos Free League Publishing packed in updates on a whole range of their games - but the standout for me was Twilight Sword, a brand new TTRPG that's so incredibly Breath of the Wild coded it hurts (but in a really good way).
Through its 'Workshop' publishing label, Free League has collaborated with outside designers to print some of the best tabletop RPGs ever made - most famously, of course, the black metal death fest Mörk Borg. And, from what I heard in their one-hour Gen Con 2025 presentation, this new offering (however cutesy it is to look at) may actually share some of Borg's key ingredients: simple rules, and a very deadly world that wants very much to kill you.
Which makes a lot of sense, because Twilight Sword's designer 2 Little Mice says the game's whole concept - from its world and lore to the rules design and general gamefeel - are heavily inspired by Nintendo's modern Legend of Zelda videogames.
In those games, Hyrule is an ecstatic, brightly colored world of lush natural landscapes and cute characters. But your journey through it is properly dangerous, and surviving its hordes of monsters and environmental perils requires that you master some genuinely challenging game mechanics. Twilight Sword, it seems, will be in much the same vein.
2 Little Mice COO and co-founder Simone Formicola tells Wargamer they want Twilight Sword to be accessible and 'rules light', in the manner of Old School Revival type games such as Mörk Borg - but also retain satisfying "crunch", rather than leaning as hard towards "narrative-only, improv style" gaming. As adorable it may be, they say this game will have teeth.
There's no mistaking the Zelda and Ni No Kuni influences in its world, though (in case the two-word title's direct reference to Zelda games Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword wasn't enough of a clue). Its fantasy setting, Radia, is home to five "kins", each with distinctive body types; the Huma (humans) appear to have pointy ears; the Kedi are diminutive cat people; and the Pengu are described as "penguin-people with extraordinary physical strength".
"They're kind of our orcs," the designers told their Gen Con audience, to laughter and applause. What exactly that means for the Pengu's role in the world - and how it compares to orcs' rather complex history among the famous DnD races - is something I hope to ask 2 Little Mice in an interview soon.
In the open Q&A, Free League and 2 Little Mice told Wargamer they weren't ready to share hard details on the game's dice system or exact mechanics just yet. But they did explain another strongly BOTW-flavored choice: Twilight Sword's campaign gameplay is centered on travelling the land and generating 'Hope' in each region by completing tasks for the locals, exploring landmark areas, and defeating bosses.
Hope drives your characters' development by unlocking new feats - and will also reduce levels of 'Desperation' felt by NPC inhabitants of each region (terrorized as they are by the monster armies of the "evil scourge Vardas"). Completely clear a region of Desperation, and its grateful denizens will throw you a party and reward your champions with (as yet unspecified) goodies. It's a campaign gameplay loop that'll be very familiar to anyone who's played Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom.
In a brief chat with Wargamer after the publisher's Gen Con 2025 showcase, Free League co-founder Tomas Härenstam (pictured above left) tells me he's "really excited about this project".
"[2 Little Mice] came to us with it almost fully formed," he explains. "In the small group of owners and creators at Free League, we're not really into the manga and anime stuff - maybe I'm too old, I don't know."
"But that's why it's so great," he adds. "We don't have anything like this at Free League, and they're super passionate about this thing."
"Every game needs that kind of passion and that kind of champion, and that's what they're bringing to this one."
Twilight Sword - a dinky, 8.2 inch by 4.5 inch hardcover book that opens into a perfect square - is slated for release some time in 2026. We'll be on the lookout for more news as it comes, so stay tuned for more coverage on the game right here!
In the meantime, if you want to chat or ask me questions about Twilight Sword and the other games we're checking out at Gen Con 2025, head on over to the Wargamer Discord community.