Testament is a co-op dungeon crawler inspired by MMORPGs and Final Fantasy that’s not afraid to kick your ass

Japanese indie designer Yasushi ‘Kuro’ Kuroda, creator of Unicornus Knights, Alicematic Heroes and The Ravens of Thri Sahashri, has announced his next game: a fully co-operative dungeon-crawling card game called Testament that promises a punishingly difficult challenge.

Testament was actually released in Japanese in 2017, but is making its way into English next year thanks to LionWing Publishing, the studio that made its debut with a localised version of anime combat board game Sainome Colosseum R crowdfunded over the summer.

It’s described as taking strong inspiration from MMORPGs, with a particular debt to Final Fantasy XIV, the popular online multiplayer entry in the long-running series of Japanese roleplaying video games.

LionWing says Testament will have “deep character customisation, tactical battles, tough boss fights and high replayability,” as players customise their characters’ unique skills – built around the conventional MMORPG fusion of resistant ‘tanks’, helpful healers and high damage dealers – and battle through a ‘stage’ of smaller monsters before facing a final boss.

Each stage plays in around an hour, with the ability to play a single scenario separately or several together as a campaign, with characters levelling-up along the way. Up to four people can play, controlling four characters – a solo mode is included.

Testament’s creators are also upfront about the game’s harsh difficulty, telling us: “It’s so challenging that less than 20% of players will clear the game on their first attempt, with many failing on the very first stage. So, to say that it’s not for the faint of heart would be an understatement.”

LionWing will be launching a Kickstarter for the English edition of Testament this winter before its planned release in 2019.