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Big updates are arriving soon to Aether & Iron, and it seems similar determination could beryllium adjacent much successful the future. As you tin spot successful the caller trailer above, a caller roadside garage, caller missions, and a caller dice mini crippled are coming soon to the 1930s-set Decopunk communicative RPG.
Ahead of the reveal, which debuted exclusively astatine IGN Live 2026, I sat down with the squad astatine Seismic Squirrel to chat astir wherefore these caller updates mightiness not beryllium the past caller worldly we spot from the crippled and what players mightiness expect successful presumption of aboriginal lore.
“Our crippled is built disconnected the graveyard of darlings,” says Aether & Iron’s Narrative Tyler Whitney. “When we were gathering this, narratively, it was a batch much ambitious [with respect to] the scope of however large things would be. And the much that we built retired the game, the much we realized that we had to trim narratively things down successful bid to acceptable what the squad was susceptible of. And what was near connected the cutting country level is simply a batch much of New York past that I wanted to enactment forward.”
“At 1 constituent our Production Supervisor, Josh [Enz], came successful and killed two-thirds of the game,” says Creative Director Duane Stinnett. “So what we released is astir 33% of what we primitively scoped. But you get a amended acquisition than if we had tried to agelong it crossed truthful overmuch more. So it ends up moving retired for the best.”
When I asked Whitney if leaving 2 thirds of the crippled connected the cutting country level meant that imaginable sequels to Aether & Iron were a possibility, helium said he’s unfastened to it.
“Look, you can't corroborate anything,” Whitney says. “We would emotion the opportunity. We person a monolithic backlog of material. I wrote a large wiki for everything. The magnitude of satellite gathering that was written internally compared to what made the crippled is simply a depressingly tiny percentage. So if radical emotion the game, if radical privation to spot more, we person truthful overmuch much to share.”
Key to the unsocial entreaty of Aether & Iron are the retro floating cars (powered by the titular Aether) which are utilized successful combat, racing, and enactment arsenic a cardinal pillar of the game. I asked Whitney and Stinnett however they balanced the chaotic phantasy of 1930s flying cars with the rigid demands of a turn-based tactical strategy game.
“It was a precise achy process,” Stinnett says. “The crippled was initially prototyped arsenic a afloat free-roaming 3D game. We went done truthful galore iterations looking astatine however different titles handled turn-based three-dimensional formation with depth, and honestly thing was clicking. It conscionable didn't consciousness right.”
“With turn-based tactical combat, 1 occupation that we kept moving into was like, ‘Okay, however bash we marque them consciousness similar flying cars?’” Whitney says. “What quality does it make? And truthful we truly tried to fig retired ways to [to make] the combat consciousness unique. And I deliberation that's what goes a agelong mode successful making the communicative consciousness absorbing and compelling.”
“We yet landed connected an isometric presumption wherever the vehicles are bound to these glowing bluish ‘Aether roads,’” Stinnett says. “In earlier builds, they hovered implicit mean cobblestones, but it conscionable looked similar they were driving normally; determination was nary consciousness of vertigo oregon depth. Now, the roads are made of a gaseous, translucent bluish mist. You tin spot close done them into the bare aerial below. It allowed america to support the combat grounded capable to marque tactical sense, but players tin inactive leap in, divided lanes, and utilize car momentum to slam wreckage into force lines.”
And portion the cars successful Aether & Iron mightiness astatine archetypal glimpse look to beryllium based connected existent ones from the 1930s, the squad confirms that the vehicles successful the crippled were really built from the crushed up by the squad astatine Seismic Squirrel.
“It’s truly an amalgamation of existing vehicles that were heightened and adapted to acceptable the communicative successful immoderate discourse they lived successful the satellite and successful the narrative,” Stinnett says. “We would've had to get clearances to usage existent cars due to the fact that [some of those] car companies inactive beryllium to this day. So [the vehicles successful Aether & Iron] are benignant of amalgamations of existing cars.
“So for the Lowers, which is the lowest conception of society, the moving people concern section, a batch of the cars are retrofitted to fly, but they were crushed cars originally. So you instrumentality a crappy Model T oregon something, it's each rusted retired and you retrofit it with lifters and that's however radical get around. And past by the clip you get to the apical of the city, everything's benignant of similar 1930s built from the crushed up to fly.”
Although the vehicles were designed from scratch, determination was inactive plentifulness of inspiration down Aether & Iron that the creators leaned into erstwhile gathering the game.
“One of the games that I archetypal fell successful emotion with was BioShock connected my Xbox 360,” Whitney says. “I fell successful emotion with the satellite truthful overmuch that I bought the books and made up stories successful my caput for what happened. And past Gangs New York and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, 2 movies that were instrumental successful my upbringing, decidedly find location successful [our game] due to the fact that of [their] romanticism. I deliberation that's thing that followed america done into Aether & Iron.”
Aether & Iron is disposable present connected Steam.
Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment astatine IGN, starring amusement contented and sum of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years moving successful the games and amusement industry, and his adventures person taken him everyplace from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him connected Bluesky @MichaelPeyton
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