Drinkbox Studios, the team behind Guacamelee! and Nobody Saves the World, has revealed its next project: Blighted. Announced during Summer Game Fest and showcased further during Day of the Devs, Blighted is a new Metroidvania action-RPG with intense combat, brain-consuming power-ups, and a haunting western nightmare aesthetic.
You’ll take on the role of a lone survivor battling to reclaim the memories of a destroyed village. Along the way, you’ll harness a dangerous force known as the Blight, which not only powers you up, but also reshapes the world around you in unpredictable ways.
Memory, Mutation, and Metroidvania Combat
The reveal trailer for Blighted gave a first glimpse at the chaos you’ll face and the power you’ll wield. Combat looks sharp and fast, with timed strikes, combo chains, and brutal finishers. But what really sets it apart is the Blight. Every time you defeat an enemy or boss, you absorb it and the world starts to shift around you.
Devour a boss’s brain and you’ll gain their memories, unlocking new abilities and hidden paths. But the more you absorb, the more dangerous things get. Enemies change. The environment mutates. The game fights back. Exploration plays a big role too. Some areas only open up as your Blight grows, but that also makes things harder. If you don’t want to face it alone, the game supports full drop-in/drop-out co-op.
Drinkbox says this is their biggest game yet, and it shows. With reactive systems, fast-paced action, and a constantly shifting world, Blighted looks like a bold new direction for Metroidvania fans.
A Broken World and a Fight to Remember
The world of Blighted is as strange as it is haunting. Long ago, people were buried with seeds in their brains. These grew into memory trees, and the fruit from those trees passed on knowledge and tradition. That all changed when a powerful figure named Sorcisto broke the ritual. He devoured the brains raw, gained immense power, and destroyed everything, including your village.
You play as the lone survivor, fighting to reclaim the memories of your people before the Blight overtakes you. It’s a personal journey through a psychedelic western nightmare, filled with danger, decay, and deeply hidden secrets. The game’s atmosphere is shaped by the return of composer Jim Guthrie, whose score adds another layer to the unsettling tone. From the art to the music, everything in Blighted feels designed to pull you into its twisted world.
Drinkbox Studios is aiming for a 2026 release on PC and consoles. Based on what we’ve seen so far, this looks like a game worth keeping a close eye on. What do you think of Drinkbox’s bold new direction with Blighted? Are you diving in solo or bringing a co-op buddy?
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