Flaming Fowl Studios, the developer that announced and then shelved a game on the same day in April amid financial difficulties, has unveiled its latest project, a comedic sci-fi auto-battler called Konfronto that's set to release on PC later this year.
Founded in 2016 by former members of original Fable developer Lionhead Studios, Flaming Fowl made a name for itself with the release of card battler Fable Fortune, but is perhaps best known for its critically acclaimed digital adaptation of the popular board game Gloomhaven.
The studio’s third release, a co-op RPG with turn-based combat called Ironmarked, was revealed in April, but it wasn’t exactly a time for celebration. Instead, Flaming Fowl’s unusual announcement came with the news that the project was being shelved due to the current lack of funding in the industry and, worse yet, that they’d been forced to lay off around 20 people at the studio. The hope was that the Ironmarked announcement and accompanying demo would be a way to showcase the team’s work and help them find work elsewhere.
As for the remaining nine employees, Flaming Fowl said they would be turning their attention to a small, self-funded strategy title they planned to release before the end of the year. And five months later, we now know that game is Konfronto.
Konfronto is described as a “sci-fi roguelike auto-battler” in which players control and upgrade an intergalactic aircraft carrier. They’ll need to outfit it with new spaceships, equip it with “weird and wonderful” technologies, and hire its crew, all in order to battle in asynchronous multiplayer.
“The position of the charge elements can trigger incredible combos with other charges or combine to create completely new technology,” he explains. Konfronto Steam Page“Hundreds of unique items means billions of combinations, and we've tried them all… seriously, don't look at it.”
There’s no release date for Konfronto beyond a vague “2024” window, but it will arrive as a Steam Early Access version when it appears. The initial “fully playable” version is said to feature “a lot of content,” but the goal is to add more ships, cargo, and crew members, along with an improved UI and other features, as Early Access continues. Flaming Fowl says it expects Konfronto to remain in Early Access for about six months, depending on feedback.
To give interested players a taste of Konfronto action, Flaming Fowl will be releasing a demo of the game as part of Steam NextFest in October. “NextFest is a great opportunity for self-publishing developers like us,” creative director Mike West said in a statement accompanying Konfronto’s announcement. “We really hope the community enjoys what we’ve made, or at least pretends to enjoy it if they’re streaming.”