Berlin solo studio Spiritguide Games released ShadowStarter, a free 30-minute teaser for its narrative RPG Dragon Soul: Awakening. Its Kickstarter campaign runs until 24 November.
The teaser lets you try the game’s oddest idea before backing it. You’re kidnapped by Shadow, a black dragon who can’t be killed, and talking is your only way out. Combat is a quick-fire conversation: you read your opponent and break through their emotional Mask before their Patience runs out. Spiritguide Games names Monkey Island’s insult sword fighting and Undertale as inspirations.
Spiritguide Games says creators are welcome to record and stream ShadowStarter, a standalone encounter on itch.io for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The release doesn’t say whether the teaser will also appear on Steam.
The full game casts you as an office worker stuck in a 9-to-5 loop who hears a dragon speak. Between battles, you spend eleven months in Sahkuru, a city inspired by Berlin, building Soul Bonds with 13 characters (five of them romance options). Spiritguide Games also promises three timelines and multiple endings.
The Kickstarter aims to raise €52,000. Rewards start at €20 for a Steam key, and higher tiers add the soundtrack, artbook, beta access, a Tiah plushie, or the chance to design an NPC. According to the release, the money goes to “human-made art, music, programming and polish.” The game’s Steam page also carries a generative AI disclosure. It says the logo, some backgrounds, character sprites, UI elements, and music were made with AI-assisted workflows. Some of those assets are placeholders that will be replaced before the full release.
Spiritguide Games is the studio of Hannah Azok, who writes, programs, directs, and composes the game. Her years in Berlin and Tokyo shaped its mix of German and Japanese culture, and she wrote three novels and more than fifteen short stories before turning to games. The release explains the game’s origin bluntly:
over 30 years of emotional trauma from video games making her kill dragons.
Spiritguide Games, press release
Dragon Soul: Awakening is coming to PC and Mac on Steam in English, but the studio hasn’t set a release date. Its Steam page lists it as TBD. Until then, the free teaser is the way to find out whether you can talk a dragon down.
