Online speculation regarding a pirate title from FromSoftware has persisted for months, though the developer has made no official announcements. While fans currently have access to Sea of Thieves, Skull and Bones, an Assassin's Creed: Black Flag remake, and the upcoming Sea of Remnants, a true pirate soulslike has been missing until now. An indie creator has stepped forward to address this gap. On October 30, a brand-new open-world game titled Keelblade launched publicly, promising a difficult pirate soulslike adventure paired with detailed survival crafting elements.
Gamers can visit the Steam store to add Keelblade to their wishlists ahead of its scheduled 2027 release date.
Keelblade Offers Intense Soulslike Combat & Bosses
Keelblade merges open-world navigation with difficult action gameplay. Users navigate a sprawling fantasy environment using personalizable pirate vessels, exploring uncharted landmasses and searching for concealed riches. These territories house hostile creatures, including standard trolls and colossal crabs.
Survival demands precise defensive execution. Fighting enemies relies on exact timing for dodges, rolls, parries, and guard breaks. The title also provides extensive character personalization options. Users can wield strong magical abilities and modify their gear to function as durable tanks or supportive allies.
The software includes difficult boss encounters featuring large red health meters. Users battle a cannon-wielding humanoid sea entity called Pete, along with a mutated dog-like shark pierced by harpoons. The open map also contains a gigantic dragon that breathes fire onto user vessels, bearing a strong resemblance to the Red Dragon found in Demon's Souls. Following victories, users can replay these boss battles through a dedicated Challenge Mode that introduces stricter modifiers for increased difficulty. Non-player characters typical of the genre, such as a giant turtle blacksmith, also appear.
Cooperative Play & Ship Building
Unlike standard soulslike software, Keelblade features cooperative multiplayer. Teams of up to six people can travel through the environment together without boundaries holding them back, allowing groups to separate entirely so one person investigates an island on foot while others sail elsewhere.
The system discards traditional summon signs seen in FromSoftware releases, meaning users never need to rejoin sessions following a defeat or a boss encounter. The entire team advances through quests simultaneously, mirroring the multiplayer style of Sea of Thieves.
Vessel personalization is another core element. Users collect timber and locate new blueprints while investigating dangerous shores, then construct buildings directly onto the decks of their ships. Crews can convert their watercraft into a living quarters, a kitchen, a workshop, or a cargo hold. Users can add Keelblade to their Steam wishlists to get ready for the 2027 launch.