Every so often a game arrives with no marketing budget, no publisher muscle and almost no warning, and simply wins players over on merit. Stonemachia is shaping up to be one of those stories. The dark action soulslike from tiny Italian studio Crossfall Games launched on Steam on May 26, 2026, and has rocketed to a Very Positive rating, with roughly 96% of hundreds of early reviews coming back glowing.
The pitch is unlike anything else on the storefront. You play as Zefiro, a humble Pawn — yes, a chess pawn — on a Dantesque pilgrimage through the plague-stricken world of Medhelan, where armies of angels stand between you and paradise. As you progress, Zefiro can adopt the forms of other chess pieces, transforming into a Knight, Rook, Bishop or Queen, each unlocking a distinct fighting style and reshaping how you approach the game's punishing combat.
Bloodborne meets Dante's Inferno
Critics and players have reached for the same comparisons: the oppressive gothic dread of Bloodborne fused with the apocalyptic religious imagery of Dante's Inferno, all filtered through a striking aesthetic steeped in classical Italian art and folklore. The result is a soulslike that feels distinct in a crowded genre, leaning on its chess-piece class system to give build variety a literal, tactile identity.
That class-swapping conceit is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in early praise. Rather than committing to a single archetype, players can shift their entire moveset and defensive options on the fly, encouraging experimentation against the game's bosses and the angelic legions that patrol Medhelan. For a debut from a small team, the depth on offer has caught a lot of people off guard.
A debut worth watching
Crossfall Games is a newly formed Italian outfit, which makes the polish and confidence of Stonemachia all the more notable. Soulslikes live and die by feel — the weight of an attack, the fairness of a death — and the warm reception suggests the studio has nailed the fundamentals while bringing a genuinely fresh hook to the table.
Stonemachia is available now on PC via Steam. If the early word holds, it is exactly the kind of out-of-nowhere indie success the soulslike scene thrives on — and a strong calling card for whatever Crossfall Games does next.
