Retro-Futuristic RPG Aether and Iron Shares New Gameplay [EXCLUSIVE]
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Game Rant can exclusively share a new Aether and Iron trailer, showcasing various aspects of the upcoming RPG. The Seismic Squirrel-developed title is presently on course for a 2026 launch, though a concrete release date for Aether and Iron has yet to be announced.
Originally revealed in March 2025, Aether and Iron is a retro-futuristic narrative-driven tactical RPG set in an alternate-history version of 1930s New York City, where anti-gravitational technology reshaped all aspects of life, fueled by a mysterious substance called aether. The TRPG casts players as Gia Randazzo, a jaded smuggler looking for her big break in the Big Apple.
Aether and Iron Showcases Ride Customization, Tactical Combat, and More
Half a year after first announcing its steampunk RPG, Issaquah, Washington-based developer Seismic Squirrel shared another Aether and Iron trailer, which Game Rant can exclusively reveal. The 75-second video establishes the game’s premise of playing as a smuggler who needs to rely on persuasion, deception, and brute force while undertaking a variety of missions. It also showcases various gameplay aspects of Aether and Iron, including tactical combat and ride customization.
Seen around the 20-second mark is a steampunk garage where the protagonist gets to tune her car. The trailer shows six component slots in total, governing the choice of the ride’s engine, propulsion devices known as repulsors, and up to four weapons. The selected parts determine the car’s weight, action points, storage capacity, and “heat”—a metric that appears to measure how conspicuous the vehicle is. Aether and Iron will also allow players to recruit and upgrade their allies and tune up their loadouts, determining who will be smuggling what and what kind of equipment they’ll have on hand. All those decisions will come into play during turn-based vehicular combat, which will incorporate some TRPG genre staples like environmental hazards.
Aether and Iron’s Story Is Penned by Mass Effect, Far Cry Writers
The trailer also offers a few glimpses of some Aether and Iron missions, which appear to provide objective variety beyond simply eliminating all enemies. Some missions include turn limits, while others task players with completing objectives as waves of enemies spawn at regular intervals. The Unity engine-powered title promises a story penned by a team of writers that previously worked on Mass Effect, Far Cry, and 2024 Victorian steampunk RPG Sovereign Syndicate. The narrative will see players explore the seedy underbelly of the game’s alternate-history 1930s NYC and make choices that will determine its fate, as per the project’s official synopsis. This pledge suggests that Aether and Iron will offer some degree of replay value.
The promise of narrative depth, political themes, dialogue-driven gameplay segments, and a sci-fi setting all indicate that Aether and Iron might appeal to Disco Elysium fans, even if it doesn’t abstain from traditional combat the way ZA/UM’s hit 2019 game does. More details about the retro-futuristic title are expected to emerge in the months ahead, as it gets closer to its planned 2026 launch.
