Expedition 33 with the Frenetic Power of KPop Demon Hunters”

A musical efficiency showing in a online game is nothing new, starting from the bardic melodies in The Witcher 3 to Raphael’s mid-boss combat quantity in Baldur’s Gate 3, however video video games which are additionally full-on musicals are nonetheless a comparatively area of interest phenomenon. As revealed at Tokyo Recreation Present 2025, writer Annapurna Interactive is becoming a member of the more and more standard pattern with Folks of Word, developed by Iridium Studios.

Folks of Word joins the ranks of Stray Gods, Wandersong, and the upcoming There Are No Ghosts at the Grand as a full musical-video recreation hybrid, full with a number of musical numbers carried out by the characters. It stars Cadence, a lady who goals of successful the Noteworthy Music Contest, a very powerful occasion within the metropolis of Chordia. However her unwillingness to stick to the competition’s pop-only guidelines places her within the sights of Smolder, Chordia’s high boy band/mercenary group, and forces Cadence to embark on an journey that can defy style.

Folks of Word is Clair Obscur Meets KPop Demon Hunters

Talking at a pre-Tokyo Recreation Present press occasion attended by Recreation Rant, Iridum Studios inventive director Jason Wishnov acknowledged that he introduced his and the group’s “theater child power” to the five-year improvement strategy of Folks of Word. When requested to explain the sport in a single sentence, Wishnov’s response was “the fight of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 mixed with the frenetic power of KPop Demon Hunters.” The sport is a brightly coloured celebration of all issues musical, mixed with traditional turn-based RPG fight, dungeon exploration, boss battles, and extra.

In Folks of Word, each battle can be a musical efficiency. As Cadence travels, she gathers allies who carry out in several genres than Chordia’s all-consuming pop from rock n’ roll to digital and extra. In turn-based combat, characters can group as much as carry out “genre-bending mashup assaults” in continuously evolving fight circumstances. Fight focuses closely on the get together working collectively, creating not only a group that may combat as one however a cohesive musical ensemble able to delivering a star-making efficiency on the Noteworthy Music Contest.

The Iridium Studios group promised that Folks of Word shall be stuffed with “puzzle dungeons, party-based fight, many musical numbers, and plenty and many puns.” The sport is at present scheduled for a 2026 launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Sequence X/S. Extra info, together with a concrete launch date, is prone to be revealed within the coming months.

Folks of Word Continues Annapurna’s Dedication To Delivering Distinctive Video games

Annapurna Interactive has developed a fame for delivering distinctive and progressive indie video games, and Folks of Word is not any exception. Earlier Annapurna titles that experimented with style and kind embrace the time-looping Outer Wilds, the cat-focused adventures of Stray, and the literary puzzler Storyteller. Folks of Word continues this custom by its use of music in each fight and storytelling, its puzzle-heavy dungeons, and its colourful, futuristic world.

The writer additionally has expertise with titles that closely incorporate music, akin to 2019’s Sayonara Wild Hearts and 2021’s The Suave Escape. Folks of Word, with its mixture of genres and heavy use of music in its storytelling, is an ideal match for Annapurna’s 2026 catalog, which additionally contains the puzzle title D-topia and the action-adventure recreation Demi and the Fractured Dream, each additionally revealed at Tokyo Recreation Present. Gamers enthusiastic about Folks of Word however in search of one thing to tide them over till 2026 can even try Bounty Star and Mixtape, two Annapurna titles that shall be launched later in 2025.