Void Tales is announcing its first game: Nendheu, an action roguelike set in Albanian mythology. You play as Arbër, a dragua, who descends into the underworld to defeat the kulshedra, a many-headed serpent that has stolen the mountain springs.
The story
Something has gone wrong in the mountains. The springs have stopped running, the fields are cracking and the villages are dying of thirst. The cause is the kulshedra, the great serpent of Albanian folklore, who has dragged the water down into Nëndheu, the world beneath the earth.
Only a dragua can go after her. Arbër was born with small wings folded beneath his arms and storms in his blood, and he is the hero you play. To bring the rain back, he has to go down into the underworld and take the kulshedra apart, one head at a time.
How it plays
Nendheu is a roguelike: you make runs into the underworld, and when you fall, you start again. Each descent reshapes the way down and the powers you can earn along it, and you fight with lightning and wind, the dragua's weapons in the old stories.
The kulshedra is fought head by head. Each head you sever frees a spring, and the heads that remain change how they fight back, so no two attempts on her play the same way.
Why Albanian mythology
The folklore of the Albanian mountains is full of material that games have barely touched: storm heroes with hidden wings, serpents that hoard water, mountain spirits that grant strength to heroes. We wanted to build a game that takes those stories seriously as a world, not as a coat of paint. If you want to know more about the myths themselves, we've written about the dragua, the kulshedra and Nëndheu, the world beneath the earth.
What's next
Nendheu is in development for PC. We'll share more, including screenshots and a release window, as the game takes shape. Sign up for release updates to hear first, or read more on the Nendheu page.
Press and creators can find our fact sheet, descriptions and logos in the press kit, or reach us at press@voidtales.com.