Open-World RPG Asterfel: Playtest for the Spiritual Gothic Successor Starts on April 17

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:51:00 -0400
asterfel, open world, rpg

If, like me, you spent the 2000s playing Piranha Bytes’ Gothic series,Asterfel is a name worth remembering. Why? Well, Mysteria Studio’s open-world RPG wants to pick up where Gothic and similar old-school greats left off—and the first playtest begins on April 17.

Quick Facts

Developer / Publisher

Mysteria Studio UG

Platforms

PC

Release

Coming soon

PEGI

-

Modes

Singleplayer

Languages

English · German

Price

-

Monetization

-

Free saving

-

Say it with me: open-world RPGs are the meaning of life.

No. 😉 But I do love RPGs, especially when they actually have proper RPG systems. Compare The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind to Skyrim and you’ll know exactly what I mean. I’m not about to break out the old "everything used to be better" routine, because that wouldn’t be true either. Twenty years ago—or more—RPG tech was often terrible, or at least pretty clunky. But those games also leaned much harder into the role-playing side of things, and that matters to me.

In other words, I usually end up happiest with the genre’s old-school camp, and that includes Piranha Bytes’ Gothic. So when a German studio comes knocking with a singleplayer game like Asterfel, I’m obviously throwing the door open on the spot ("Get in—now!"). Because Asterfel is cut from very much the same cloth: third-person perspective, swords, bows, rune magic, factions, choices that shape the hero’s path, and all the rest of it.

Naturally, I’d love to play something like that right away—but, as usual, Asterfel’s release date still seems a long way off. You know, "Coming soon" really means: "This could still be one, two, or even five years away." Still, there is a bit of a consolation prize here, because Mysteria Studio has a playtest lined up for April 17. Tempted? You can request access via the game’s Steam page.

What’s Asterfel about?

When an RPG calls itself "old school," that usually also means you’re getting a pretty classic story setup. And that’s exactly the case with Asterfel:

You play a shipwrecked survivor who ends up stranded in the island nation of Asterfel. There, the king’s magical mines have, through sheer exploitation, awakened mutated creatures and an ancient god; nature and magic are spinning out of control, and even the dead are clawing their way out of the grave. The key groups in this setting are the Crown Wardens, the rebellious Kindred, and the magic-focused Scholars.

A look at Asterfel’s world, which, at least here, is looking pretty nice and green. (Promo shot)

Right: those groups are, of course, the game’s three factions. They’re meant to define your overall playstyle, though it’s still unclear whether this will go the full Gothic route—where people beat the hell out of you if you seriously get on their nerves. Maybe the playtest will clear that up.

Other key features in Asterfel include character progression, meaning skill upgrades, questing, open-world exploration, and apparently mining and crafting too. The playtest trailer further down gives you a quick taste of what...