Toronto-based developer Hilltop Studios has just revealed its second major project, Curse of Resthaven, a narrative-driven roguelike that studio director Scott Christian calls "a radical shift" from the team's award-winning debut game, Lil' Guardsman. Announced during the Indie Fan Fest, you'll enter the dark and gloomy island colony of Resthaven with seven days to discover the mystery behind the cursed island and save its inhabitants from the time loop.
While the colourful presentation of Lil' Guardsman can make you feel like the stakes are relatively small, deciding whether or not to let people into the kingdom with its comedic twist on Papers, Please (a game we listed as one of the best strategy games from 2020), the look of Curse of Resthaven helps you understand immediately how high the stakes are.
Because you're not just risking letting a shady character behind the kingdom's walls. Failure to break the time loop means the entire island is destroyed. You arrive at Resthaven as the new governor, though your attraction to Resthaven is not strictly professional - your niece has mysteriously disappeared, and in between your governing duties, you'll have to try and find her, a quest that could also lead to finding more about the gloomy island.
You'll spend each seven-day run speaking to the townspeople, trading with the vendors at the dock and doing your best to keep the town chugging along, and perhaps even thriving as best as it can given the circumstances.
As you'd expect from a rougelite, each new run gives you new opportunities to learn from past mistakes, unlock new avenues, and collect a stash of resources to help you uncover the island's darker mysteries when you go on excursions outside of the main town with some of Resthaven's characters.
In a similar fashion to Lil' Guardsman, the team at Hilltop is leaning on its narrative and visual chops, with Curse of Resthaven being entirely hand-drawn in its novel art styles, and it'll feature 25 fully-voiced characters and a new original score from Christian, who also composed the score for Lil' Guardsman.
While the game is being developed by Hilltop Studios, the studio is working with Digital Bandidos, an indie publisher founded by veterans from Hilltop's publisher for Lil' Guardsman, Versus Evil, to publish the game. "We’re delighted to be working with the Hilltop Studios team again, and honoured that they chose us to support them in bringing their next adventure to market," said Digital Bandidos chief executive officer and co-founder, Steve Escalante. "Curse of Resthaven's thrilling story and beautiful art style had the Bandidos team intrigued from the very beginning, and we can't wait to share the final game with players everywhere."
There's currently no specific release date for Curse of Resthaven, though Hilltop states it plans to have the game arrive on PC, Mac, and consoles "later this year."
"Despite being a radical shift from the cartoon world of Lil' Guardsman, Curse of Resthaven builds on everything we learned making that game," adds Christian. "It's evocative, story-rich gothic horror, like if Twin Peaks and Lost had an eldritch baby raised by Edgar Allen Poe. We want it to move people, spook them, and be a lot of fun to play."
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
