Encore? I think you mean exorcism! Summerfall Studios is back at it again with the reveal of their next game and an impressive Kickstarter campaign. In a sea of roguelites, deckbuilders and roguelite deckbuilders, the award-winning Melbourne-based studio has its own demonic take on the genre favourite. Malys sees players delving into the occult as they perform exorcisms and take on fierce demons with every card in their deck. Guard your will as you survive encounters, burning cards to light candles that will light your way to strategic victory or an unholy end… unless.
Following up the Bafta-nominated, award-winning Stray Gods: A Roleplaying Musical is no easy task, yet Malys already oozes that style and class of Summerfall Studios’ last game. While this one’s not a musical, it does see that same talent being poured into a new spin on a familiar genre. Malys lets players dive into the world of Noah, a former priest turned demon-hunting exorcist. In a city teeming with demons, players will choose their own path with the help of the arcane. From those possessed by demons to friendly denizens, Noah certainly will need more than faith to guide the way.
With roguelite deckbuilders being the flavour right now thanks to their combination of strategy, stakes, replayability, and satisfying gameplay, Malys beckons players to sacrifice cards to light candles, which then allows players to play cards. Every hand could be salvation or certain demise if not played carefully. Runs will entail picking a path through the city, choosing which encounters are worth the risk as you gain faith – the game’s currency, which can buy run-long effects, add or remove cards, heal and upgrade cards.
Unlike other Kickstarters, Malys isn’t years away from release either. Summerfall Studios has plans to release the game within six months, after working with backers in an early access phase. Malys has already been in development for some time, yet with the current funding climate, the studio has acknowledged that the 1.0 version they can release needs further support. The funds from the Kickstarter will enable the team to support the game past the 1.0 release – that support will also allow Malys to be the best it can be. With the player experience being a driver for the early access period, this will allow the team to incorporate that feedback as it’s needed.
The Malys Kickstarter includes bonus rewards such as pins, artwork, amongst higher tiers, such as being able to name a demon after your ex, playing D&D with David Gaider, and even hanging out with the team at the studio if you can afford it! For those on a budget, the Holy Water Edition lets players pledge $30 AUD for a copy of the Malys, your name in the credits and digital wallpapers. For those really looking forward to hunting down some demons, there’s even a special backer-exclusive merch store. The Kickstarter backing period closes next Friday, May 23rd, 2025, if you’d like to support the game!
🔥DEMONIC DEALS OVER ON OUR MALYS KICKSTARTER! 🔥🖤 We're adding a new $75AUD Arcanist Edition with a Kickstarter Backer Exclusive In-Game Candle🖤 Name A Demon After Your Ex, Write An In-Game Scene, and D&D With David Gaider tiers are now ALL DISCOUNTED 🙌
— Summerfall Studios 🕯️Back our new game Malys on KS NOW🕯️ (@summerfallstudios.com) 2025-05-16T05:02:12.050049Z
To learn a little bit more about Malys, we also had the opportunity to interview the one and only David Gaider, the Creative Director of Summerfall Studios. Known for his time at BioWare, working on role-playing game staples such as the Dragon Age series, David is one of the co-founders of Summerfall Studios alongside Elie Young and Liam Esler.
Interview with David Gaider, Creative Director of Summerfall Studios
Stray Gods turned heads as a musical RPG marking Summerfall Studios’s debut. What makes Malys a uniquely Summerfall Studios Game?
D: The heart of Summerfall is our characters. We love to create characters to fall in love with, people who are deeply flawed but understood – or misunderstood, that challenge and are challenged by the player, and this means our focus is on character-driven stories, yes, but finding new ways to tell them. Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical was a character-driven story in the context of a musical, while Malys is just as character-driven but in the context of a more gameplay-driven deckbuilder. The storylet system and noir setting allows the player as Noah to meet and interact with a colourful cast of residents, from the tragic, to the intimidating, to the snarky, to the terrifying.
There’s been a surge in roguelite deckbuilders recently. How does Malys set itself apart from the others?
D: We wanted to find a way to make you feel immersed in Noah’s experience. Sometimes roguelite deckbuilders can be a little stepped back from the feelings of what you’re doing. How can we utilise soundscape, effects and design to elicit the moment to moment feeling and emergent narrative of an actual exorcism? It’s a challenge that has really ignited the creativity for the team. We’re not intending to completely reinvent the genre, but to infuse it with a bit of extra lore and worldbuilding in a new and interesting way. We really hope that fans of other roguelite deckbuilders find both familiar and exciting ground here.
There’s an emphasis on how a second game provides a studio “stability and longevity” in the Kickstarter. Given the industry climate, what does it actually take to reach that second release past funding?
D: We’re lucky enough to have had a relatively loud and successful (award-winning!) debut game, and yet that hasn’t been enough to completely secure our future. We have so many ideas and worlds up our sleeves that we are eager to bring to the public (and honestly, to ourselves) as well as a wonderful team that we want to keep working with. We just haven’t been able to secure the opportunity in the current economic climate. We want to make it happen, so we’re trying to make it happen for ourselves via Kickstarter.
With the focus on engaging with the community early on through Kickstarter, what parts of Malys is the team most excited to see players react to?
The demon designs are one of the absolute highlights of Malys, and they’ve come straight from the mind of our extremely talented Art Director, Benjamin Ee. Ben knew early on he didn’t want to just do typical “angry humanoid with horns” demons but something more primal, more connected to fear. Each demon has been concepted around this central idea of what scares you; from nightmares to possible deaths to objects and ideas, anything was game. Getting to write the narrative for these twisted demons let Ben (Gelinas) and I run pretty wild. We’re beyond excited for players to experience the visceral nature of a demon encounter, and hopefully find solid motivation to exorcise them for good.
If you’d like to support the Kickstarter for Summerfall Studios’ Malys, you can do so by pledging on Kickstarter here or wishlisting the game on Steam here.
