Summer Eternal has revealed Red Rooster, an upcoming RPG that blends intricate worldbuilding, psychological role-playing, and physics-driven environmental interactions. The game will launch first on PC, with PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 versions planned for later. A release date has yet to be announced.
Players will step into the shoes of Redrick “Rooster” Roost, a white-collar inmate serving a life sentence for gross criminal negligence. With his parole hearing just a week away, he receives an offer from a government official: infiltrate the fire station run by his brother, the city’s fire chief, and investigate a suspected serial arsonist in exchange for a pardon.
Partnered with Dr. Astrid Albers, an opiate-dependent mathematician, and Rico, a nunchaku-wielding truth activist who works as a bus driver, Redrick must investigate a string of increasingly inexplicable fires while navigating the politics and mysteries of Arta-Tantor.
Set during an unprecedented heatwave in the final days of the longest summer on record, Red Rooster takes place in a fictional world inspired by 1980s Yugoslavia, the Eastern Bloc, Ottoman culture, Scandinavian social democracies, and the colonial Dutch Empire. The tripartite city of Arta-Tantor is also preparing to host the 13th Continental Summer Games as power outages and destructive fires threaten the region.
One of the game’s defining features is its fully physics-driven world, with objects that can be moved, manipulated, and burned. Developed in Unreal Engine, Red Rooster aims to combine the cerebral role-playing and elaborate worldbuilding of games such as Planescape: Torment, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, and Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura with the environmental interactivity of immersive sims and physics-driven RPGs.
Summer Eternal also plans to move beyond the traditional constraints of isometric RPGs, placing players in a three-dimensional environment with dynamic camera movement. Environmental interactions are intended to make the world more reactive to player decisions, with the studio aiming to create a city that feels as dynamic and consequential as Redrick’s own psychological struggles.
Beyond investigating fires and navigating the city’s political intrigues, players will also contend with Redrick’s fractured inner world. His mind contains a bizarre mental construct known as the “chicken coop,” where his darker alter egos offer another avenue for exploring the psychological side of the RPG.
The announcement is accompanied by Anthology Volume One, a 500-page physical book showcasing the game’s concept art, design, and worldbuilding. Summer Eternal says thousands of fans will receive the book within 48 hours of the announcement. A Deluxe Edition will also include a limited-edition 10-inch vinyl record featuring four tracks from the game’s soundtrack.
With its combination of psychological role-playing, political intrigue, and physics-based environmental interaction, Red Rooster is shaping up to be an unusual addition to the RPG genre. More details, including its release date, have yet to be revealed.