Upcoming RPG Promises Neverwinter Nights Vibes With a Steampunk Touch

Neverwinter Nights, but in the 17th century? Sold!

When it comes to RPGs, with a few notable exceptions, my tastes always lead me back to the golden era of CRPGs: It's hard to beat classic masterpieces like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, or Neverwinter Nights. Some modern games have positioned themselves as spiritual successors to that genre, like Pillars of Eternity, but in general it's hard to find new games that capture the feeling of these classics. Enter Covenant of Gears: The Three Musketeers.

The game, officially announced on Aug. 10, comes from French publisher and developer Super AC. Nowadays, the words "French" and "RPG" immediately call to mind 2025's multiple Game of the Year awards winner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but Covenant of Gears looks very different from Sandfall Interactive's smash hit. The game's Steam page describes it as "a tactical RPG set in a reinvented 17th-century France," with a blend of alternate history and steampunk technology. The player will control the four iconic characters from the novels of French author Alexandre Dumas: the Three Musketeers — Athos, Porthos, and Aramis — and their pal D'Artagnan.

It sounds weird, original, and I'm here for it. I love Alexandre Dumas' novels and their world of intrigue, adventure, and larger-than-life characters. I can't wait to see how the game will adapt the evil Cardinal Richelieu. The character has a story of great actors playing this role in the movie adaptations of The Three Musketeers: Charlton Heston in the 1973 version, Tim Curry in the 1993 one, and Christoph Waltz in 2011. Perhaps Super AC will manage to hire Ben Starr or, dare I say, J.K. Simmons for the role.

However, the setting isn't the only thing interesting about this game. The four swashbuckling friends each come with an assigned class. D'Artagnan is the warrior, Porthos is the tank, Athos is the sharpshooter, and Aramis is the assassin. Each character also has a customizable skill tree, and players will be able to unlock powerful coordinated maneuvers and synergistic actions.

Covenant of Gears: The Three Musketeers will feature real-time combat with tactical pause. If that's not enough of a callback to CRPGs, the game also comes with a modular campaign editor you can use to build your own adventures and locations, which can then be shared through the Steam Workshop. It reminds me of the countless hours spent fiddling with Neverwinter Nights' Aurora Toolset and the massive online community that surrounded the game with dedicated servers.

From the videos and pictures shared by the developer, Covenant of Gears looks and feels like a spiritual sequel to the Neverwinter Nights series. While nostalgia is easy to exploit, the game will also have to stand on its own. Luckily, everything I've seen until now seems promising. The only bad news is that Covenant of Gears is not coming anytime soon: the game is expected to enter early access in the fourth quarter of 2027. A Kickstarter page will go live soon to collect funds to hire more personnel and to cover operational costs.

Covenant of Gears: The Three Musketeers promises to blend two things that I love: the world of swashbuckling adventures created by Alexandre Dumas and the CRPGs I grew up playing. I can't wait for the game to hit early access in late 2027.