As their recent Kickstarter makes clear, the folks at Half Human Games set out to make a Zelda-inspired action RPG with tower-defense combat, and it looks like they're succeeding. It's called Dwerve, and it's expected to release in June 2021.

In Dwerve you will play as a young dwarven tinkerer who must adventure into the ancient ruins of his ancestors, which are now crawling with an army of bloodthirsty trolls and other vile monsters:

Backstory & Lore

In the massive hollow mountain of Mount Crowcrest, there once lived a great nation of dwarves. The dwarves discovered power stones while mining deep in the mountain. They used them to power machines and, eventually, entire cities. They lived in peace and prosperity for centuries.

Over time they became infatuated with power stones and dug deeper to find more. One day they dug too deep and unleashed the Gloomdark Hordes, an army of trolls and monstrous creatures. Once the dwarves realized that trolls turned to stone in the sunlight, they fled far from the mountain and found refuge on the sunny Hills of Brekka.

Centuries passed and, over time, the dwarves forgot their traditions and abandoned craftsmanship and innovation in favor of warring and raiding. History became myth, and myth became bedtime stories. But whispers of a long forgotten darkness echo throughout the valley of the great mountain. It can be heard in the Snoring Forest, by those who dare to enter...

So how does he defend himself in these dark dungeons? Well, although he does pick up weapons and movement skills along the way, he primarily chooses to fight by building automated turrets and setting traps to fend off hordes of would-be attackers. There are over a dozen lethal contraptions you'll be able to add to your arsenal, each with its own unique upgrade tree:

Combat involves making strategic decisions about which turrets and traps to build and where. During a battle you must rebuild, swap out, and reposition turrets to adapt to new waves of enemies and a dynamic battlefield!

Dwerve can build turrets that fill his foes with arrows, burn them to ash, explode them into pieces, electrocute them, hack and slash them, stab their feet with spikes, and even punch them into pits with a giant mechanical boxing glove!

In essence, they've taken the mechanics of old SNES 16-bit RPGs — with plenty of exploring, looting, and questing to go around — and added this whole other tactical warfare layer on top. It's an interesting combo, and we can't wait to get our hands on it, hopefully next summer.

If you head over to the official Dwerve site, there's an email sign-up form at the bottom if you want to keep up with their development updates. You can also go ahead and add the game to your Steam wishlist.