11 bit studios and Copenhagen-based indie team The Outer Zone have released a brand-new gameplay showcase for Death Howl, the studio’s soulslike deck-builder about a grieving mother battling through a spirit world.
The extended video arrives ahead of the game’s release date announcement and focuses on one of Ro’s optional quests, using a contained scenario to walk through core systems and how they interact in real play. The new trailer is live now with additional footage and prior trailers still available across official outlets.
Death Howl blends a deck-building toolkit with grid-based, turn-driven encounters and a deliberate, learn-by-doing pacing that borrows from soulslike design.
Cards fuel offense, defense, movement, and utility, while carved totems act as persistent modifiers that push you toward specific builds; the result is a combat rhythm where positioning, line-of-attack, and terrain traps matter as much as card value.
Ro is a hunter and a mother who enters the realm of spirits to defy death, and that theme threads through the overworld exploration and boss structure shown across recent demos and trailers.
The new side-quest footage highlights how Death Howl’s systems layer under pressure. Ro answers a plea from a suffering fish spirit, then navigates multi-turn setups that bait enemies into overextending before a counter, echoing the dodge-punish cadence of action soulslikes but translated into a tactical grid with card trade-offs.
Prior hands-on coverage has noted that movement and card play pull from the same pool, forcing tough choices between spacing and damage in every turn, and the trailer leans into that tension with environmental hazards and timing windows that reward mastery.
A three-person team, director/writer/artist Malte Burup, with Rasmus Nilsson and Lasse Sommer, has developed the game and received support from the Danish Film Institute’s The Games Scheme.
A physical console edition for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch is also planned via Silver Lining Interactive, currently targeted for early 2026.
I talked about Death Howl a while back after playing the demo that convinced me from the very first time. A firm release date has not been announced, but publisher 11 bit studios says more news is imminent. For now, you can wishlist the PC version on Steam or GOG and catch the latest trailer to see how its layered mechanics play out in the field.
