A solo Swedish developer is taking aim at fans of classic dungeon-crawling RPGs with an upcoming project called Häxeri, framed as a love letter to the slow-burn, map-drawing style of games like Etrian Odyssey, Wizardry, and Shin Megami Tensei. The title is being built by Fabian Sorensson under his Tarpit Games banner and is currently targeting a 2027 release window, according to a recent Time Extension report.
Time Extension describes Häxeri as aimed at players who enjoy “methodical party-building, careful mapping, and turn-based combat” — three pillars that have defined the first-person dungeon crawler genre for decades. Sorensson has reportedly been working on the project for the past two years, framing it as a tribute to the Etrian Odyssey franchise, which has been largely dormant in terms of new mainline entries.
Why This Matters to Retro-First Dungeon Crawl Fans
The Etrian Odyssey line from Atlus revitalized the traditional dungeon RPG on handhelds starting in 2007, leaning hard on the player’s willingness to sketch their own maps on the touch screen of the Nintendo DS. Its grid-by-grid exploration, deadly traps, and deep party customization earned it a devoted following that has spent years waiting for a true successor. Häxeri explicitly positions itself in that lineage, promising similar design sensibilities rather than a streamlined modern take.
Meanwhile, the Wizardry series — which traces its roots back to 1981 on the Apple II — effectively wrote the rulebook for party-based, first-person dungeon delving that countless RPGs, including the original Final Fantasy, openly borrowed from. Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus’s flagship franchise since 1992, layered demon negotiation and press-the-weakness turn-based combat onto the same skeletal framework, eventually spinning off the globally popular Persona sub-series. Häxeri openly draws from all three wells.
What to Watch Going Forward
Solo-developed dungeon crawlers have a notoriously mixed track record — projects of this scope can balloon in scope or quietly stall — but Sorensson’s two-year head start and a defined 2027 target suggest at least a playable build is taking shape. For retro arcade and gaming enthusiasts who keep one foot planted in the era of mapping paper grids by candlelight, the RetroArcade news section will track Häxeri as more concrete details, screenshots, and platform announcements surface.
Source: Time Extension