Sker Ritual is a co-op wave shooter first and foremost but it will feature in-game challenges, tasks, and some soon-to-be-revealed events, which will reward you with story content (as well as unlockable content). The choice is yours, play solo if you're brave enough or grab up to 4 players to tackle the onslaught of Quiet men together.

Set shortly after the events of Maid of Sker, Sker Ritual takes place in the early-1900s with a little more of a steampunk influence. There is action, adventure, survival horror, mystery, and a little gothic science fiction. Sker Hotel has moved on a little since you last saw it, it's now in the 20th Century and has a few surprises still to come.

The Quiet Ones have returned, only now they seem a little more... undead. Maid of Sker fans might also recognize a new and improved Blazeslinger, Banshee, Mariner and Phantom. These juggernauts are tough to take down and each have a unique set of abilities that will force you to change-up your playstyle, change your location, or enlist the help of your teammates! Old enemies aren't the only ones to curse the lands of Sker, there will be more new faces — even some without faces.

Calling all inhabitants of Sker Island! The gates to the Sker Ritual Steam Early Access are open for all who dare enter on October 6, 2022 for $14.99 / £11.39 / €12,49 (which will be raised for the 1.0 launch).

"We understand delays are inevitable in game development but we think there's been just a little too much this year so we have made the decision to move the Early Access release date of Sker Ritual to the 6th October (10am PT / 6pm BST). With a highly successful testing period and exhibition at EGX London 2022, the team believe that Sker Ritual is ready now and we can’t wait for everyone to explore this new title in the Sker Universe. ICYMI, there is a tonne of content to come over the next 6 months with every Episode release, which we revealed in our Roadmap.

The earlier release date will also coincide with the launch of our Sker Collectors bundle (Maid of Sker & Sker Ritual). This will be a Complete the Set bundle, so anyone who already owns Maid of Sker will get double the discount savings!

Stay tuned for information on our upcoming free Sker Pass reward system (when we say free, we mean completely free, no premium option) as well as additional DLC & bundled content!"

All The Content On Launch

Episode One; the very first map 'Cursed Lands of Lavernock' is near completion. The map will feature all objectives, trials and a boss fight with the only major feature missing being some of our top secret Easter Eggs.

Sker Pass; a completely free cosmetic reward system with absolutely no premium pass option, just like they used to make 'em. The Sker Pass will launch with 50 free items (including masks, animated menu backgrounds, player icons, menu music, weapon charms and more) and each Episode update will offer 25 new items to unlock.

Additional DLC; optional bundles of themed cosmetic items will be available to purchase on the Steam store for $3.99 / £2.89 / €3.29. These are purely cosmetic to show off in-game.

The initial launch will feature English only however, we are already working on the localization for several other languages which we will implement as soon as possible. Want your language in the game? Let us know! So much more! So you want to know more? Well it just so happens our dev team are lurking in the official Discord server. If you need even more specifics, just ask.

What You Get in Each Episode Update

Each Episode will be a new map update with the added bonus of some Sker story (with some voice acting) that follows on from the events of Maid of Sker. There's been some confusion in the community about whether the game will feature a separate Story Mode and to answer that, it will not. Sker Ritual is a round-based co-op FPS and is not a replacement for a [hypothetical] Maid of Sker 2. Each Episode will add tons of new content including new maps, Elites, Bosses, objectives, trials, easter eggs and weapons. Plus you'll get major gameplay updates on the Miracles system, an in-game communication system and so much more.

The update schedule is as follows:

• October: The Cursed Lands of Lavernock
• December: The Ashes of Sker Hotel
• February: Sewers of the Dead
• April: Deadly Lover's Fortress

Sker Ritual is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam) in Q2 2023.