Teyon returns with Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish, a first-person action RPG set in World of Darkness and targeting summer 2027. Here is what the reveal tells us about their shooter-RPG hybrid and how it might adapt the tabletop roots.
Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish has finally been made official, and it is very clearly positioned as Teyon’s next big licensed project after RoboCop: Rogue City. Where RoboCop translated a cult movie icon into a slow, weighty shooter with light RPG touches, Deathwish aims higher on the role-playing side, using the World of Darkness tabletop rules as its backbone and a first-person perspective to put players directly behind the sights.
Revealed during the Xbox Partner Preview and confirmed after its brief accidental appearance on Steam, Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish is a first-person action RPG set in White Wolf’s World of Darkness. It is in the same universe as Vampire: The Masquerade and set in modern New York, where vampires, werewolves and other monsters pull strings from the shadows. You play as a Hunter, one of the rare humans who has glimpsed that hidden layer and chosen to fight back instead of looking away.
That World of Darkness connection is more than just a logo. Teyon and publisher Nacon are basing Deathwish on the 5th edition of the Hunter: The Reckoning tabletop rules, which reframe Hunters as relatively ordinary people working together in small “cells” to tackle creatures that are far stronger on paper. That informs both story and structure. Rather than empowered super-soldiers, Deathwish’s protagonists are fragile, angry and improvisational, leaning on planning, information and relationships to survive the supernatural underworld.
The reveal describes Deathwish as a first-person action RPG rather than a straightforward shooter. Teyon is expanding the RoboCop formula into something more deliberate and systemic. Combat still anchors the experience, but it is wrapped in investigation sequences, dialogue, branching quests and character progression. The team points to Baldur’s Gate 3 as an influence on how quests can be approached in multiple ways, and to shows like Supernatural for the monster-of-the-week flavor that sits on top of a larger conspiracy.
Mechanically, that first-person view serves a few purposes. It creates immediate tension during urban hunts through alleys, clubs and subway tunnels where vampires and other horrors hide in plain sight. It also supports more granular buildcraft. You will create your Hunter, choose skills, specialize in particular weapons or disciplines and then test that build directly in the field. Where RoboCop was about feeling like a walking tank, this is about walking into a fight you might not win, then using gadgets, environment and allies to claw out a victory.
Teyon is pitching Deathwish as a story-heavy RPG. The studio is promising a branching narrative, companion bonding, romance options and a semi-open structure that allows for both a main storyline and substantially different side quests. That is a notable jump in ambition from RoboCop’s more hub-like progression. The idea is to capture some of the tabletop feeling of a World of Darkness chronicle, where small choices about who you trust, who you save and how far you are willing to go can echo over many sessions.
The Hunter source material pushes the team toward a grounded tone. Players will operate as part of a cell, with NPC allies who have their own goals and moral lines. How faithfully Teyon represents that dynamic will be a key point for tabletop fans. The reveal materials talk about companion relationships and the ability to shape your Hunter’s personality through dialogue and decisions. If that is backed by reactivity in quests and combat support behaviors, Deathwish could tap into the feeling of long term party play that tabletop groups know so well.
Structurally, Deathwish sits in an interesting middle space. It is not described as a fully open world, but rather as a semi open city shaped around investigations and hunts. Expect districts of New York that act as hunting grounds, each with its own flavor and its own supernatural ecosystem. Steam and press descriptions mention tracking monsters from public spaces to their lairs, suggesting that information gathering and careful scouting will matter before bullets start flying.
For shooter and RPG fans watching this reveal, there are a few specific aspects worth tracking as Deathwish moves toward its summer 2027 release window. First is how Teyon handles build depth. RoboCop had perk trees and upgrades but remained straightforward. Deathwish points to more flexible character creation and skills, which will need enough mechanical bite to satisfy RPG players without losing the accessibility that helped RoboCop land with a wider audience.
Second is encounter design. World of Darkness monsters are supposed to be terrifying and out of your league, especially for baseline humans. The reveal copy leans into that dynamic of prey becoming predator over time. Translating that into gameplay means encounters that can feel unfair if handled like a normal shooter, but rewarding if you come in prepared. Enemy behaviors, stealth or deception mechanics and the consequences of going loud versus staying subtle will all determine whether the Hunter fantasy truly works.
Third is narrative integration. World of Darkness lives or dies on mood, themes and the sense that your character is part of a morally gray, ongoing story. Teyon is building in romance, companion arcs and branching quests that can resolve in different ways. The important question is how much that story can bend. Will failed hunts reshape factions in the city, or will most missions remain relatively self contained? How far can you lean into vengeance, mercy or paranoia before the game pushes back?
Finally, there is the long runway to launch. With a summer 2027 window and multi platform release across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles and PC, Deathwish has time to evolve in public. Fans should pay attention to how later gameplay showings present the balance between gunplay and RPG elements, what kind of cell management or downtime systems are included and how much freedom there is in approaching investigations.
RoboCop: Rogue City surprised a lot of players by respecting its license and doubling down on fantasy driven design. Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish is aiming to repeat that trick in a very different sandbox. If Teyon can successfully merge a tense first-person shooter with the social and moral texture that defines World of Darkness, it could be one of the more distinctive action RPGs in the crowded 2027 calendar.