Mike Morhaime's Dreamhaven continues to look for a hit, this time with a 'run-based' spin-off of Sunderfolk without the phone controls

Dreamhaven, the company unveiled in 2020 by Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime, has something new(ish) in the works, a "tactics roguelike game" for 1-4 players called Shadowstone that's set to launch later this year.

Shadowstone is being developed by Secret Door, the team behind the 2025 tactics RPG Sunderfolk, and you may notice a certain similarity between the two games. For a good reason, and this is why I called it "new(ish)": Stonehaven is set in the same game world as Sunderfolk and will feature some heroes from that game, although Dreamhaven says it's "a standalone experience from Sunderfolk that requires no experience with its campaign."

"The team at Secret Door continues to innovate with games that bring people together in positive ways," Morhaime said. "Shadowstone reflects that commitment by expanding the beloved Sunderfolk universe, and in a way that allows players to group up or take on this challenging adventure solo."

It sounds like Shadowstone will be something of a smaller-scale game than Sunderfolk, however. While Sunderfolk has prominent RPG aspects including various quests to take on and a village where players can purchase gear and upgrades and interact with locals, Shadowstone is a "run-based experience" where the only goal is to escape "shadowstone-infested ruins." Each run "presents a new nightmare with an endless array of randomized rooms and monsters," Dreamhaven said: "Every run requires its own strategy based on a constantly evolving pool of skill cards, versatile equipment, and adaptive powerups."

Another feature that will be absent from Shadowstone, at least when it launches into early access, will be the ability to play the game using your mobile phone. Sunderfolk enables players to do just that, and apparently it works quite well: PC Gamer's Lincoln Carpenter took it for a spin in 2025 and found the unusual control system "worked remarkably well." For Shadowstone, though, Secret Door said it plans to support full couch co-op by the time the game enters full release, but the early access launch will be mouse and keyboard only.

Interestingly, given all of the above, Secret Door is also "overhauling" Sunderfolk's control scheme in its long-awaited 2.0 update to add mouse and keyboard support for singleplayer and online multiplayer. Online multiplayer is also a new addition coming in the update; unlike the couch co-op multiplayer, which allows a group of people to play with just one copy of the game, everyone playing Sunderfolk online will have to own their own copy of the game. The update will also add a new hero to the game, the Vanguard, and new sets of missions. It's scheduled to go live on March 10.

While Shadowstone may feel less ambitious than Sunderfolk, Dreamhaven probably needs it to be a success. The company's games thus far, including Sunderfolk, Wildgate, and Lynked: Banner of the Spark, have failed to find large audiences. Sunderfolk was well received by critics and has positive user reviews on Steam, but that hasn't kept Dreamhaven out of the red.Morhaime warned in 2025 that Dreamhaven's "monthly expenses are outpacing revenue," and less than two weeks later the company laid off an unspecified number of employees. Shadowstone will be the publisher's first release since then.

An early access release date for Shadowstone wasn't announced, but it's set to arrive sometime in 2026. It's up for wishlisting now on Steam and the Epic Games Store.