Games / Web3

Castle of Blackwater

Castle of Blackwater: a multiplayer social deduction game, built from first sketch to worldwide launch on Steam by two of the owners of TopDevs.

International·Multiplayer game, blockchain and websiteVisit website

Worldwide on Steam
Launch
91% positive
Steam reviews
Free to play
Model
10 characters, 20+ minigames
Content

About Castle of Blackwater

Castle of Blackwater is a game of our own, backed by Beam and other investors. It is a social deduction game with a magical twist: players get a faction and a character, do tasks in the castle and try to work out who is lying. The game runs on Windows and macOS and is free on Steam.

The challenge

You cannot build half a social deduction game. The genre lives on what happens between players, so everything has to work online, in real time, with strangers talking, lying and voting. We did not want a clone of what was already out there either: the castle needed characters of its own with an ability each, tasks that are fun to do and a reason to keep playing once you are dead. On top of that came a second layer, with a token, smart contracts and NFTs. All of it with a small team, from the first drawing to the launch on Steam.

The analysis

The conversation is the game. That is why in Castle of Blackwater you only hear whoever is standing close to you: voice chat works by distance, and so does text chat. Whispering in a corner of the cellar is possible, and once someone walks off, you no longer hear them.

In this genre, dying usually ends your evening. Here you play on as a ghost. You collect souls and spend them on power-ups for your team, so a player who was eliminated early still has a say in how the round ends.

Ten characters with an ability each make every round different. The Sheriff follows blood trails, the Silencer shuts someone up in the middle of a discussion and the Werewolf transforms at night. Next to the two camps you expect in this genre there is a third faction that plays both sides.

Tasks had to be more than a bar filling up. There are over twenty of them, each a minigame of its own: slicing vegetables, chopping down a tree, lighting candles in the right order.

The game has a blockchain layer of its own: the COBE token, the smart contracts around it and NFTs, approved by Steam.

The animated trailer of Castle of Blackwater: the castle at night and the first murder — From the game's cinematic trailer.

What we built

01
The game: rounds, factions and votes
A 2D game in Unity in which up to ten players do tasks, keep an eye on each other and decide in voting rounds who has to go.
4 parts
- Online rounds for up to ten players
- Three factions with a goal each: Protectors, Satanic and Forgotten
- Voting rounds in which players accuse each other and vote someone out
- Eliminated players play on as ghosts and buy power-ups for their team
02
Ten characters with an ability each
Every character plays differently, from investigating and protecting to eliminating.
4 parts
- Sheriff: follows the blood trail a killer leaves behind
- Mentalist: sees the active statuses of other players
- Knight: protects allies with a shield
- Silencer and Werewolf: silencing someone, or transforming at night
03
Over twenty minigames
The tasks in the castle are short games you finish under pressure while you keep looking over your shoulder.
3 parts
- More than twenty tasks, each a minigame of its own
- From slicing vegetables to a musical memory game with candles
- Quick tasks you pick up along the way
04
Art, animation and sound
The game's visuals and audio were made in-house: the castle, the characters, the interface and the music.
4 parts
- 2D art for environments, characters and interface
- Over 200 items to customise your character, from weapons and shields to emotes
- Custom elimination animations
- Sound design and music
05
Voice and text chat by distance
Chat follows where you are standing, which makes bluffing a lot more tense.
3 parts
- Proximity voice chat: you hear whoever is standing near you
- Text chat with the same distance rule
- Windows and macOS
06
Blockchain, website and launch
Everything around the game: the token with its contracts, the website with accounts and the release on Steam.
4 parts
- Token contract (COBE) and the smart contracts that go with it
- NFTs
- Website with news, factions, characters and an account area
- Worldwide release on Steam in March 2025, free to play since July 2025