The Stone of Madness Introduces Its Most Violent Character [EXCLUSIVE]

Game Rant can share an exclusive video introduction to Leonora Guzman from The Stone of Madness. Her brief character vignette highlights her as the most openly violent member of the upcoming game’s roster.

Originally announced in August 2020, The Stone of Madness is a tactical stealth game from Sevilla, Spain-based studio The Game Kitchen. It tasks players with controlling a group of five prisoners looking to escape an 18th-century Spanish Monastery. It’s planned to be released for the PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on January 28, 2025. In the meantime, Steam users have been able to try out its demo since mid-October 2024.

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Ahead of the game’s debut, publisher Tripwire Interactive shared a brief character vignette dedicated to one of The Stone of Madness‘s playable characters, Leonora Guzman, which Game Rant can now exclusively reveal. The minute-long video paints Leonora as the most openly violent member of her group, who doesn’t shy away from brutal acts and is capable of both stunning and killing guards using a variety of means.

The Stone of Madness’s Leonora Isn’t All About Brute Force

Although she has no qualms about smashing a wooden plank over someone’s head or shooting them in the back, Leonora isn’t all about brute force. She also has the unique ability to pick locks, which is something that she learned from her father, who was a watchmaker. She’s hence capable of opening paths for other members of her group, who will also be able to return the favor with their own unique abilities.

Leonora’s character vignette portrays her as strong and nimble, to the point she’s capable of scaling ivy-covered walls and climbing vertical surfaces using a rope hook, which is another one of her unique traits. During nighttime sections of the game’s day-and-night cycle, she can bribe guards and play her violin to restore the party’s Sanity—a critical resource that players will need to manage if they don’t want their characters to succumb to violent outbursts, paranoia, or other mental issues, Darkest Dungeon-style.

The Stone of Madness: Leonora Guzman Overview

Another parallel between Darkest Dungeon and The Stone of Madness is that both incorporate unique phobias into gameplay. But while the former generates them randomly for every party member, the upcoming tactical stealth game has predetermined phobias for each character. In Leonora’s case, what she fears is fire, and consequently loses Sanity whenever she gets close to an open flame.

From the studio that brought you the Blasphemous series comes The Stone of Madness: a real-time tactical stealth game set in an 18th-century Spanish Monastery. Located in the Pyrenees, this time-worn Jesuit monastery is home to a madhouse and an inquisitorial prison. Five prisoners – plagued by cruel punishment, madness, and despair – pool their skills and resources to face their phobias, stave off insanity, uncover the mysteries of the Monastery, and find a way to escape.

Escaping such a well-guarded monastery is no easy task, but Agnes, Leonora, Eduardo, Amelia, and Alfredo are determined to see it through. Alternate control of all five characters and use their unique upgradable skills to cast spells, assassinate targets, distract enemies, stun evil spirits, explore hard-to-reach areas, and more.

Strategy

Real-Time Strategy

Released

January 28, 2025

Developer(s)

The Game Kitchen

Engine

Unity

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood, Sexual Content, Nudity

Steam Deck Compatibility

Unknown

X|S Optimized

Yes

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