Imagine the 1930s never ended, but gravity did. You’re Gia Randazzo, a smuggler in a New York that’s been shattered into floating islands. These islands are actually held up by a glowy, unstable junk called Aether (hence the half part of the title). Now imagine BioShock Infinite meets The French Connection, but with turn-based car chases. That’s what you’ll think Aether & Iron is about. It trully looks like a million bucks. Aether & Iron is a brilliant narrative, even though it sometimes trips over its own shoelaces.
What to Expect:
Skill checks for Hustle, Smarts, and Brass dictate every narrative branch.
Turn-based combat is 100% vehicular, focusing on positioning and car-mounted weaponry.
A massive roster of 200+ voiced NPCs and companions that react to your history.
Praying to the Dice Gods
Be prepared to read in Aether & Iron. A lot. You will also make tough calls, keeping in mind the holy trinity of: Hustle, Smarts, and Brass. Every major standoff or bribe is a literal dice roll on the screen. It’s tense as hell, and it hurts deeply when you fail a critical check because of a bad roll. Aether & Iron os authentic to its tabletop roots, we get that. But we simply can’t shake the feeling that the game is actively working against you.
The combat is strictly vehicular. As a pilot, you are maneuvering a flying tank on a tactical grid. Slapping smoke dispensers and flamethrowers on your ride is oddly satisfying, but the fights are slow. Like watching paint dry on the wall – slow. Instead of high-speed chases, you’re often calculating action points just to parallel park behind an enemy.
On one hand, the writing is snappy and fast. The studio, Seismic Squirrel, is a mix of industry vets from Mass Effect and Far Cry teaming up with the narrative minds behind Sovereign Syndicate. You can feel that weight in the narrative department, especially in the companion system. You’re managing a crew from a pool of 200+ voiced characters, and their personal tragedies are legitimately the best part of the game.On the other, the combat feels like it’s stuck in second gear. We wonder if that’s intentional and if so whether the game is over-committing to realism at the expense of fun.
Hey, did you know that:
The soundtrack was composed by Christopher Tin (Civilization IV) and Alex Williamson, using a dynamic layering system that shifts music based on danger levels.
Early prototypes featured traditional Steampunk robots before the team pivoted to the “grounded” 1930s Decopunk look.
The game was researched using real 1930s NYC maps to ensure the “islands” mirrored actual historical neighborhoods.
The Checkered Flag
We respect the hell out of this game for actually trying to do something different. The world-building is the best we’ve seen this year. The design is like a stunning, hand-drawn Art Deco comic book come to life. The story goes to some dark, clever places, making you fully appreciate the layered mobster drama with companions that actually matter. You just have to be willing to forgive a lot of mechanical friction to see the finish line. The car combat can be seen as a sluggish slog, and the RNG dice rolls will get you close to wanting to throw your mouse.
Overall Score (8/10)
ID Card
- Developer: Seismic Squirrel, Chaos Theory Games
- Publisher: Seismic Squirrel
- Engine: Custom 2D Framework
- Platforms: PC (Steam / Steam Deck)
- Release Date: March 30, 2026
- Genre: Decopunk Narrative RPG / Turn-Based Tactics
Dev & Play Media 
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