Deep Rock Galactic's publisher is backing ACORN, a 15-minute roguelike about rodent rebels

Ghost Ship Publishing, the label attached to Deep Rock Galactic and its spin-offs, has announced ACORN: Seed of Resistance, a roguelike RPG auto battler from Guidelight Games. It was revealed with a trailer at the Big Break Showcase and is due on PC via Steam in 2027.

A fallen order of rodents

The setup, per the Steam listing, is that your order swore to protect the realm, was betrayed from inside and nearly wiped out, and its survivors are now blamed for the crimes they were trying to stop. You start each mission with a single hero travelling alone and build outward, recruiting refugees, mercenaries and sympathisers into a party of woodland animals who then fight for you automatically.

Fifteen minutes a go

Guidelight is targeting roughly fifteen minutes per run. Between fights you explore procedurally generated country, ambush patrols or hide from roaming monsters, and manage health as a resource that only comes back if you find supplies and make camp. Combat itself is hands-off, so the decisions sit in recruitment, equipment and the synergies between units: swarm with summons, chain explosions, or funnel everything into one unstoppable fighter.

The pitch also promises moral corners, with the Steam page asking whether you will spare misled peasants fighting against you or sacrifice a companion for the power to beat something worse.

Why the publisher matters

Ghost Ship has been steadily building a stable of third-party games in and around its own style, and its last survivor-like collaboration, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, did well enough that it is reaching consoles next week. ACORN is a different genre, but the same instinct: a short, repeatable loop with a lot of build depth underneath it.