Strange Scaffold announces Gods With Badges for PC in 2027
Strange Scaffold has announced Gods With Badges, a narrative tactics game about police power over life and death.
The game was unveiled during the Triple-I Initiative showcase on 8 October, and is due for release on Steam for PC in 2027, according to Eurogamer. Its Steam page, where Strange Scaffold is listed as both developer and publisher, currently gives a release date of To be announced Steam.
Players take the role of Harrow McClellan, a disgraced police officer transferred back to her original post. The story follows her return to duty and the decisions she faces on patrol.
The setting is Scarhelm, a dystopian city of the future. Players move through open hubs, smaller open areas to walk, talk and patrol, before the game shifts to combat. That combat is isometric and turn-based, meaning it is viewed from a tilted overhead angle with each side acting in turns.
The camera can go dark. Players can temporarily switch off Harrow's body camera. Doing so opens up new tactical and dialogue options. It also removes the public record of what happens next.
Gods With Badges began life as Hard Justice, an unrealised project from strategy studio Artificer. It has since been taken on by Strange Scaffold as an entry in Project Share, an initiative pioneered by the studio to continue work started elsewhere.
What makes this stand out is the framing. The studio describes the game as an examination of the social dynamics and pressures of law enforcement, with nuance and moral ambiguity.
Strange Scaffold is led by studio head Xalavier Nelson Jr. The team previously developed I Am Your Beast and El Paso, Elsewhere. Music for Gods With Badges is by composer Kris Kirk.
