The Last Artifact

Many moons ago, a cataclysm swept across the world. Its violence was such that it made time itself tremble. On that dark day, a raging light tore forests, cities, and people from the earth. Today, in the eye of an eternal storm, at the edge of the sky, float islands that gravity has fled. For those who remain in these forgotten places, life has continued to the rhythm of the winds. Dive into this hurricane of magic, where amnesia mingles with madness. Will you be able to decipher its prodigious mysteries?

The Last Artifact is a narrative adventure game with RPG mechanics and light-based puzzles, in development since 2020 by Skytale, an independent non-profit studio. The game is built on Minecraft Java without any mods: just join the server to play, nothing to install. It will be completely free upon release.

Story

Kingdom of Luzmo, year 1700. A strange cataclysm tore the region of Maska from the continent, shaping six floating islands in the magic-laden sky. You play as Valar, the King's Claw, sent by King Ekoh to investigate the origin of the disaster and bring the islands back down. Aboard the Brisevent, Captain Olav's flying ship, you will explore each island, solve its puzzles, and cross paths with the mage Dragomir, who caused the catastrophe. Rita Vandergarde, former pilot of the Catalyst trapped in the Astral World, will guide you on your quest.

Gameplay

The adventure alternates between two game modes. The light-based puzzles, designed with the Lasers Enigma plugin, take place in the Astral World and rely on additive synthesis (addition, subtraction, deviation, color filtering with colored mirrors, gravitational spheres, filtering spheres). PVE (Player versus Environment) includes battles against custom enemies, unique weapons and spells, main and side quests, island exploration, and interactions with characters.

Production

Over 300 people have contributed to The Last Artifact since 2020. The project brings together about 80 active volunteers, structured into four professional divisions: Creation, Design, Development, Communication. Some figures: approximately 20 hours of gameplay, 120 characters, 5 million blocks placed by hand, 1,100 3D models, over 3 hours of voice acting, and 2 hours of original musical composition.

The voice cast includes Brigitte Lecordier, Marie Chevalot, Philippe Valmont, Pierre-Alain de Garrigues (PADG), and Martial Le Minoux, accompanied by over 35 actors. The original soundtrack, composed by Arthur Chanson, was recorded by the European Recording Orchestra of Sofia, with 110 musicians and singers, including choirs previously heard in Fantastic Beasts, The Witcher (Netflix), and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

The Skytale Map Editor

The Last Artifact is built with the Skytale Map Editor, the modular game editor developed by Skytale on top of Minecraft. In-game cinematics, 3D animations, facial expressions, synchronized voice acting, sound design, VFX, block and particle animation, weapon and spell management: these are all features absent from base Minecraft. The editor will be released as open source upon the game's launch.

Our commitments

The Last Artifact is designed without the use of generative AI in artistic production. Translation, voice acting, 2D, and 3D work remain done by humans. The game is 100% volunteer-based, completely free, and its editor will be open source.