It is becoming increasingly common for fantasy RPGs to experiment with rewriting history, and Limiar Studios’BlackThorne Keepis one of the upcoming titles aiming to do just that. Set in a reimagined world where medieval traditions are entrenched in South American heritage,BlackThorne Keepexplores a reality that never was but perhaps could have been. Instead of leaning on the usual castles-and-knights aesthetic,BlackThorne Keeptakes players into an alternate Brazil — one whereindigenous culturesand architectural innovation serve as the main ingredients for a world that is as steeped in history as it is imaginative.
At Gamescom Latam 2025, Game Rant sat down withBlackThorne Keepcreator Roberto Garcia to talk about how the game is bringing to life a medieval version of Brazil that never existed. During the interview, Garcia spent plenty of time delving into howindie gamedeveloper Limiar Studios has delicately balanced medieval architecture with ancient South American aesthetics, as well as what a medieval Brazilian civilization might have been like.
BlackThorne Keep’s Take on a Medieval Brazil
BlackThorne Keep Brings Medieval Europe to Ancient Brazil
Many modernmedieval RPGsdo their best to mimic medieval Europe. However, the vision behindBlackThorne Keepwas ultimately borne from a question that Garcia and his team at Limiar Studios kept asking: what if Brazil had experienced its own medieval period? With that question serving as a guide, the team began developing a historical “what if” scenario, imagining how South American geography, culture, and pre-colonial history could give life to a parallel medieval world. Rather than building a new fantasy universe,BlackThorne Keepwould be grounded in a sense of place that would feel both authentic and fantastical, all while honoring Brazilian heritage. On that note, Garcia explained,
One of the greatest things about creating the game is being able to go back in time and do an experience of imagination. What would happen if, back then, they needed to build these kinds of buildings, this kind of technology? So, we went back and analyzed how medieval architecture actually worked. If you look at a medieval fence, you’re going to see that there are layers. The first layer is usually rock and then the second layer is stone and plaster. How would that translate to Brazil? And that’s how our process started.
In response to that, Limiar Studios poured time and resources into essentially reverse-engineering history. The developer researched European architecture, then asked how those materials and all of their layers might have manifested in aSouth Americanenvironment. The result is a world where the foundations of medieval architecture are abundantly clear and fundamentally present, and yet transformed by centuries of Brazilian innovation.BlackThorne Keep’s world then feels like it was formed through entirely different needs and philosophies than its European counterpart.
BlackThorne Keep’s Medieval Brazil Finds Its Roots in People
BlackThorne Keep’sworldbuilding doesn’t stop with architecture, though, and instead digs its heels deep into cultural mythology. At the end of the day, Limiar Studios understands that it is the people, not architecture’s inherent qualities, who shape a civilization, its culture, and therefore its design philosophies. Garcia elaborated,
The other thing is, all fantastical settings have an ancient people. In the real world, that translates to Egypt, that translates to Rome and England. You go to England and all these ancient Roman places before England was a thing. What would that be in South America? We did not have anything like the Roman Empire here. That would be like the Inca and the Aztec empires that happened before colonization. So, in our world, there is an ancient people, an ancient civilization based on old megalithic architecture, like Machu Picchu, like the Loto Tambo, and Sasuyama. That’s what we refer to as ancient civilization architecture.
From there, Limiar asked an even bolder question: if other fiction could reimagine historical visual languages, why couldn’tBlackThorne Keepalso draw from Brazil’s modern art history to inspire its own? The end result would be a setting where the iconic curves of Brazilian architecture serve as a complement to the swords, towers, andarmor of medieval times, offering a fantasy aesthetic that feels both original and culturally grounded. Garcia concluded,
The other thing that we did was like whatThe Lord of the Ringsdid with the elves and the dwarves — elves are Art Nouveau and dwarves are Art Deco. We started doing that with Brazilian modern art as well. So, if we go to Rio, there are a lot of neoclassic buildings in the city center downtown, and we said, “You know, we know this is not medieval, but Art Deco and Art Nouveau are also not medieval and it worked onLord of the Rings. What can we do with the modern art in Rio and all these other places? What can we do with these influences in our art in our game and turn that medieval as well? And that’s how the art and the style of medieval South America came to life.
So, it could be argued thatBlackThorne Keepdoes far more than just reimagine what Brazil might have looked like in theMiddle Ages. Rather, it creates a world that asks how culture, climate, and history might have evolved if it were set on a different path. That question has been at the steering wheel of nearly every decision inBlackThorne Keep’s development, and it seems to be showing.
