On a windy, grey March morning in Boston, I arrived in the lobby of a splendorous Seaport hotel. The ritz and glamour were far above my pay grade. I settled into a couch more form than function and waited for my destined appointment to arrive. A gentleman joined me on the couch, and we sat in uncomfortable silence for a spell. Time broke the stillness around us; it was time to ascend into the clouds above.
This was how I found my way to a pre-launch preview of Aether & Iron, the first game from developer Seismic Squirrel. We previously covered Aether & Iron at PAX East 2025, so I was excited to see where the project sat before its release on Monday, March 30. Imagine my surprise when I left, an hour later, floored by what Seismic Squirrel is putting into the world: a bright and colorful noir tale, fully voice-acted, and with enough heart to make a city fly. Aether & Iron has the chance to be a truly special game, thanks in part to the ethos of the team behind it.
A Hard-Boiled Tale
Aether & Iron takes place in a New York that has been launching into the sky. Literally. Suspended by a magical element called aether, districts and neighborhoods float above “old New York” in a loose collective. Districts higher in the stratosphere (referred to as the Uppers) house the elites of society. But my preview took place primarily in the Lowers, where warlords rule individual neighborhoods, crime scurries from corner to corner, and you’re more likely to find a knife in your back than a friendly handshake.
As David previously wrote, you play as Gia, a down-on-her-luck smuggler with a sharp nose and an empty wallet. Desperate for work, she accepts what seems like a routine job: Bring an Uppers citizen to the Lowers. It’s a cheap job, sure, but success means finding her way back into the good graces of the crime lords she must work with. Especially after an unnamed incident in the recent past has made her persona non grata.
What quickly follows is a job that goes south almost immediately: a client who stands out like a sore thumb, a briefcase full of desperately desired research, and a black-hatted assassin out for blood. After a car chase and a run-in with the police, Gia and her client Nellie find themselves stuck together to get back what has been lost: for Gia, her beloved car, and for Nellie, a briefcase of research that may be the key to keeping New York afloat.
A Novel Novel
Gameplay in Aether & Iron consists of both narrative moments and combat. When asked, the team said players can expect a roughly 60:40 ratio of narrative to combat. Players will read and listen to Gia and the folks she interacts with, with the added function of dice rolls for certain player choices. The game always surfaces when a choice requires a skill check, and what the required roll will be. Skills are split between three main archetypes, with three sub-archetypes branching out from each. These archetypes function as you would expect. One focuses on being tough and forceful, a second on intelligence, and a third on guile and a smooth tongue. Over time, players can enhance these skills through leveling up and a large but simple-to-understand skill tree. I asked the team if a player could ever max out a skill tree in one playthrough, and it doesn’t seem possible. They said you could reasonably complete two-thirds in one go.
Combat is grid-based and tactical, not unlike Supergiant Games’ Transistor. Fights take place entirely within vehicles as you race from point to point, using a set number of actions in turn-based battles. Moving forward and backward costs points as well, so you have to be wise with your positioning. Road hazards exist to smash into, or to smash your opponents into, and each vehicle can be customized to unlock new moves. While I didn’t see a ton of combat encounters in my time with the preview, it feels like a hefty and engaging system. Combat, of course, can also be avoided if you roll well enough on certain choices beforehand. The team laughed during my preview, letting me know I missed three optional encounters during my time just due to good rolls. It happens sometimes.
Grim Story, Bright Life
What sets Aether & Iron apart from other noir tales is its characters. Gia, voiced incredibly by Rhiannon Moushall, is equal parts charming and serious. Her narration is full of the purple prose found in your classic crime fiction, but it never feels forced or out of place. Gia is a rough person in a world whose foundation of richness is built on those rough people. Her interactions with Nellie, an oblivious and spacey Upper citizen with no understanding of that rough life below, imply a softness and care for people you would not expect. Gia feels like a full character, not a pastiche of noir stereotypes. And the world around her is just as fleshed out.
Gone are the rain and gloom you would expect from your traditional crime noir world. Aether & Iron is a colorful, bright world set amongst the sky. Even the rougher parts of the Lowers are splashed with the greens and golds of a world of opulence. While the story itself may be focused on the rough, the city glows with life. I asked the team about this choice during my preview. After all, noir is usually defined by dirt and grit as much as it is gunfire and cigarette smoke. The answer I got was one I never considered.
Nothing Is Black and White
“No life is without color, even the toughest ones.” That was what narrative director Tyler Whitney told me when asked about the color palette. He described his own childhood: He grew up relatively impoverished, with parents who tried their hardest but couldn’t always provide what others around him had. But that doesn’t stop his memories from being full of “pops of color,” as he called it: the bright and colorful moments that break through that haze of toughness to make for a fully featured life.
Aether & Iron is a rough story, full of rough people in rough times. But no life is only rough. There is levity and joy and color everywhere. Seismic Squirrel wanted to bring that reality to their story, and it shows in spades. I walked away from my preview excited to see where the narrative unfolds and eager to learn about the other characters who walk New York. Seismic Squirrel promises over 200 voiced characters, and four party members who join Gia in her journey. Color me one of the people excited to see where the roads go.
Aether & Iron, self-published by Seismic Squirrel and developed in partnership with Chaos Theory Games, releases on March 30, 2026, for Windows PC and Mac (via Steam) as well as Steam Deck. A demo is available now.
Gary is a jack-of-all-trades video game enthusiast based in Boston, MA. A semi-professional fighting game player, even less professional Apex Legends player, and even less professional adult, he spends most of his time poking at strange indie gems and reading about the need for more diverse voices in gaming criticism. He invites anyone to recommend anything he's missed in the gaming world via Twitter or BlueSky, where he can found under the username @grtnpwrfl. When he isn't spending his time playing games, Gary is an avid New England Patriots fan and frequent hiker.
