Aether & Iron Hands-on Preview
At Summer Game Fest, we had the opportunity to try out Aether & Iron, a narrative turn-based RPG set in an alternate 1930s New York City. We follow the protagonist, Gia, a smuggler down on her luck who is desperate to book a new gig to survive. She hopes to escape the slums and enter the comfortable life above town.
The aesthetic of Aether & Iron is greatly inspired by Bioshock, applying the iconic decopunk aesthetic into its alternate history. In this reality, the world was able to harness the aether in Earth’s atmosphere to literally defy gravity, and the world has progressed into a technologically advanced world with flying cars and vertical cities spanning the stratosphere.
With the visual aesthetic inspired by 1930’s fashion and automotive design, Aether & Iron follows a deep pulp and noir narrative seen in films and literature of the same type, including Dashiel Hammett’s The Jade Falcon and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard. Gia’s journey is similar to these iconic plots as she tries to recover after a botched job.
A World Created From Aether & Iron
The barons who control this alternate New York City, specifically the elusive Mr. Blanc, take advantage of Gia’s situation and exploit her circumstances. He forces her into a shady job to escort a scientist in a desperate situation for half her usual take. I push back against this unfair scenario, and the dialogue skill checks are matched with appropriate dice rolls seen in titles like The Thaumaturge or Disco Elysium.

What I appreciate about Aether & Iron’s role-playing mechanic is how the narrative delivers an interesting outcome, whether or not you fail or succeed your skill checks. In this case, failing my negotiation with Mr. Blanc revealed more of Gia’s backstory as well as showed some of her personal stakes on why she needed this job, which was an interesting outcome instead of merely failing the challenge.
The same events happened as well as when I encountered the scientist at the taxi stand, Nellie. Being confronted by aggressive cab drivers, I was able to succeed with the skill checks, allowing me to intimidate the cab drivers harassing Nellie. Unfortunately, I was not able to hide my identity from Nellie, leading to an interesting exchange between the two characters.

As we drove away, we encountered a pursuing assassin after Nellie’s life. From here, we see the main combat sequence through its gameplay. As previously mentioned, Aether & Iron is a narrative turn-based RPG, and instead of the conventional combat seen in isometric computer RPGs, its gameplay takes a rather interesting approach…
A Different Kind of New York
Aether & Iron’s turn-based combat is based entirely on fast-paced vehicular combat. As seen from the demo, you get to control Gia, who is ferrying Nellie to her safehouse when we’re attacked by Nellie’s assailant. Just as with any high-speed chase, the object of the scenario is to escape and live to fight another day.
In the scenario, aside from the enemy vehicle, we’re also negotiating through the busy highways with civilian vehicles serving as a hazard as well as extra collateral. Depending on how you deal with them, it will affect the progression of your character. You can remain good by letting them be, act pragmatically by using them as part of your strategy, or be a total psychopath and dispatch them for no reason other than you can. Destroying cars can create debris that can aid you or serve as a hazard for all players on the baord.
You’re given 10 Action Points (AP) that you can use to move across the game board, use your vehicle’s onboard weapons, or ram them, dealing combat damage to yourself and the enemy. Each action has its succeeding AP cost that allows you to plan your combat turn to get the best possible outcome for your situation.

I found that by ramming the enemy, you’re able to move them towards a different block, delaying their potential damage to you as your enemy is also bound by their own AP. Your Gatling guns can deal damage to several squares, allowing you to damage enemy vehicles as well as unsuspecting civilians. Your shotgun can deal mid-range targeted damage.
As you progress through the game, you will gain up to 4 allies with their own set of moral code that will affect their interaction with you with how you deal with certain situations. You’re able to receive aid from these allies during combat and also within the game.
You will also receive the heat mechanic later in the game, which can affect your interaction with various NPCs and combat. High heat will intimidate weaker-willed NPCs, but also attract the attention of unsavory types, leading to more combat. Lower heat will allow you to blend in with the crowd inconspicuously. It’s an interesting mechanic that adds extra layers to storytelling and role-playing.

Finally, we’re able to end the demo build by returning to the HQ, where we’re able to use the components and money received in combat and quests to modify our vehicle. Sadly, after the encounter with the assailant, things turn for the worse, and our vehicle is totaled. We’re left with a junker that we’re able to improve.
As we progress through Aether & Iron, we can also improve our skills and talents. This way, we’re able to improve Gia’s prowess as a smuggler and add various skills and ways to role-play in different interactions. Just as mentioned earlier, it all depends on how we want to play Gia and develop her character in Aether & Iron’s interesting alternate reality.
We can’t wait to see where Aether & Iron takes this world and play a longer demo build, so check out the rest of the promised mechanics we were not able to witness during the tech demo. It’s an exciting world with a human story that we’re happy to check out as it comes into fruition.
Aether & Iron is planned to release late 2025 on PC.