Canyons: Through the apocalypse with crawlers and blood pacts

When I saw the first trailer for Canyons, I had to look twice: crusaders fight not just hordes, but rocks, furniture and even entire buildings that have come to life. That exact crazy idea made me curious right away. Behind the co-op shooter is RedRuins Softworks, the studio behind Breathedge, and Canyons is set to release in November 2027. We’ve gathered what’s known so far about crawlers, blood pacts and the Holy Refuge.

What is Canyons about?

Canyons is set in a world that was once full of water, life and technology. Hundreds of years ago, the seas disappeared, and with them came a mysterious threat: the Awakened. They’re a fusion of the living and the lifeless. Nobody knows where they came from, but their power keeps growing. That’s why in the trailers, players fight not only zombie-like hordes but also objects and buildings that have come to life – a pretty unusual sight for a shooter.

From the ruins of the old world, the Order of the Double Cross arose. Its warriors call themselves crusaders and venture into the canyons with unshakable faith and relics of the past. That’s exactly the role you take on. The canyons are the only place where survival is still possible at all: a land of endless storms, scorching sun, hideous creatures and people eaten away by heresy.

Solo or in co-op with up to four players

Canyons is a third-person shooter with a clear PvE focus. You can experience the entire game alone or team up online with up to three friends to form a squad. You don’t fight other players; all enemies are computer-controlled. The new trailer from the Triple-i Initiative shows for the first time what playing together looks like: four crusaders share a crawler, cover each other and blast their way through entire hordes of Awakened.

Many players compare the concept to a mix of Helldivers, Fallout and World War Z. That’s not entirely off the mark: with its brothers-in-arms mentality, the Order is a bit reminiscent of Helldivers, the desert apocalypse of Fallout and the huge enemy masses of World War Z.

Crawlers and risky expeditions

The heart of Canyons is the crawlers. These huge machines date back to the pioneers of the old world and are indispensable for crossing the canyons. You become the captain of such a colossus, load it up with supplies and set off on an expedition. You can rebuild and upgrade your crawler and equip it with new weapons and useful gear. If you find a better one, you simply switch – there’s no room for sentimentality in the canyons.

The world of Canyons is procedurally generated but is said to be rich in handcrafted details and special events. Each expedition lasts as long as you want. The catch: the longer you stay out, the more violent the enemies become. So you constantly have to weigh whether to risk everything for even more loot or turn back in time before everything collapses. The goal of every trip is to find loot, resources and gear and bring them home safely.

Holy Refuge, blood pacts and tough decisions

After every expedition, you return to the Holy Refuge, a gift from the Cardinal himself. There, you build workshops, quarters and defenses to attract new settlers who want to join the Order. A shipyard produces new crawlers, and garages repair and improve them. On top of that, there’s an armory, facilities for traders, medics and craftsmen and even a canteen serving Awakened stew. But you also have to protect your base, because envious eyes are always lurking for other people’s goods in the canyons.

One special feature is the Holy Blood Pacts. Some Awakened bond with you and grant you special abilities – but only in return for something. You also improve your personal skills and master dozens of professions, each strengthening your character in its own way. Alliances with factions in the wasteland are meant to help you as well.

Morality plays a role too. What do you do with a survivor dying of thirst? You can give him water, bring him to the Refuge, rob him or leave him to the Awakened. Every action is supposed to have consequences; according to the developers, there are no right paths – only tough decisions.

Canyons: Release, platforms and backstory

Canyons already has a bit of a backstory. The game was first presented as a classic extraction shooter in which you drive crawlers through zombie hordes. Because the concept caused technical problems and wasn’t distinctive enough for the developers, RedRuins reworked Canyons and re-revealed it in November 2025. Since then, the Awakened and the Order of the Double Cross have been the focus.

Canyons comes out in November 2027 for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store as well as for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The publisher is HypeTrain Digital, which already released Breathedge. There’s no exact date or price yet. On Steam you can already add Canyons to your wishlist. German text has already been confirmed.

Graphics and tech

Visually, Canyons goes for a dark, realistic apocalypse: dust storms, blazing sun and stranded wrecks shape the canyons, and between the rocks the Awakened appear in whole groups. We can’t say yet how well the game will run in the end, since there are only trailers and screenshots so far.

The PC system requirements are already set, though. To get started, you need at least an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X, 12 GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 570. Recommended are 16 GB RAM and an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT. A broadband internet connection is required for co-op.

Scores at a glance