NAMMO: A Silla Legend of Betrayal Becomes a Soulslike Boss Rush
Guild Studio's nine-person team turned one of the darkest stories in Korea's oldest history book into a 2D boss rush about parries and a blind heroine's Spirit Eye. A preview.
Some fifteen centuries ago, in the Korean kingdom of Silla, two young women led a group of noble youths. One of them, Junjeong, grew jealous of the other, Nammo. The ending, as Korea's oldest surviving history records it, is brutal. Now that story is the starting point for NAMMO, a 2D Soulslike boss rush from Korean developer Guild Studio.
The game has a Steam page with a release date of coming soon. In an interview this year, the team said it was aiming for a release in August 2027 and planned a crowdfunding campaign for the end of 2026. Around 70% of the planned boss rush design was complete at the time.
A legend, rewritten
NAMMO draws loosely on Silla's Wonhwa system, a group of young people led by two female leaders under King Jinheung, which the team ties to the year 576. Guild Studio's developers researched the period at the Gyeongju National Museum and in the classic histories Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa, but chose to set the game in a fictional world with altered timelines and architecture.
In the game, Nammo is blinded by Junjeong, her caretaker, and wakes in an unfamiliar cave. Her loss gives her the Spirit Eye, which reveals hidden paths and the weak points of bosses. The Spirit Eye also shapes the story's branches, and the game will have multiple endings.
How it plays
NAMMO is all about bosses. There is no long trek between them, only short events and story segments that set up each fight. The core is precise parries and counterattacks: read the attack, block at the right moment, punish. Defeat a boss and you can claim its Soul Skill, a new ability that changes how you approach the next fight.
The team is considering an easier difficulty option, but has not confirmed it. For now, expect the punishing rhythm the "Soulslike" label promises.
Who is making it
Guild Studio is a nine-person team led by CEO Kim Tae-yoon. It debuted the game at PlayX4 2025, the game show in Goyang, and returned to PlayX4 2026 with a booth. Demo slots needed a ticket from the booth, and the queue was long, a good sign for a game that has done little marketing so far.
The team describes its approach as adding "han" to the boss rush. Han is a hard-to-translate Korean idea of deep, lingering sorrow and resentment, and it fits a story about a betrayed heroine looking for the truth.
Why it matters
Korean history is a goldmine that games have barely touched. SANABI reimagined the Joseon dynasty as cyberpunk; NAMMO does the same for Silla with dark fantasy. WGC's take: a boss rush is a smart format for a small team, because it puts every hour of work into the fights players remember. If the parrying feels as good as the premise sounds, NAMMO could be one of Korea's standout action indies. For more on why Korean teams love 2D action, see our editorial.
How to follow it
- Steam: wishlist NAMMO; the release date is listed as coming soon.
- Crowdfunding: the team said a campaign is planned for the end of 2026.
- Target: August 2027, according to the developers.