IRON MAIDEN‘s Legacy Of The Beast free-to-play mobile game has announced its third in-game collaboration, this time with Swedish metallers GHOST.

Following successful collaborations earlier this year with AMON AMARTH and LACUNA COIL, IRON MAIDEN‘s Legacy Of The Beast has now teamed up with frequent touring partners GHOST. Legacy Of The Beast has created a new, limited time, in-game event called Mascarade Diabolique featuring another limited-time character, Papa Emeritus IV. Meet Papa Emeritus IV Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 5 p.m. PT in Iron Maiden: Legacy Of The Beast mobile game by clicking here.

The game’s Mascarade Diabolique event is an ode to both bands’ lore taking its broad themes from the cover of IRON MAIDEN‘s 2003 album “Dance Of Death” and the video for GHOST‘s 2018 song “Dance Macabre”. In this new storyline, Eddie and Papa Emeritus IV are both invited to a mysterious party in Transylvania (taken from the intro to “A Dance Macabre” and also surely a nod to the first MAIDEN instrumental track of the same name on their debut album!) They soon discover that things are getting out of hand, even faster than usual, as a sinister force has mastered the power to mimic the un-bindable will of the sentient powers of free will and individuality, in an effort to bind them to its control. Together they must fight through the hordes of mind-controlled revelers to confront the corrupted mimic, Cardinal Immortus, an evil clone of Papa Emeritus.

When asked what he thought of the initial concept pieces for the new character, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge said he felt “joy that it’s actually happening.” He continued: “I’m happy to see that my creature is being led into MAIDEN‘s world. That is a cool thing, both very humbling and flattering.”

“It’s great that the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ mobile game continues to innovate,” observes MAIDEN‘s manager Rod Smallwood. “The introduction of other great band images and characters is a great evolution of the initial idea we had for Eddie‘s gaming universe over five years ago. To have our friends GHOST bring Papa Emeritus IV into a dungeon feels like the culmination of a relationship dating back to 2013 when the band first came with us to South America. With more slots on the ‘Maiden England’ tour in ’14 and then a proper run with us throughout North America on the 2017 ‘The Book Of Souls’ tour, we got to know that our fans appreciated seeing them and that they’d always be welcome with us on the road. I’m sure Eddie will help Papa cause some serious mayhem together and that’s what it’s all about.”