Couchpotato spotted a trailer for the new Vagrus: The Riven Realms DLC:

‘At the Heart of Ruin’ DLC Reveal Trailer & Holiday Deals

Vagri! We’re sure many of you’ve been waiting for more information about our next DLC (shaping up to be expansion-sized once again) and the time has come to deliver just that – in the form of a special story trailer we’re excited to share:

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev update #2 for Solasta II:

Dev Update #02 - How was Solasta II created?

From Crown of the Magister to Solasta II, the path was not as linear as one might think!

Heya there folks,

It’s getting a little cold, isn’t it? Hope you’re wearing warm clothes, or you’ll soon be rolling constitution saving throws to avoid all sorts of nasty conditions. It’s also time to start to follow the Solasta tradition again… and feature fluffy friends in the intro!

It was summer 2021…
Solasta: Crown of the Magister just launched in 1.0 on Steam with the free Sorcerer update in tow shortly after as promised during our Kickstarter. At that time, we were hard at work implementing the Barbarian and Druid classes for the Primal Calling DLC, meanwhile our level designers were already populating the dense jungles of Lost Valley. By the way, let me tell you that Druids were a real pain in the butt to implement with their Wild Shape. QA was finding new ways to break the game every day.

While the team was busy preparing the upcoming content, our leads were already starting to look ahead - what were we going to do next? Some of you may think that it was obviously going to be Solasta II, but did you know that we had several other ideas before that?

We thought about trying out a shorter, much more narrative Solasta spin-off with a set team of heroes shortly after the Cataclysm. We explored the idea of a sci-fi roguelite tactical RPG inside an ever-shifting derelict spaceship. Such ideas were shared with the rest of the team for discussion, debate, disagreements. At its core, one burning question - do we believe in the project?

[...]

Mortismal Gaming talks about the initial details of Solasta II:

Solasta 2 - Initial Details

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a new update for Within the Cosmos:

December 2024: Post-Beta Update

Hey everyone!

It’s hard to believe that the beta ended a week ago already! I want to thank everyone who applied, I wish I could've selected more of you, but I had to manage the scale of the beta to see how much I can handle, as I've never done something like that before. Also, a special thank you to those who participated in the beta. Your feedback has been invaluable, and I’ve spent the last week working hard to implement your suggestions and address the bugs that you reported.

A full list of changes based on your feedback has already been posted in the Discord server, and I'll also post it here at the end of this post. Many of the issues you found were things I hadn’t encountered myself. As the developer, I know how everything works, where everything is, and how it’s supposed to be used, so having fresh eyes on the game was incredibly important. Making an RPG is a huge undertaking, and having many people playtest the game really helps polish it. I’m truly truly grateful for your efforts!

Here are a couple of things I was able to address based on the feedback I received from the beta:

Weapon Wheel: A great QoL feature that was requested. It greatly enhances the experience for gamepad users. You can now access your weapons more easily with the weapon wheel, making switching between your weapons more intuitive.

[...]

The Turn Based Lovers checked out The Time I Have Left:

Hands-On With Time-Driven RPG The Time I Have Left

The Time I Have Left is an indie RPG from Ground Game Atelier that brings a unique twist to the genre: you’ve got just 6 hours to survive in an underground futuristic colony facing a mysterious alien threat.

Exploration takes center stage in this game. You’ll need to gather as much information as possible to unlock new skills essential for survival, all while keeping an eye on the clock - time keeps ticking, even while navigating the game’s menus. Then there’s the combat system, which relies on precise timing to dodge enemy attacks. Successfully evading attacks builds up a tension bar that fuels your skills, creating a satisfying rhythm to the action.

Health bars? Forget them. Neither Alina, the protagonist, nor her enemies rely on traditional HP. Instead, the Willpower Bar governs the flow of battle. Enemies lose Willpower with every successful dodge or attack you land, and the same applies to Alina. Adding a tactical layer, combat arenas allow you to move between sections to search for objects that can turn the tide in your favor - like pillars you can hurl at enemies.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

The combat-free RPG Travelling At Night has been announced:

Welcome to Travelling At Night

Announcing our dialogue-driven choices-matter combat-free CRPG

Today’s announcement is about Weather Factory's third game, which we can now unveil as Travelling at Night: a dialogue-driven choices-matter combat-free CRPG. We’ve been prototyping it since HOUSE OF LIGHT came out, the prototyping’s going great, and we’re keen to press ahead with it.

Here: a widget so you can wishlist it and find out a little more about it. Please tell everyone you think might be interested. Attention is our lifeblood and the more wishlists we get, the more confident we’ll be putting resources into it.

Congrats to everyone who’d successfully guessed the name and/or genre from the teasers! You’ll all have noticed that the genre is a bit of a departure for us. What gives?

Well, I’ve been making narrative games for fifteen years but I’ve never made a traditional isometric CRPG. It’s a grand and grandly developed form, like opera. If you’re a composer – even if you’re Philip Glass and you’re trying to reinvent music – after fifteen years, you often eventually end up wanting to have a go at an opera.

I’m not trying to reinvent anything, although anyone who’s followed my previous work will know I’ve long skewed away from the mainstream approaches to games narrative. I designed Fallen London and Sunless Sea to use ‘storylets’ – bundles of resource-locked, resource-providing choices – because I was looking for a way to link nuggets of story loosely through resource-based narrative. (I originally called it ‘quality-based narrative’, after the term I used for resources in FL, but later I worried that sounded like I meant ‘quality narrative, not that other rubbish’.) It was a long step away from traditional branching narrative, and from dialogue trees.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Dying Light: The Beast:

Dying Light: The Beast - Official 'Meet The Baron' Trailer | The Game Awards 2024

Tactical Adventures have announced their new game - Solasta II. You can watch a community stream today.

Solasta II - Official Announcement Trailer [TGA 2024]

In a Mana-infused land, a dark force led by the enigmatic Shadwyn threatens Neokos. Bring your party of adventurers together across perilous realms in this Turn-Based Tactical RPG based on the SRD 5e ruleset. You make the choices, dice decide your destiny.

Thanks Henriquejr, Stingray and JDR13!

Fextralife checked out Wartales:

Wartales Gameplay Preview - Should You Play this Turn-Based Tactical RPG in 2024?

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a new devlog for Sector Unknown:

Devlog: The Setting

The story and setting of Sector Uknown...

“The universe is a corpse.

Nothing lives in all the known expanse of space save for the imagination and stubborn superstition of man as he continues to push forward through the folds of darkness. Buoyant in our search for something other than ourselves, the fear becomes more palpable that we will not find a peer, an enforcing and all-powerful entity, a check against our spreading.

With each infertile husk, forbidding giant, decaying rock, or hellacious furnace that we add to our collection, the verdict becomes stronger: we are alone.

Across the millennia, it has been said that man is something that shall be overcome. But this is a falsehood. For our species remains uncontested. And with nothing to resist us, humanity shall instead continue to relentlessly institute his own battle standards across a desolate and uncaring starscape.”

The Setting

As humanity expanded into the cosmos, the narrative of "Sector Unknown" unfolded in a clandestine sector comprising three primary star systems—Xiphos (XPH-6430), Svion (SVN-8912), and Fivo (FIV-6789)—along with several minor ones. These systems were home to the planets Maku, Nabi, Sjo, Eremtera, and Helfyr (more devlogs to come on each of these planets).

For decades, Star Frontier, a colossal trading entity reminiscent of the historical East India Company, attempted to ruthlessly exploit these planets. Operating with impunity due to the sector's erasure from all official star maps, Star Frontier unrelentingly expanded into the sector, unhindered by governmental oversight.

However, after years of over-extension, failing outposts, logistical nightmares, rampant corruption, piracy, and crippling financial losses, a fierce power struggle erupted within Star Frontier's boardrooms, light-years away. This conflict precipitated a sudden and hasty withdrawal from the sector, leaving workers, executives, and soldiers stranded on harsh, unforgiving planets, struggling to survive in a rapidly deteriorating and lawless environment.

The Return

In the aftermath of their retreat, Star Frontier remains divided. Despite continued internal bickering within Star Frontier, several paramilitary factions still operate independently within the sector. Notably, feared "sensitive operations units" have ramped up their activities, capturing former dissidents and criminals and transporting them to Hell’s Gate, a black site prison orbiting perilously close to a blazing star.

Under the command of General Benjamin Alonzo, a hard-line retired general secretly sanctioned by a group of militant stakeholders within Star Frontier boardrooms, these operations aim to prepare the sector for a possible military reoccupation. Alonzo's brutal methods and the looming threat of a military invasion—including the whispered rumors of bioweapons aimed at exterminating the planetary populations—are intended to reset the sector for a more tightly controlled second attempt at colonization.

Your Story Begins

Amidst this backdrop, you awaken aboard a prison transport en route to Hell’s Gate. The reason for your incarceration is yours to define. In your cell, you wake up to find Chalk, a cannibalistic cellmate who chillingly "suggests" using a homemade shiv to cut off unessential parts of your body to sustain yourselves during the long journey ahead.

This marks your first challenge and where your story begins...

Couchpotato spotted a recently released Strategy RPG called Xenowars:

Xenowars: The Game That Will Blow Your Mind! | Earth’s Survival at Stake

This is a turn-based strategy/RPG game set in the stars. In the early stages, you will recruit a team of experts on Earth for exploring a distant alien homeworld, choosing between scientists, mutants, and soldiers. Scour the planet for lost alien technology and uncover the secrets to Earth’s doom.

The DLC Wartales: The Skelmar Invasion has been released:

Wartales: The Skelmar Invasion - Out Now!

The Skelmar Invasion

Roam a war-torn land
With this DLC, Wartales returns to its roots with an entirely new region to explore.

Ormance is under the control of the Skelmars, violent invaders from the Marches of the World. The new region is divided into sub-regions, called baronies, that have fallen into the hands of the Skelmars. Faced with such brutality, the Legion alone is no longer strong enough to hold back the barbarians… So who you gonna call? Mercenaries!

As you reclaim territory from the Skelmars, you’ll have the chance to repair buildings which have been destroyed by the invaders. This will allow you to gather resources to boost the war effort, request support from local factions with unique combat skills, and take back each stronghold one by one until Ormance is finally liberated!

[...]

Learn more about the Crossbowman class of Wartales:

Crossbowman: Class Overview

Greetings Mercenaries,

Your eyes do not deceive you: crossbows are coming to Wartales, for free!
As a bit of context for newcomers, crossbows have probably been the most requested (or at least way up there) feature since early access. We know a lot of you have waited a long time to see them added to the game, and we thank you for your patience!
We are happy with the current design and wanted to share a little introduction to the class ahead of their addition in a free update on December 10th, the same day as The Skelmar Invasion release.

Unlike traditional crossbow mechanics, which often alternate between firing and reloading every other turn, this class uses a unique "Loaded" and "Empty" system. When the crossbow is "Loaded" it can fire. After firing, it becomes "Empty" and needs to reload before it can fire again.

The dexterity-based class starts with a basic “Shoot” attack that can be replaced with a new attack at level three. For example, the Multi-Shot attack deals damage to the target and attacks one additional time for each “Reload” this unit has performed in the same turn.

A “Reload” can be triggered multiple times in the same turn thanks to passive skills that are unlocked as your Crossbowman levels up or that are tied to the crossbow itself, this is unlike any other weapon in Wartales as they all have attack skills tied to them.

At level five, these passive skills build upon the "Reload" mechanic by introducing effects or bonuses triggered by reloading, how often the unit reloads, or whether the unit is in a "Loaded" state at the end of its turn. At level eight, the skills introduce new ways to trigger reloading such as applying status effects, landing critical hits, or using different abilities. The right skills can lead to deadly combos.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the Crossbowman must maintain its distance with enemies like its ranged cousin the archer. The class can equip medium (and light) armour, and if paired with the right passives and weapon, can get up close and personal to devastating effect.

The Crossbowman is a versatile and dynamic addition to the mercenary roster that can shift the momentum of an engagement.

Once again mercenaries, we thank you for your feedback and can’t wait to see what interesting builds and combinations you’ll be able to create with the new class!

Don’t forget to join our Wartales community on Discord, Reddit, as well as follow us on BlueSky, Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date with the latest news.

- Shiro Games

Thanks Couchpotato!

The fantasy RPG Legends of Awen: Rise of The Fianna has been announced:

Rise of The Fianna World Exclusive Reveal Trailer – The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2024

Legends of Awen: Rise of The Fianna is a single player, story-driven cRPG developed on Unreal 5.

Venture forth into an original medieval-fantasy world inspired by the Celtic myths, where bards invoke curses or blessings through poems and songs, druids weave powerful enchantments bound to the magic of the Shee, ritual warpaints grant supernatural abilities, and legendary weapons channel the spirits of ancient heroes.

• Step into the role of Finn, an orphan child gifted with otherworldly powers.
• Gather your party of legendary Fianna, Champions of the High Queen, and rise to become their leader!
• Embrace an epic adventure to protect the kingdom of Tara from scheming lords and supernatural forces.
• Unravel a sinister conspiration and investigate an even greater threat, buried and forgotten, craving for revenge…

Classless Character Creation
The Fianna are trained in the ways of the Bard, the Druid and the Warrior. If your Companions are more inclined to follow one of these paths, you can fully customize Finn by mixing and matching them, accessing to a wide range of skills and abilities.

Non-violent Encounter Resolution
When conflicts arise and combat seems to be the unavoidable outcome, the game shifts from real-time exploration to turn-based Encounter Mode, played out on a tactical grid. Depending on your own gameplay style, you can let your weapons and spells speak for you and take advantage by a strategic use of the environment, or you can de-escalate violence by combining specific character traits, non-lethal skills, and dialogue opportunities conditioned by your past actions.

Romanceable Companions
Forge strong bonds of friendship and engage in romance with unique companions, each with their own secrets, goals, and moral compass. Your relationships with them will weight heavily on the many decisions you make on your journey, as they may not always agree with you and could even leave your party.

Choices and Consequences
Inspired by the tabletop RPGs, we wish to emphasize the “Role” in RPG and provide you with meaningful and impactful choices. Starting from character creation, all your actions and decisions will build your Reputation and have far-reaching consequences. NPCs will notice and remember. Make your choices, and watch the world around you react to them.

Thanks Couchpotato!

The indie RPG Shrouded Aspect has been announced for 2025 - Couchpotato spotted a dev log:

Shrouded Aspect Dev Log 12 - Exploding Zombies, Tutorial, & more

Couchpotato spotted Geofri's Protestation of Innocence:

A Candlelit Reading: Geofri's Protestation of Innocence

Geofri has been possibly wrongly imprisoned for the crime of grave robbing and has landed a sentence on Exile Island, a floating rock in northern Invimona.

He has managed to procure supplies to write a letter to explain himself, and it has just made its way back to Forten Lazure. Is he guilty? Is he innocent? The guards will have to decide, but likely won't care to read it. Sorry Geofri.

Thanks for watching and/or listening!

2 Headed Hero checked out Monomyth:

The Immersive RPG We've Been Waiting For? | Monomyth (Early Access Review)

Thanks Couchpotato!

The story driven RPG Shore of Jord has been announced for 2025:

Shore of Jord – Official Announcement Teaser

Thanks Couchpotato!

Splattercatgaming checked out Archaelund:

The Deep Open World RPG You've Never Heard Of - Archaelund

Thanks Couchpotato!

Nowsky is working on a big update for Trail of Ayash:

Future of Trail of Ayash (TOA)

We are working on a major update for the game that will improve the existing content and add important new things.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who reported bugs and provided detailed feedback.

If there’s anything you would like to see in the next update, please let us know in the comments below.

Since the early access release, we have been gathering feedback and working on fixing issues. I am focusing on things that went wrong, removing pointless fetch quests, reducing backtracking, and much more.

Our goal is to make the content more engaging and less dull. We plan to make exploration more rewarding by creating unique sets of armor for players who venture into the most dangerous areas of our world.

We are also working on improving the robotic voice acting that has been affecting the game. Some dialogues will be rewritten to better fit the world.

We also plan to create more accurate maps for players, including a large overview map of the areas where the game takes place. This will help players understand the travel routes and the scale of distances between different locations.

We are adding new technology to the game, such as Lumen lighting and improved AI. We are focusing on optimization to ensure the game runs smoothly and uses fewer computer resources.

We also want to add more customization options for the player's house. Additionally, we are considering adding a small camp that players can upgrade using money, which would provide various benefits.

Thanks Farflame!

The stealth RPG Deserter has been announced for 2025:

Deserter - Announcement Trailer of the game

In this stealth RPG, you play as a deserter who is forced to become a thief. Use a wide array of tools and gadgets to break through any locked doors and choose your destiny: enrich yourself at the expense of the elite or help the oppressed ones.

Thanks Farflame!

Henriquejr spotted a closed beta playtest for the sci-fi RPG Within the Cosmos:

Closed Beta Playtest Announcement

Hi everyone!

Over the last 2 weeks or so, I’ve made steady progress on the game. I’ve had some close friends test it, and with their feedback, I’ve been able to fix bugs and implement some Quality of Life improvements. I've also added support for some crucial Steam features, like Steam Achievements & Steam Cloud.

Now, it's finally time to open the game up a bit to a few more players and let you experience what I’ve been working on! I’m running a small beta playtest for a few days. I will select a couple of beta testers. Those who are active in the games community forums or social media, and have expressed and shown a genuine interest in my project will be given priority.

Here is a Google form that I've created to help me manage this: you can apply here.
This survey will close on 6 December at 00:00 UTC.
The beta itself will run from 4 December at 00:00 UTC until 8 December at 00:00 UTC.

Over the next few days, I will reach out to those selected via email, with an invitation to a Discord server that I've created for beta testers, as well as the next steps required for you to download the beta.

Google Form: Apply Here

What to Expect:

• You'll have access to a portion of the game, including the starting area and the first city.
• This is a near-final version, with most gameplay, mechanics, and features in place.
• Your feedback will be essential to ensure everything runs smoothly and to refine the overall experience.
• The focus will be on improving and testing gameplay mechicans, the gameplay loop, test performance, and
• any last-minute issues like bugs or polish.
• If you have suggestions for Quality of Life improvements or changes, please feel free to share!

How to Join:

Fill out the Google form to apply.
I’ll review applications and select testers based on the information provided.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this process. Your feedback will be incredibly valuable as I put the finishing touches on the game.

I can’t wait for you to try it and share your thoughts!

- debdev

Couchpotato spotted version 0.9.00 of the Early Access title Together in Battle:

Version 0.9.00: new investigation, battle, events, match types, and upgrades!

Greetings, tactics fans! I'm pleased to report that I showed Together in Battle at the first-ever Chicago Indie Game Showcase on November 2nd, where it was well-received by SRPG enthusiasts. Apart from that, I finally got to have a relatively quiet month this month, so I took advantage of the lull and pushed hard to get a lot of things done in as short a time span as possible.

My main focus this month was on fleshing out the endgame experience, adding new content and wrinkles to keep things interesting. Let's get right into what's new!

First, there's new events and late-game character advancement content!

[...]

Couchpotato spotted the first Diviner devlog:

Diviner

The Turn Based Lovers interviewed the devs of Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades:

10 Turns Interview With 6 Eyes Studio About Its New Open World RPG Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades

After a long hiatus from our 10 Turns Interview series, we’re back with an exciting feature: an interview with 6 Eyes Studio, the talented developers who, back in 2019, released Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark, one of the closest modern experiences to Final Fantasy Tactics. I had the pleasure of chatting with them about their newly announced project, Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades, and several intriguing details emerged.

Hello, and thank you once again for taking the time to chat with me. It’s fantastic to see you back with a new project, bringing with it the same level of excitement that Fell Seal did.

Pathbreakers is a mercenary-sim RPG, much like titles such as Battle Brothers, Wartales, The Iron Oath, and many others. The question is: have these games inspired you, or are there other projects that are currently influencing your work?

I believe that’s an apt comparison. We’re avid gamers, so there’s a high chance we’re getting inspirations from all sorts of titles, even unknowingly at times, but if I had to narrow it down, I’d say Battle Brothers and Uncharted Waters: New Horizons and the two biggest influences for Pathbreakers. I think the easiest description of Pathbreakers is that it’s a hybrid of those two titles, with overall leaning a little more towards Battle Brothers.

Managing a mercenary company is a central element of the game. How deep does the economic and strategic decision-making go outside of combat?

A big focus of the game is managing your money. Money pays for food, salaries, equipment, healing herbs, exploration supplies, and many other things. Thus, securing a source of income and being wise about how you spend it are key components of the gameplay. To that effect, the game features many elements that are tied to generating money.

[...]

Learn more about the upcoming Wartales faction - the Skelmars:

The Skelmars: Faction Overview

Greetings Mercenaries,

In this blog we dive into a brand new faction, the fearsome Skelmars, a warrior society whose unrelenting invasion has turned the once-defended lands of Ormance into a battlefield. From their roots in the harsh Marches of the World to their brutal and methodical warfare, the Skelmar have reshaped the region’s landscape and rewritten the rules of survival in Edoran.

The Skelmar’s invasion of Edoran is driven by ambition and pragmatism. For years, Ormance withstood scattered raids from isolated Skelmar tribes, its fortifications standing as a testament to the resilience of its people. But the arrival of High Jarl Sven changed everything. Uniting the Skelmars under a single banner, Sven declared his people chosen by the gods to claim wealth and fertile lands. Leading his warriors to the shores of Edoran, he turned their fragmented raids into a relentless campaign, and is unlikely to settle for just Ormance.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!