There are weeks where it’s almost impossible to find anything of interest in the deluge of upcoming games. There are then other weeks where you end up with so many more projects that you’re completely stuffed to the gills with potential. This is one of those better weeks.
Welcome to Episode 64 of Keep an Eye On It where I look at the less-known upcoming RPGs and strategy games that have caught my eye for one reason or another. This week we’re going from vampire conspiracies to tactical battles to dungeon crawling and a rather odd bear as the protagonist. Some of these are taking well-known concepts in interesting ways, and others are quite the oddity.
As always, the aim isn’t to be the one to predict the next masterpiece. It’s about spotting projects early, working out what makes them interesting and giving the developers a bit of a look along the way. So let’s start this new episode with 10 promising indie RPGs.
Luminere: Final Light
- Developer: FOR-GAMES CR LTD
- Release Date: 2027
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Luminere: Final Light
There’s a certain romance in a fantasy RPG where the real challenge isn’t just about slaying some ancient evil, it’s about keeping one little corner of the world going. Luminere: Final Light is that sort of game. The Gloom has essentially consumed everything, leaving behind a settlement that’s all huddled around an artifact that is capable of holding the Gloom back.
You expand the settlement, you scavenge for resources, you send out parties into the hostile territory to pick up supplies, find out what’s going on, and fight your way through enemies in turn-based combat. The expeditions have branching paths and powerful guardians to contend with, and the survivors and artifacts you bring back in are all used to help develop the settlement. I quite like the dynamic of protecting what you’ve got and then going out and risking it all to secure the future of that settlement. There’s also a Steam playtest if you’re interested in seeing how all the systems work together.
Dragon’s Tear
- Developer: LilChill Games
- Release Date: Q1 2027
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Dragon’s Tear
Lately, I seem to be talking about first-person dungeon crawlers quite a lot, which is definitely a good thing, considering how many interesting new projects keep popping up. The one I introduce today is called Dragon’s Tear, and it’s more concerned with the decisions you make before the fight even begins. You build your three-person party, equip them with gear and skills, and then send them into an underground labyrinth where exploration and combat proceed automatically.
The real draw is the Tear system. Monsters you defeat can leave behind items that contain their powers, and you can then equip these and upgrade them by collecting duplicates. Clear floors become your farms, and the inn and such provide a host of other upgrades and resources. There’s even offline progression for up to 8 hours. It’s a rather odd blend of the traditional dungeon crawler with some idle mechanics, which is ideal for the sort of player who likes to spend time optimizing their character builds but doesn’t mind having someone else do a bit of the grinding for them.
Perfect Steel
- Developer: Grzegorz Zachar
- Release Date: TBA
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Perfect Steel
I’ve undoubtedly seen my fair share of strategy RPGs promising to recapture the spirit of the SNES and the original PlayStation. Perfect Steel is part of that lineage, though it’s not just about the nostalgia factor. It’s set in a world of conflict between the Farlis Empire and various independence movements on the island of Loaria.
You’re going to be having tactical battles on very small, diorama-style maps where the terrain, the elevation and the weather can all have an effect on your actions. You’re going to be commanding squads of 5 to 10 characters, playing around with different races, classes and abilities to see what works. There’s a world map (which is simply amazing for my tastes) to tie it all together, and the political situation forms the basis of the story. I think a lot of you out there will surely love this project; if that’s the case, go and wishlist it.
Vampire Tactics
- Developer: Pixel Conspiracy
- Release Date: TBA
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Vampire Tactics
Killing the enemies is absolutely fine, but wouldn’t it be far more sensible to just recruit them afterward? That’s pretty much the premise of Vampire Tactics, a dark fantasy tactical roguelite in which your army grows up out of the mortal population and becomes vampires. Your converted minions can then evolve down a variety of different paths, gaining new abilities, stats and looks.
You can have some that are very fast attackers and others that become quite the tough proposition. The combat is all about positioning, gear and the combination of abilities, with permanent death of a valuable unit being a real pain. In between the fights, you’ll be exploring castles, dealing with merchants, and making choices as to what you do with the unfortunate villagers you come across. You can protect them, you can exploit them, or you can just recruit them into your vampire army. It turns out that running a vampire army is a lot more about personnel management than I ever thought it would be. I absolutely love the pixel art here and the premise.
Attack of the Astrals
- Developer: Hewer’s Workshop
- Release Date: November 26, 2026
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Attack of the Astrals
Here’s a fairly clever idea, actually: what if movement was your main weapon? That’s the basis of Attack of the Astrals. You get three moves per turn, and if you move a champion, then you get an automatic area-of-effect attack at the point you move to.
Champions can also swap places with units along their path, which turns the whole battlefield into a kind of positioning puzzle with a chain of attacks. It gets more complicated as you go as the Astral army will pick up abilities from the enemies you’ve already killed. In other words, success can make your next encounter more dangerous. You have a number of options to work with in the form of additional abilities, consumables (scrolls), and Zodiac attacks, but the focus is on getting as much out of your few moves as possible. There’s a Steam demo available if you want to play with the system before launch.
Red Kiss
- Developer: Wispfire
- Release Date: 2027
- Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S
- Steam Page: Red Kiss
Cold War Berlin is complicated enough without throwing in vampires, but Red Kiss has decided to take it to the next level. You play as an Augur, a newly turned vampire who can telepathically command a squad of undead agents. You’re working for a rather enigmatic patron known as Daddy and you’re going to be managing assignments, investigating various conspiracies and so on.
The U-Bahn is your network of locations and opportunities and the Wheel of Fate will dictate what happens as a result of your agents’ abilities. You’ve got to be mindful of your money, your blood, your energy and your relationships. The thing that really interests me is the focus on managing your agents as individuals with their own agendas, and of course, Daddy isn’t going to be the sort of person you’re going to want to keep on your side for very long.
Spears and Spirits
- Developer: Go North Studio
- Release Date: TBA
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Spears and Spirits
Seventeenth-century Siberia isn’t a setting you come across very often in RPGs, and that in itself was enough to pique my interest in Spears and Spirits. The story is of Erumi, a young shamaness whose fate is going to have a very negative impact on her people. Her journey through the forests, the tundra and into the Arctic brings in a whole host of characters and supernatural entities drawn from the cultures and mythologies of that region.
Combat is a mix of positioning and deckbuilding with your Spirit cards, but it’s only one part of the experience. You’ve got to manage supplies, medicine, the wounded, your companions and your relationships as you trek through the wilderness. The decisions you make around the campfire are just as important as the decisions you make in the fight, and they can have a massive impact on the relationships and the story itself. It’s a very neat blend of historical inspiration, survival, and character-driven narrative that I’d like to see more of.
Little Frontier
- Developer: Vedad
- Release Date: Q1 2027
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Little Frontier
It’s 1836. The North American fur trade is in decline, and the wilderness, which for generations had been the haven of the trapper, is in the process of changing. That’s the backdrop for Little Frontier, a tactical RPG that follows the adventures of three mountain men: Bruce, Jack and Yellow Feather.
It’s not really a combat-focused game in any traditional sense. You’re doing the hunting, the camping, the trading, and the traveling across the frontier on foot, horse, and canoe. The exploration is real-time, and the encounters are turn-based. Dialogue and decisions have a direct impact on the relationships between the characters and the ultimate outcome of their journey.
I quite like the idea of focusing on such a small group of protagonists at such a pivotal point in history. There’s a real sense of the world simply being in transition and not necessarily in need of being saved. It’s just changing. Whether or not the characters are ready for it is a separate question. A demo is available on Steam.
Lazare’s Sacrifice
- Developer: Dream Reality Interactive
- Release Date: Spring 2027
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Lazare’s Sacrifice
Losing a card game is generally a rather frustrating experience. To lose your head as a result is probably a bit much, though Lazare’s Sacrifice seems to think that’s entirely reasonable. It’s set in a very dark take on the French Revolution and you play as General Lazare Hoche, a man who’s been imprisoned and is forced to go up against various historical figures in increasingly deadly card duels.
The whole thing is built around the concept of sacrifice. You can sacrifice cards, you can sacrifice board positions and you can even sacrifice your health to get a better opportunity. A win allows you to grow your collection, and as you explore and solve puzzles, you slowly start to piece together the conspiracy that has led to your imprisonment.
There are four card factions to choose from, each with a different approach to deckbuilding, plus a narrative campaign and a standalone challenge mode. Damien Monnier (Gwent designer) is involved in the development, so I’m very much looking forward to seeing just how far the developers will go with the idea of sacrificing things to gain an advantage.
Billy the Hero
- Developer: JOJOJOJOsoft
- Release Date: Q4 2026
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page: Billy the Hero
I could probably spend a whole paragraph on why Billy the Hero has a rather muscular bear as its hero who wakes up on Hell Island with no memory of how he got there. Let’s just get on to what you actually do.
It’s a dark fantasy RPG with turn-based combat, party relationships, and the development of a settlement within an abandoned shopping mall. Combat takes the place of traditional magic resources with four colors of gems (which you have to manage very carefully) and has an odd numerical system where certain attack values will trigger bonuses or even cancel attacks entirely.
In between battles, you’ll be recruiting inhabitants, growing food, improving your settlement, and developing relationships, which will in turn improve the effectiveness of your co-op attacks. Your choices will have an effect on the story. It’s a very odd mix of systems, and by the time you’ve worked out the combat maths, the fact that you have a muscular bear as your hero is probably the most surprising thing about it.
So, what do you think of these upcoming indie RPGs? As always, I’m constantly on the lookout for interesting new projects, because discovering and sharing hidden gems is what keeps TBL going.
If you know of any promising games that deserve some attention, don’t hesitate to reach out through my social media pages, our Discord server, or, especially, our ever-growing Reddit community. I’m always happy to discover something new, and your recommendations are more than welcome. That’s all for today. See you next time. Ciao
