We covered PRELUDE: Dark Pain often on TBL; now there’s great news about it because developer Quickfire Games and publisher Firesquid have announced that the game will launch in Steam Early Access on July 27, 2026.
The opening release will contain the complete first act, with approximately 15 hours of gameplay, nine recruitable heroes, 63 unlockable skills, and access to a world map filled with story missions, side quests, tasks, and random encounters. A free demo is currently available on Steam.
Set in the war-torn dark fantasy world of Statera, the tactical RPG follows Soren, a retired warrior turned blacksmith who becomes the leader of an uprising against the Order of the Ashen Crusade.
Battles take place on grid-based maps and allow players to deploy squads of up to five heroes, combining their abilities while using elevation and environmental features to gain an advantage. Narrative decisions will also affect the story and may determine which characters can be recruited.
Quickfire Games currently expects the Early Access period to last around one year. The full release on PC via Steam is planned to expand Soren’s story with additional acts, more than 20 playable heroes across eight class types, 20 factions, roughly 70 enemy types, world missions, raids, and equipment crafting.
