Slay the Spire 2, Star Wars Zero Company, and some tactics-heavy games you should keep on your radar for 2026
I admit I’m showing up a bit late to this piece. Ideally, I would’ve written it just a few hours after the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted aired, but as the saying goes, better late than never. In this article, I’ve pulled together everything we can take home from the show in terms of turn-based RPGs.
The event featured a packed lineup of titles, from fresh reveals to updates, interviews, and new gameplay footage. As usual, I went through every announcement and filtered out the highlights that matter most to us turn based lovers.
Slay The Spire 2
- Developers: Mega Crit
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: March 2026
- Steam Page
Slay the Spire 2 is the obvious starting point. Mega Crit’s sequel returns to the Spire a thousand years later, keeping the core of the roguelite deckbuilder while expanding almost everything around it.
A larger cast of characters, more events, card enchantments, extra enemy behaviors, and a broader early access offering than the first game had at launch.
During the show, the team confirmed an early access release on PC in March 2026, with Steam Deck support in the plans, and the show segment focused on how they are using a new engine and a bigger team to push further on variety and long-term replay value without losing the sharp decision-making that made the original a staple of the genre.
Ex Sanguis
- Developers: Lightbulb Crew
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: 2026
- Steam Page
During the event, there was room for some new gameplay footage from the stylish Ex Sanguis. The New game from Lightbulb Crew, the studio behind Othercide, is pitched as a roguelite tactical RPG where your squad of Stillae carves through agents of a force called Stasis in a drained, monochrome world that only regains colour when blood hits the ground.
Battles play out on a grid with a heavy focus on timeline manipulation, chained reactions and environmental hazards, so pushing an enemy into the right tile or delaying a turn can trigger full board-wide cascades.
The developers describe it as an evolved roguelite loop tuned specifically for turn-based play, with runs feeding long-term progression and a planned 2026 release on PC; a public playtest is already live on Steam.
Neath
- Developers: Cellar Door Games
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: 2026
- Steam Page
Perhaps one of the most intriguing new announcements on the scene arrived during the event itself, and that would be Neath, from Cellar Door Games, the guys behind Rogue Legacy, this time going for a different flavour of horror tactics.
It is a roguelite tactical RPG set around an irradiated, inverted tower where a godlike entity enforces shifting “Taboos” that warp the rules of each run.
The key twist is its “fluid” turn system: you not only decide what your party does, but you also dictate enemy actions by controlling the shared timeline, freezing allies in terror when they are targeted and then trying to break those engagements before the blow lands.
The Steam page confirms a 2026 release window and underlines the mix of turn-based combat, settlement building in the town of Shale, and dungeon-crawler style first-person event sequences that nod directly to ’90s grid RPGs: If you want to know more, I’ve put together an overview on it.
Esoteric EBB
- Developers: Christoffer Bodegård
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: Spring 2026
- Steam Page
For players who care more about dialogue checks than damage numbers, Esoteric Ebb brings the tabletop-inspired CRPG angle.
Developed by solo dev Christoffer Bodegård and published by Raw Fury, it is framed as a “Disco-like, TTRPG-turned-CRPG” where you play The Cleric, a government problem-solver investigating a bombing in the strange city of Norvik days before its first election.
Conversations and exploration run on dice rolls and intrusive stat voices, with skills arguing in your head while you try to navigate political factions, mythological citizens and a lot of very bad decisions.
Combat exists, but as a last resort: encounters switch into turn-based mode when things go wrong, leaning into the idea that failure on a roll can lead to more interesting outcomes. The show pushed a new trailer and the reminder that Esoteric Ebb is targeting Q1 2026 on PC, with a demo already downloadable on Steam.
Dungeons of Dusk
- Developers: 68k Studios
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: 2026
- Steam Page
Dungeons of DUSK is the most straightforward dungeon crawler in the line-up, and that is exactly its appeal.
Canonically set between the episodes of the cult FPS DUSK, this spin-off turns the series into a classic, grid-based, first-person RPG with a 30-level campaign, NPCs, and a set of extra modes including endless arena, boss rush, and survival.
New foes join familiar enemies from the shooter, and the whole thing leans into heavy metal, low-poly horror while still running fully turn-based under the hood. Steam lists a 2026 release and confirms support for Windows, macOS, and Linux, which makes it one of the more modestly scoped but very accessible projects in the batch.
Star Wars Zero Company
- Developers: Bit Reactor
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
- Release date: 2026
- Steam Page
On the big-license front, STAR WARS Zero Company was part of the top 25 countdown and brings turn-based tactics to the Clone Wars era.
Developed by Bit Reactor, a studio led by former XCOM developers, in collaboration with Respawn and Lucasfilm Games, it is a single-player campaign where you control Hawks and his motley squad through story-driven operations, base-level preparation, and squad customisation.
Permadeath, relationship systems, and consequence-heavy choices are part of the pitch, with the developers openly comparing its structure to modern tactical RPGs while keeping the focus on new characters rather than movie icons.
The game is planned for a 2026 launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S and was used in the show coverage as the strategy counterweight to all the big action and open-world reveals.
Wardrum
- Developers: Mopeful Games
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: TBA
- Steam Page
Another new announcement, and honestly one that’s already hooked me with its visual style, is Wardrum.
It takes the roguelite tactics idea in a different direction again by wiring every decision into a drum track. Developed by Mopeful Games and published by Team17, it is a turn-based rhythm roguelite where you command a five-hero tribal warband on a tactical grid, planning moves in traditional fashion but then executing abilities in time with a pounding wardrum.
Hit the beat and attacks, buffs and synergies land at full power; miss it and your squad loses impact, which makes status effects and pressure from enemies feel more dangerous than in a standard tactics game.
The story pitches “off-beat magic” as a literal threat infecting nearby settlements, and each run pushes further into a harsh fantasy world to track down the source of that dissonance. There is no release date yet, but Wardrum was one of the world premieres highlighted during the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, and the Steam page is already live for wishlists.
Away From Home
- Developers: Squishy, Cameron Smith-Randick
- Platforms: PC
- Release date: December 2025
- Steam Page
And the last game to mention, shown in a montage during the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, is Away From Home, which goes even stranger, leaning hard into dream logic.
Developed by Squishy and Cameron Smith-Randick, it is an RPG where you slip into a chaotic dreamland whenever Abby falls asleep, wandering an EarthBound-style overworld with her brother before snapping into rhythm battles whenever trouble shows up.
Exploration plays like a classic top-down JRPG, but fights are all about timing: you choose actions from a simple UI, then tap inputs in sync with fast, spooky, retro-styled tracks to build action points and unlock stronger attacks.
Enemy specials push you into quick-time-style sequences, and you only bring a small loadout of items into each encounter, so planning your three-slot kit matters as much as hitting the beat.
The Steam page also flags branching routes, side quests that unlock new moves, and town events inspired by games like Yakuza 0, all wrapped in detailed pixel art and a big multi-artist soundtrack. Away From Home should arrive in December 2025, with a demo already available for anyone curious about a rhythm-heavy twist on story-driven RPGs.
