Here’s my recap of all the new RPGs and strategy games that landed over the past few days on PC and consoles.
August is almost done, and with it this summer of 2025, a season that, for me, has been as chaotic as ever thanks to my day job. Still, I’m glad I managed to juggle everything, carve out a bit of balance, and most importantly, find some time with my family.
But let’s cut to the chase. What really matters here are the fresh releases worth a look for those of us who can’t get enough of turn-based adventures. And this week, there’s been more than a few worth paying attention to.
Quartet
- Developer: Something Classic Games LLC
- Release date: August 26, 2025
- Platforms: PC (Console versions planned later in 2025)
- Steam Page
Let’s start with Quartet: a delightfully retro turn-based JRPG, draped in pixel art, that weaves four distinct character-driven stories, ranging from train robberies to airship warfare, each playable in any order before their narratives merge into a sprawling eight-hero saga.
Its combat system is a masterclass in clever simplicity: you deploy four heroes at a time while four lie in reserve, regenerating Action Points until swapped in mid‑battle for seamless, tactical burst engagements.
Imagine if Final Fantasy VI had taken a cozy detour through Chrono Trigger‘s combat design and Bravely Default’s pacing. Quartet wears its inspirations on its pixel‑rich sleeve but never feels derivative.
From heartfelt writing and seamless story transitions to a feel‑good soundtrack and charming visuals, this is a warm, nostalgia‑soaked hug for anyone who still believes in the magic of ’90s JRPGs.
VARLET
- Developer: AQURIA (Team Noir)
- Release date: August 27, 2025
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch
- Steam Page
VARLET is a stylized school-life turn-based JRPG that plays like a love letter to Persona, if Persona had sinister glitches, psychological horror, and an agenda of self-discovery.
Set at Kousei Academy, you’re a transfer student who stumbles upon a parallel dimension known as the Glitch, where students can vanish into monstrous reflections of their strongest desires.
In everyday life, you join the Student Support Services (SSS), helping peers, forging relationships (mind the social faux pas, as intimacy can be tricky), and exploring your own identity through the Triad Statistics system, balancing morality, altruism, and more complex traits like narcissism or psychopathy.
Combat unfolds in a smooth, Timeline Command system where timing and interruptions matter. You switch between being a supportive Leader or an aggressive Ruler, weaving strategy with flair.
Isles & Tiles
- Developer: Birdworks
- Release date: August 25, 2025
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page
Isles & Tiles is an unexpectedly charming mash-up of turn-based colony simulation, tile-placement strategy, and deck-building mechanics, think Dorfromantik with resource crunches and card-driven progression.
Players raise islands from the sea, tiling the coast to carve out forests, mines, or settlements while juggling what the settlers need versus what the deck supplies.
With each session, you unlock new cards, events, modifiers, and even legendary foils. Depending on the village’s growth, or your whimsy, you might focus on booming colony-building or just sculpting a beautiful island to your aesthetic desires.
The game vibes a slow, meditative rhythm, backed by a surreal, Breton-folk-inspired soundtrack, breathy harp duets, and clarinet weaving like soft wind through seagrass.
SUPER ROBOT WARS Y
- Developer: Bandai Namco Forge Digitals Inc.
- Release date: August 28, 2025
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
- Steam Page
SUPER ROBOT WARS Y is a classic–meets–contemporary grid-based tactical JRPG, where mecha and pilots from a broad spectrum of beloved anime converge across stylized maps.
Expect the usual tactical dance of outranging your foe, unleashing devastating combo attacks, and savoring that familiar crossover charm.
This entry is particularly noteworthy: it marks the first Super Robot Wars mainline title on PlayStation 5 and follows the studio’s rebranding to Bandai Namco Forge Digitals, with a four-year hiatus since the last original project.
Additionally, a demo was released on PS and Switch, allowing players to explore the initial chapter and carry over their save data and rewards into the full release.
This is your mecha-tactical fever dream, epic anime crossovers, piloted robots, and grid strategy wrapped in nostalgia. But with a fresh coat of next-gen polish and the weight of new engine architecture, it feels more than just old-school cosplay. It’s tradition, with a turbo boost.
Horizon Walker
- Developer: Gentlemaniac
- Release date: August 24, 2025
- Platforms: PC (Steam); also available on Android (Google Play) and iOS/macOS (App Store)
- Steam Page
In Horizon Walker, you embody a human who has assimilated divine power, literally devouring a god and inheriting its might.
It’s a turn-based strategy–RPG masquerading as a romantic, evocative visual novel; your companions are stunning dimensional girls, romance events are deep (and explicit), and there are secret chambers that cater to more mysterious desires.
It’s a dark, grotesque tapestry: a world undone by Forsaken Gods and dimensional rifts, saved (or damned) by your ascension as the Human God.
While it leans tactical, Horizon Walker sprinkles its strategy with real-time elements, less grid‑based, more time‑manipulation, letting you command both battlefield and narrative at once. The romance and secret content elevate it beyond genre tics, even if it dances right up to NSFW boundaries.
Dead in Antares (Demo)
- Developer: Ishtar Games
- Release date: August 27, 2025
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page
Step into the precarious dawn of humanity’s fate: you awaken after a spaceship crash on a strange alien world in Dead in Antares Demo, the opening chapter of a turn-based survival management RPG.
Your crew, Amelia, Liu, William, and Polina, must scavenge resources, manage fatigue, stress, and hunger, and build a camp from wrecked tech as the alien jungle swirls around you with hidden threats.
This is no passive first step. The demo invites you into a world where every decision ripples across relationships, morale, and survival. Branching paths, multiple endings, and tight tactical combat ensure that your choices aren’t just drama, they’re lifelines.
Death end re;Quest: Code Z
- Developer: Compile Heart
- Release date: August 27, 2025
- Platforms: PC, previously released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in May 2025
- Steam Page
Emerging from the unsettling legacy of its predecessors, Death end re;Quest: Code Z is a roguelike turn-based RPG that traps you in the surreal Strain Area, a twisting labyrinth where every step is a gamble.
You play as Sayaka Hiwatari, waking in a parallel world crafted by AI, one where familiar faces turn lethal, and death is often just a move away.
Combat unfolds in roguelike dungeons with procedurally generated threats, traps, and enemies.
Every move by you triggers a counterattack, attack greedily, and you might be staring down a violent Death End (or double death) illustrated by Kei Nanameda and orchestrated by Corpse Party writer Makoto Kedouin.
Between dungeon runs, return to town to gear up, unwind at the Night Owl Café, and brace yourself for the emotional cost of survival.
Legends of Amberland II: The Song of Trees (Xbox Debut)
- Developer: Silver Lemur Games
- Release Date on Xbox: August 28, 2025
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, and now Xbox One & Series X|S
- Steam Page
Legends of Amberland II is the kind of dungeon crawler heartstring that tugs you back to the 1990s. Think first-person, grid-based movement, turn-based exploration and combat, and a party of seven adventurers, pre-made or user-built, to lead through a light, fairy-tale–tinged yet epic adventure.
It’s heroic, slightly humorous, and refreshingly streamlined, no endless grinds, no time-sink side trips, just the essence of classic western RPG design.
Now available on Xbox platforms, the game includes Smart Delivery (so players get the best version for their system), cloud save support, and a polished port courtesy of Pineapple Works.
Darkest Dungeon II – Curse of the Court & Free Weekend
- Developer: Red Hook Studios
- Release date: Free Weekend from 28 August to 1 September 2025 – Update launched 28 August 2025
- Platforms: PC
- Steam Page
Darkest Dungeon II has opened its doors for the first free weekend on Steam, letting anyone try the roguelike descent from 28 August through 1 September.
The event coincides with the launch of Curse of the Court, the final Kingdoms module that infests the realm with vampiric nobles and the dreaded Crimson Curse.
Alongside new maps and achievements, the update sharpens the strategy layer introduced in earlier modules, challenging players to juggle expedition survival with managing a plague of insatiable Bloodsuckers.
For veterans, it’s a reason to return; for newcomers, the free trial plus the biggest discount yet make this the easiest point of entry. Whether you stick to Confessions or brave the full Kingdoms mode, the road ahead promises stress, madness, and maybe a sliver of triumph, if you can keep the curse at bay.
That’s the full lineup of turn-based RPGs and strategy offshoots that hit in the past few days. Hopefully I haven’t missed any, though there’s always a chance one slipped through. We’ll pick things up again next week. Until then, take care. Ciao
