Things have finally started moving again, with new announcements, fresh releases, and playable demos, after the usual holiday-season slowdown. That means there are some genuinely interesting RPGs and strategy games to check out, and I’ve got quite a few worth showing you.
There are plenty of new demos to evaluate, along with a few noteworthy releases that I’ve highlighted in this recap below. I’d also like to remind you that I’ve just updated the calendar with 2026 releases, which you can find via the link or directly in the menu.
I’ll be revisiting it from time to time to add newly announced titles and confirmed release dates. But for now, let’s take a look at everything new that’s ready to play.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined (Demo)
- Developers: Square Enix, HEXADRIVE Inc.
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
- Release Date: February 5, 2026
- Steam Page
As expected, the opening of my article is entirely dedicated to the new little gem from Square Enix, since Dragon Quest VII Reimagined has dropped a free demo this week, giving you the opening chunk of the remake up through the Ballymolloy storyline, the first world the party visits, with caps on level, vocation progress, and gold.
Your save carries into the full game, and the full release can hand out a demo reward for Maribel, the Day Off Dress. Combat sticks to party-based turn-based battles, but it leans on vocations more, with unique perks per job, faster battle pacing, auto battle options, and a Moonlighting system that lets a character run two vocations at once to mix skills and spells.
Outside fights, it frames the adventure around time travel and restoring lost lands, wrapped in a diorama-style look. The full game is set for February 5, 2026, with the demo available on Steam and other platforms.
Alder Forge 2 (E.A.)
- Developers: Zine FALOUTI
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: January 9, 2026
- Steam Page
Another very interesting title to make its debut in early access is Alder Forge 2, which is definitely worth keeping an eye on, continuing Zine FALOUTI’s RPG series with a party of eight and an adaptive turn-based combat loop built around boosts, follow-ups, crafting, skill fusion, plus cinematic Guardian battles.
Early Access starts with Chapter 1 Magna Lumen and Chapter 2 Le Théatre Macabre available right away, after the prologue The Silver Maiden that shipped as a Steam Fest demo in February 2025, with later chapters planned as development continues.
Combat is built around five boost slots, battle speed options up to x3, Battle Heat that can raise XP gains up to x2 when you chain fights, and a Gaia’s Blessings reputation layer that increases boost points and max BP based on what you do outside combat.
Build crafting leans on Anima Stones with hybrid fusion maps that can reach six skills per fused stone, and the current Early Access build already starts with a wide spread of weapon types across swords, staves, lances, guns, greatswords, claws, bows, and axes.
The story is set in 947 AGC, two years after the Orvysian invasion, with the Fourth Squadron pulled into a political war between the Magna Lumen and the High Council while the remaining Knights of the Alder Forge and their Guardians push the conflict toward a larger collapse. One to try for sure.
Age of Tribulation (Open Playtest)
- Developers: Apostle Games
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: TBA
- Steam Page
I’ve been following the development of this intriguing indie RPG very closely, and this week’s big news is that Age of Tribulation has kicked off an open Steam playtest. Indie dev Apostle Games says it will stay live for three weeks while they collect feedback ahead of the planned demo release on March 9, 2026.
It is a dark fantasy RPG that mixes CRPG-style exploration with turn-based party combat, wrapped in a survival roguelite loop where decisions can end a run if you enable permadeath.
The build leans on a day-night cycle that changes encounters and loot, plus basic needs like eating, drinking, and sleeping, with a codex meant to teach enemy behavior before you walk into a bad matchup.
Long-term progression points to a level cap of 20 and 33 classes, while the demo scope uses a lower cap and fewer classes, plus two towns, side quests, and rotating job postings to keep the open world moving. You can find the button to join the playtest on Steam.
EvoCreo
- Developers: Ilmfinity Studios
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: January 7, 2026
- Steam Page
Another new release is EvoCreo, which hit Steam, bringing Ilmfinity Studios’ creature collector RPG from its earlier iOS and Android release to PC with Windows, macOS, plus SteamOS and Linux support.
Set in Zenith, it runs on top-down pixel art exploration and a combat system where you manage move cooldowns, status effects, passive traits, plus elemental combos while building a squad of over 170 Creo to capture, evolve, and tune through multiple evolution paths.
The story follows a search for a missing father while the Shadow Hive plot grows, with five elemental arenas and a quest-driven structure. A free demo is up on Steam, and ranked online PvP plus casual multiplayer are listed as coming soon.
Crit Happens! (Open Playtest)
- Developers: Studio Alone
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: Q2 2026
- Steam Page
I’ll be honest, I completely missed the email from the developers of Crit Happens!, letting me know that the playtest for their extremely promising roguelite had gone live. But as the saying goes, better late than never.
The playtest heads toward a planned Q2 2026 release, with Studio Alone building it as a roguelite RPG where your damage is decided by dice rolls, rerolls, and then choosing what to hold.
Between encounters, you customize your dice with new faces that can add special effects, while trinkets change your turn math by setting objectives for unique multipliers and rotating through your collection at the end of each turn.
The playtest update split relics into rarity pools, pushed drops toward synergies with your current dice, and added guaranteed legendary relic rewards from bosses as an optional pick.
It already leans hard on status effects like burn, bleed, paralysis, and confusion, plus buffs like shield or reflect, so each fight becomes a clean risk management puzzle about when to roll again rather than locking in a safe result. Give it a try and let me know what you think about it.
Parasite Mutant (Demo)
- Developers: IceSitruuna
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: TBA
- Steam Page
One of the most interesting games on this list for my tastes is definitely Parasite Mutant, and there’s a demo you can try that lets players try its science fiction survival horror RPG setup as psionic agent Nova investigates an abandoned island city full of grotesque mutants and puzzle-heavy routes.
Combat uses Active Time Chains, a timing-driven twist on active time battles that splits each turn into a three-segment chain where you commit actions per segment, decide when to save energy for a chain release, then dodge incoming attacks as the gauge fills to steal safer windows for your own hits.
The demo shows off its semi-realistic anime presentation with optional retro and CRT style filters, and progression leans on gear modules plus bonus points earned in fights to tune your loadout rather than relying on simple level-ups. I introduced the game here.
Terra Invicta (Out Of Early Access)
- Developers: Pavonis Interactive
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: January 5, 2026
- Steam Page
Terra Invicta is out of Early Access now, with Pavonis Interactive pushing it to version 1.0 on Steam, GOG, Epic, plus the Microsoft Store lineup that includes Game Pass on PC.
It is a heavy grand strategy and 4X campaign about an alien arrival splitting humanity into seven factions, then asking you to win through geopolitics, covert ops, research pacing, industrial buildup, and long-term space logistics.
You run a team of councilors to grab control points inside nations, manage influence, money, ops, then steer global research into faction projects while the campaign clock keeps moving.
Once the tech base is there, the game opens into Solar System expansion with habs, shipyards, ship design, then tactical fleet fights that punish bad thrust, bad armor choices, or weak point defense.
Version 1.0 adds a new 2026 start scenario that updates the world situation, plus five new UI languages in Czech, Italian, Korean, Russian, and Ukrainian. We reviewed the game, and you can find all the details here.
Roots Devour (Demo)
- Developers: Rewinding Games
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: January 28, 2026
- Steam Page
We’re always on the hunt for something a bit different and genuinely original, and Roots Devour might be one of those games that ends up being anything but ordinary.
It has a free demo on Steam that runs through the first level and lasts about 60 minutes, which is enough time to see its core hook, a card connecting exploration system where each new link pushes your roots deeper into a Lovecraftian forest while you juggle blood and other resources to keep expanding.
You play as a newborn eldritch predator, so the fantasy is about spreading territory, shaping routes through swamps and snow, and turning card draws into a shifting board state that mixes deckbuilding with light puzzles and risk management.
The full game from Rewinding Games, published by GCORES PUBLISHING, is set to launch on PC on January 27, 2026, with four regions, human encounters that can branch into multiple endings, and enough card variety to support very different builds from run to run.
Clever Girls (Demo)
- Developers: Ossifrage Games
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: TBA
- Steam Page
This title has actually had a demo available for a while, but it only came to my attention a few days ago, so it’s only right that I point it out to you now.
It’s called Clever Girls, and it has a free Dress Rehearsal demo on Steam, first released on August 6, 2025, as a short slice of Ossifrage Games’ story-driven, relationship-focused, turn-based dinosaur party RPG.
You control four playable dinos during a linear camp story, then roam a small map that includes an abandoned campsite and a crumbling amphitheater, with visual novel-style scenes as the pack comments on weird human leftovers.
The playable portion is built around three mock battles that teach its turn-based stealth tactics angle, with sneaking, positioning, and character abilities doing most of the work, plus a quick battle option if you want to focus on the combat loop.
The full game is still marked as to be announced, and the demo keeps progression out, so you can just learn the basics.
That’s everything I had to show you this week. Now it’s up to you to let me know what you think through my social pages and the Reddit channel, which just keeps growing like crazy. Have a great weekend. Ciao
