Ciao everyone, in this new Saturday morning episode, there isn’t much to report on new RPG and strategy releases. In fact, there’s only one interesting CRPG that has just entered Early Access. So, as I usually do in cases like this, I dug through some interesting demos worth trying instead, and there’s definitely no shortage of options.
I’ve gathered twelve games below, including ten demos and the Creepy Horrors: Blood Cult 2 playtest. Some are fresh arrivals, while others are available to catch up with this weekend. The platform details refer to the versions currently available to try.
Olympus 2249
- Developer: Dieselship Studio
- Release date: October 6, 2026 – Early Access
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Olympus 2249
This week’s only Early Access launch takes us into a post-nuclear, dieselpunk America. Olympus 2249 puts character choices to work through five Karmic Types, which influence dialogue, quest opportunities, and how people respond to you.
I discovered this CRPG a few days ago, and the premise already looks very interesting. Noncombat specializations create additional ways to resolve problems, while battles encourage a less diplomatic approach: aim at individual body parts, spend stamina on special abilities, or kick an explosive barrel into a useful position.
Oil, electricity, and traps give you more ways to use the surroundings. The game already has a playable opening section, though the campaign still has a long way to go: Dieselship Studio estimates roughly 3–7 hours of content in the current version, depending on your build and side activities.
GrimKeep
- Developer: Resolution Games
- Demo release: October 6, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS)
- Steam page: GrimKeep
The team at Resolution Games, you know, the studio behind Demeo, has finally started putting some serious work into this project, which originally began more as a prototype before gradually turning into a full-fledged game.
Now that they’ve had a little more breathing room after their work on Demeo, the first playable demo has finally arrived, giving us a much clearer idea of what GrimKeep is all about.
The whole system is built around the use of dice, which can trigger the bonuses and multipliers attached to your items, making the relationship between your equipment and dice bag the main thing to experiment with.
Special dice can introduce poison, healing, or gold, while defensive abilities and stuns help keep a run alive when damage alone is insufficient.
The dark fairy-tale setting sends you through a cursed city along branching routes, where you choose encounters and upgrades along the way. The demo covers the Outskirts region through its boss fight, with the Huntress and Beast available initially and the Feral to unlock. Persistent upgrades carry between runs, so there is a reason to return after your first attempt.
Echoes of the Flame
- Developer: Konno Tobari
- Demo announcement: October 6, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Steam)
- Steam page: Echoes of the Flame
By now, there are plenty of RPGs using that 2.5D visual style made famous by Octopath Traveler, and today I want to point out the demo of another interesting Japanese project that follows the same approach.
It’s called Echoes of the Flame, and much like Square Enix’s game, it tells its story by following two separate parties that approach the same sacred mountain from opposite sides of the world. Exploration introduces Key Words you can present to characters to uncover more of the setting’s history.
Character development uses Combat Points earned through story progress, which you assign to skills, passive abilities, and stats. Battles add shields that reduce incoming HP damage, alongside equipment that supports status effects and specialized builds.
The demo is currently available only in Japanese. The Japanese game is scheduled for November 2026, with an English version planned for 2027.
Combat Orders ’42
- Developer: Ghost Creative Studio
- Demo: Available now; full release date TBA
- Platforms: PC (Windows, Linux)
- Steam page: Combat Orders ’42
Set in the fictional world of Asteris, Combat Orders ’42 lets you demolish buildings to open firing lanes and use repair vehicles to restore bridges.
Scouts, supply trucks, tanks, and artillery must work together, while fog of war limits what you know about the opposition. The demo includes a campaign prologue and four skirmish maps, with battles against the AI or local opponents sharing the same computer. That gives you room to explore its positioning rules beyond the introductory missions.
Nightbound
- Developer: Crooked Cats Studio
- Demo release: September 23, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Nightbound
This demo was already released a few weeks ago, but it looks like it has just received a substantial update, which is why I wanted to bring it back to your attention.
Nightbound is an interesting RPG where we’ll have to coordinate two characters inside a house as they try to survive the usual post-apocalyptic nightmare. At the same time, their chances of making it through alive are also tied to how well they manage to strengthen and improve their personal relationship.
Combat includes manual aiming and interception fire, so moving across an enemy’s sightline can draw shots before you reach your destination. Their growing bond unlocks coordinated actions, including follow-up attacks and healing when they finish a turn beside one another.
The demo covers the first three days and nights, plus gun modifications and a van to help them escape.
Gladiator Immortal
- Developer: Birchwood Games
- Demo: Available now; Early Access release date TBA
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Gladiator Immortal
Running the gladiator school is as much a part of Gladiator Immortal as commanding its fighters.
Your warriors enter turn-based tournaments staged for the gods, whose arenas introduce different creatures, traps, and conditions. Between matches, you develop a town that supports recruitment, trading, and recovery.
The character system is especially worth a look if you enjoy flexible builds: gladiators can use any weapon, then improve the relevant mastery to become more effective and unlock its skills. Multiple masteries and five schools of magic leave room for fighters who mix physical attacks with spells. Tournament victories also unlock relics, with the eventual goal of defeating an immortal champion and earning a place among the gods’ elite.
Creepy Horrors: Blood Cult 2
- Developer: Dillo Interactive
- Playtest: Access requests open on Steam; full game planned for 2027
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Creepy Horrors: Blood Cult 2
Creature collecting gets an occult makeover in Creepy Horrors: Blood Cult 2. Exploring crypts supplies ingredients and recipes for summoning monsters, while unwanted Horrors can be dismantled to help create something else.
You take a team of six into the crypts and fight with three at a time, switching creatures during battles as the situation changes. Four sects provide different monsters, relics, and approaches to party building.
The playtest introduces 21 Horrors, with more than 100 planned for the full game, and upgrades let you change their moves. Access is handled through Steam’s playtest system: select Request Access on the store page and wait for confirmation.
Raiding Season
- Developer: Horse Pocket Games
- Demo: Available now; full game scheduled for November 20, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Raiding Season
If you’re in the mood for a Viking setting, this week I can point you toward Raiding Season, which has just released a playable demo. Your Viking warband fights across hex maps using action points, terrain, and distinct class roles, with talent trees giving individual raiders room to develop.
Weapons serve different purposes: axes cause bleeding, hammers damage armor, and bows weaken morale. The complication arrives as your expedition succeeds. Gold, supplies, and equipment burden the party, while the destruction you leave behind encourages local forces to mobilize.
Guard towers sound alarms and army camps reinforce defenders, making another raid increasingly dangerous. I like the idea of having to judge whether the next settlement is worth risking everything the crew already carries.
Waywardens
- Developer: background blur.
- Demo release: October 8, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Waywardens
I hadn’t come across this one at all before, and honestly, it looks very interesting. I should be able to tell you more next week, once I’ve had a chance to try it myself.
It’s called Waywardens and is a tactical roguelite deckbuilder with an unusual use for its cards. Each card can perform an action or move a character through a chess-inspired pattern.
The Vanguard, Huntress, and Mage can all use the cards, though matching one to the right class strengthens its effect. Enemies reveal their attacks before you act, giving you a chance to escape threatened spaces, obstruct an approach, or push someone off a bridge. Equipment and relics develop the party between encounters.
Belatoris
- Developer: Adrian Labudzki
- Demo: Available now; full game planned for Q4 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Belatoris
This week, there are several strategy RPGs drawing inspiration from the much-loved Battle Brothers formula, where you manage a ragtag group of fighters across dangerous open worlds. One of the most interesting is definitely Belatoris. I covered it some time ago, but honestly, I had almost forgotten about it. The good news is that a playable demo went live just a few hours ago, and I’m personally downloading it as I write this article.
Exploration and settlement development sit alongside tactical combat inside an open-world fantasy RPG with procedurally generated lands.
You recruit characters, develop their professions, and equip a legion for trips into caves, settlements, and wilderness areas. Gathering, hunting, fishing, and crafting help supply those journeys, while battles consider positioning, weapon reach, terrain, and each character’s abilities. Some encounters also allow conversation or trade.
The settlement systems give the wider adventure an additional direction: helping communities and improving relationships can lead to developing buildings, managing production, and recruiting more inhabitants. Those places can then support future expeditions, connecting the work done between battles to the company you take back into the field.
Ghost Justice
- Developer: Centurion Developments
- Demo release: October 9, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Ghost Justice
The Ghost Justice demo takes us to Miami in 1992 for two missions against a cartel. Team Alpha first assists a police raid that turns into a firefight, and the evidence leads to a corrupt attorney preparing to flee to Mexico.
The second operation follows that lead. From the studio behind Forgotten but Unbroken, this tactical strategy game emphasizes reconnaissance, stealth, and coordinated multi-team approaches.
Specialized operatives, including spotters and snipers, add options for engaging targets at a distance. I’m curious how much freedom the two missions give us to plan an approach before the shooting starts. The full game is currently scheduled for Q1 2027.
Company Captain: Westashes
- Developer: C&T
- Demo: Available now; Early Access release date TBA
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam page: Company Captain: Westashes
Another mercenary management simulator worth checking out is Company Captain: Westashes, set in a medieval world where rival bands pursue contracts, recruit from the same taverns, and remember past encounters with your captain.
Taking too long to act can mean losing a job or a promising recruit to someone else. The battles use a hex grid, with terrain, equipment weight, fatigue, and morale influencing how a company performs. Wounds need recovery time, death is permanent, and daily wages keep the pressure on between contracts.
It is an ambitious premise for a mercenary RPG, and the demo provides an opportunity to investigate how those competing demands shape the opening stages of a campaign.
That’s everything I had to share for this weekend. Let me know which games you’re trying, and whether any of these demos have earned a place on your wishlist. You can also join us on Reddit to share your discoveries. See you next time. Ciao!
