Of course I have to mention Final Fantasy Resonance in the very first few lines of my Saturday piece on all the new RPGs and turn-based strategy games available.
The new one from SQUARE ENIX (which, from the reviews so far, looks like it could very well be a little gem) has now launched on PC and consoles. For me, I’m going to be giving it a go this weekend, as I’ve only just finished the demo so far, but the reviews and the player response have been so positive it was really good to see.
Why? Because it shows that turn-based RPGs and JRPGs in particular still have a lot to offer when they’re done right. Anyway, with that said, let’s have a look at everything new, as the last few days have been absolutely hectic on this front, and I’ve got a whole heap of interesting things to show you.
Final Fantasy Resonance
- Developer: Square Enix, Lancarse
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Release Date: October 22, 2026
- Steam: Game page
Rain and Lasswell’s trip to protect the world’s crystals sees Final Fantasy get the HD-2D treatment as the first story arc of Brave Exvius is being adapted into a standalone RPG.
Combat is all about exploiting weaknesses to stagger your enemies, gain extra actions and unleash Resonance attacks. Party customization is via Visions (the well-known Final Fantasy characters) whose abilities can be assigned to your heroes.
Building mastery gives you abilities that carry over even when you change your Visions, which in turn opens up a whole host of different party build options. There’s an explorable world map, towns, dungeons and optional battles for your party builds to go and show off in. I only played the demo so far, but I can’t wait to dive in during the weekend.
DEMONS’ NIGHT FEVER
- Developer: SuperNiche, Drecom
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: October 22, 2026
- Steam: Game page
Sacrificing your own minions is a perfectly valid tactic in DEMONS’ NIGHT FEVER. The Peon Exploitation System enables you to kill or blow up your own units in grid battles, making the expendability of your minions a fundamental part of your strategy.
Misdeeds accrue Perverse Points. Army growth, abductions and pillaging all contribute to base progression. All of this rather pleasant (if unpleasant) business is underpinned by Giga Super Death (a devil reduced to baby status) and his deeply resentful human partner Killshiro.
Each defeated chapter boss changes the setting and takes their campaign into parodies of superhero teams, magical girls, and the like.
Every Day We Fight
- Developer: Signal Space Lab
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 22, 2026 – Version 1.0, leaving Early Access
- Steam: Game page
After over a year in Early Access, Every Day We Fight is now at v1.0 with additional weapons, legendary gun perks, new mission types and the Forever War mode.
You have three civilian resistance fighters going up against an alien invasion in a time loop that repeats itself, carrying over your experience and what you’ve discovered into each subsequent attempt.
Battles give you direct control over aiming (firing angles and obstructions will affect your shots). Reflex actions also allow your character to interrupt an enemy, assist an ally or dodge incoming fire on a turn so the timing of when you spend those reactions is as important as your positioning and your weapon choice.
The Killing Stone
- Developer: Question
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
- Release Date: October 21, 2026 – Version 1.0 and console launch
- Steam: Game page
The Killing Stone is an occult card game set in the 17th-century Arctic, where the souls of a cursed family are at stake. The gameplay features animated creature figures, spells, and a Reserve System whereby you can hold units and strengthening incantations above the battle line to deploy at a later stage.
Making a deal with a demon can give you a lasting advantage or a lasting penalty in that particular match. Between matches, you get first-person exploration and dialogue which reveals the circumstances of Mariken Svangård’s death. The 1.0 release includes the fourth and final chapter, The Reckoning, and sees the game arrive on console.
Back to the Dawn
- Developer: Metal Head Games
- Platforms: PS5 also PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Release Date: October 22, 2026 – PS5 release
- Steam: Game page
PS5 owners can now get on with their escape from Boulderton Prison (surviving the day-to-day and picking the right allies are just part of a much bigger investigation).
Back to the Dawn has two protagonists: Thomas the journalist in the middle of a conspiracy and Bob the undercover man with his own story to tell. You can use combat, stealth and social skills to take on the prison gangs and guards in different ways and crafting will give you the tools you need to actually get out.
There are multiple escape routes and branching outcomes so your relationships and your decisions will have a real bearing on how the escape unfolds.
Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest
- Developer: Bamtang Games
- Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Release Date: October 23, 2026
- Steam: Game page
The Lake Territories from the Erin Hunter books are now an explorable area in Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest, with a custom cat at the heart of four brand new stories. Turn-based combat supports up to three combatants on each side, and there are new moves to learn as your cat progresses.
Away from the battles, your travels through the various territories are shaped by scent tracking, climbing, hunting, and environmental puzzles. The materials you gather can also be used as furnishings for your den. Outside of the story campaigns, you have Defender Mode (a survival mode) and Skirmish Mode (asynchronous battles against other players).
Ward Off Evil
- Developer: Terminal Zero
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 21, 2026
- Steam: Game page
Now, for a subgenre I personally love, there is Ward Off Evil, where mercenary contracts, caravan trading, and dungeon expeditions offer different ways to establish yourself in this dying fantasy world.
Your chosen tribe and background provide a starting point for character development, while troops recruited from competing factions form the army fighting at your side. Tamed monsters and summoned creatures expand those recruitment options.
Tactical turn-based battles draw on your units, skills, and equipped relics, but the wider campaign also tracks your standing with each faction. The approaching end of the Cycle gives those allegiances consequences across multiple possible endings.
Dungeon Inn
- Developer: Cat Society
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 22, 2026 – Version 1.0, leaving Early Access
- Steam: Game page
Sara’s biggest hospitality issue at Dungeon Inn is keeping the customers from fighting. The Inn is the meeting place for two rival adventurer guilds and it’s strictly a rule that the two sides shouldn’t find out about the arrangement.
Management is all about timing your promotions and managing guest movement to keep the two groups apart. If things go wrong you can of course covertly back one side to help reduce the suspicion.
Facilities and special events are another layer of decisions you have to make regarding income and reputation. Version 1.0 finishes the story with chapters 10-12, brings in blizzard conditions and a revamped Fame system, and includes Challenge Mode for running the business beyond the campaign.
Billy the Hero
- Developer: JOJOJOJOsoft
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 19, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
I think this one definitely warrants a good deal of attention given the rather unusual setting and the fact that in Billy the Hero even the act of doing arithmetic can be part of the combat.
A darkly comic RPG in which you play an amnesiac who wakes up on Hell Island in a big strong bear’s body. You use skills with coloured gems, and the way the gems work is that if you hold them in until the end of a battle you get a bonus amount of experience.
There’s also the Trigger Hit system which adds another layer of calculation: attacks have a numerical value and attacks with a 9 give you bonuses, attacks with a 0 cancel the attack. The free demo covers Episode 0 and is about 30 minutes long, a pretty compact demo of Billy’s rather dubious new life.
Fear Tall Grass
- Developer: Forgotten Bastions
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 19, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
A pair of dice determines your movement around the looping Fear Tall Grass board, with Vilekin being both the threat and your potential recruits. Fights go off automatically and you make your real-time decisions as to creature swaps, items and abilities by spending your limited Command Points on benched allies.
The make-up of your whole squad is therefore relevant in a fight. Conquered tiles can hold buildings which will provide benefits on future runs around the board and sanctuary upgrades will help your progress between runs. Creature levels reset, but mastery and evolutions are retained, so there is something to work towards on subsequent expeditions.
Dandelion Void
- Developer: Manzanita Interactive
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 8, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
I can definitely see a bit of Underrail in there despite the completely different setting and enemies…
Mutated vegetation has taken over the Pergola (the derelict gen ship) and that’s your scavenging ground in Dandelion Void. You’re essentially there to take whatever you can and turn it into tools, weapons and a dwelling of some sort.
You have to manage hunger, thirst, comfort and happiness. There are computer terminals which can be used to regain access to various areas of the ship, and each time you attempt to do this, the state of the ship will be different (i.e., different levels of overgrowth, doors will be broken, different supplies will be available, etc.).
The demo currently available gives you an introduction to the ship’s systems and secrets. It’s a good opportunity to get a feel for the ship before it goes into Early Access.
Hammer of the Gods Classic
- Developer: Holistic Design Inc.
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 21, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
Winning the favor of the Norse gods is the different objective that Hammer of the Gods Classic has as opposed to a simple case of territorial conquest.
Their Viking armies go out and raid settlements, go out and fight tactical battles as part of their divine duties and as part of their honor. The demo has you in control of the human faction and includes missions from the first seven of the gods and goddesses.
You can raise troops, take towns, have knights and their retinues attack you and the other factions just sit there doing nothing in this version. It’s a very focused opportunity to go back to the game’s approach to turn-based empire building.
Tactical Squad
- Developer: Anarchy Corner
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 21, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
Office walls are just temporary obstacles in Tactical Squad, you can blow them away with explosives and that will open up new paths and remove an enemy’s cover.
The demo comes with a 6-man SWAT team, Assault and Breacher classes, and a solo op with randomly placed enemies. Every action consumes a finite amount of Time so movement, firing and overwatch all compete against each other in each turn.
Smoke and flashbangs are available to use to effect a room prior to entry. There is also online 1v1 where a friend can take the other side and you can take either the SWAT or the criminals.
Salt and Soil: A Frontier Family Sim
- Developer: DelosX
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: October 17, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
Each turn in Salt and Soil advances the year for the whole household, putting family life and the very survival of the frontier homestead on the same timescale. The family split their labor between farming, livestock, workshops, building and trading.
Births, marriages and deaths of course alter the workforce as well as the family tree and the heirs will take on the consequences of all the previous decisions. Annual Family Councils will present you with choices which are directly related to the personal lives of the family members and to the wider events of the time.
The game as a whole tracks the family across generations in a North America which is constantly changing with the impact of neighboring settlements, fluctuating markets and the various historical events of the time.
Rad New World
- Developer: Frontline: Games Series
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Release Date: October 21, 2026 – Demo
- Steam: Game page
I mentioned Rad New World a couple of days ago, a game which is absolutely besotted with Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics. As with so many of you, you were pretty critical of it for just looking like a copy-and-paste job rather than something that was merely inspired by those games.
In any case, if you’re at all in any doubt as to how genuine the project really is, there’s already a demo available for this solo dev CRPG in which you play as a wanderer in a post-apocalyptic world of ruins, factions, and random encounters.
Skills and perks enable you to take a variety of approaches (firearms, melee, bartering, lockpicking etc) and your dialogue choices will have an impact on your quests and your relationships with various factions.
Radiation, addiction and injury are all factors which complicate character management. The demo gives you a taster of the project which has plans for a much larger wasteland and will continue to develop through Early Access.
That’s it for the week in terms of new RPGs, turn-based strategy games and all the various things that fall in that space. I’m actually quite interested to know what you’re playing at the moment and if any of those games have struck a chord with you. See you on Reddit and on all my social channels. Ciao!
