Enemy turns are usually the moment when a turn-based RPG takes control away from you. You watch the incoming attack, absorb the damage, and begin planning your response. Fantasy to Kill intends to make those moments just as demanding as your own actions.
Developed by Toffeinium, this upcoming dark fantasy RPG retains familiar party commands and an initiative-based turn order, but introduces real-time parrying and counterattacks during the enemy phase. Remaining alert is therefore essential even after confirming your move.
Fighting Back During Enemy Turns
Battles are fought with a party of three individual characters. On their turns, each member can attack, activate a skill, or perform an aimed shot, with speed determining the initiative order.
Enemy attack animations contain real-time opportunities to parry incoming blows, while openings between strikes can be exploited to land retaliatory hits. Defense is not reduced to watching health bars decrease; timing and execution become part of surviving the exchange.
That is easily the most interesting idea behind Fantasy to Kill. Timed inputs have appeared in plenty of turn-based RPGs, but here they seem to cover a much larger portion of combat. You must then recognize an attack pattern and respond cleanly when the enemy moves.
This structure could also make initiative more significant. A faster character might act earlier, but an unfavorable turn order does not necessarily leave the party helpless. Accurate parries and well-timed counterattacks appear to provide another way out of dangerous situations.
An Unfair Journey Through the Abyss
The story begins with a figure described as a lost lamb awakening in the depths of the Abyss. The creatures inhabiting this place are already leveled far beyond what a beginner would normally be expected to confront, leaving conventional tactics insufficient. To survive, the party must become just as unfair as the opposition.
Encounters in Fantasy to Kill are meant to feel threatening from the start, placing greater emphasis on learning animations, exploiting openings, and building a party capable of handling enemies that may possess a numerical advantage.
The developers have attached Souls-like and difficult tags to the project. There is currently no information about checkpoints, resource loss, limited healing, or other systems commonly associated with that label. For now, the comparison appears to concern the game’s demanding battles and emphasis on reading enemy behavior.
Building a Three-Character Party
Progression follows recognizable RPG foundations. Characters earn EXP, improve their statistics, learn new skills, and equip held items.
Several important details remain undisclosed, including the number of recruitable characters, the extent of skill customization, and whether party composition can be changed freely. Still, managing three separate combatants should create room for distinct roles and coordinated ability use, especially when speed influences when each character acts.
Choosing a Route Toward Civilization
Between battles, the journey continues across a 2.5D overworld. Routes lead toward new encounters and arenas as the group ascends through the Abyss, searching the higher floors for civilization.
The current description does not specify whether paths contain optional events, treasures, merchants, or permanent branching decisions.
What it does establish is a clear upward objective: escape the depths, navigate increasingly dangerous territory, and somehow push past creatures that were never designed to provide a fair fight.
Visually, Fantasy to Kill adopts a stylized dark fantasy presentation, mixing three-dimensional environments with pixel-inspired character artwork and an anime influence. Its oppressive setting and deliberately uneven encounters appear closely connected, supporting a world where reaching the next arena may already feel like an accomplishment.
Release Details and Demo
Fantasy to Kill remains in development and currently has no confirmed Steam release date. It is planned as a game for PC.
A downloadable demo is already available on itch.io under a name-your-own-price model. Its estimated session length is around half an hour, making it a useful first look at the parrying system and the game’s approach to reactive turn-based combat.
