A guild-focused tactics RPG with PvP, leaderboards, and mod support for new classes and maps.
A tip just landed on my brand-new Reddit channel about this intriguing project, so here’s a quick overview. It’s called Ashbane and is an upcoming turn-based tactical RPG from Shiverblade Studios, currently slated for a 2026 release.
It’s about running a mercenary guild that grows through contracts, rival work, and expeditions where losses stick, and decisions follow you. Recruits get shaped through gear, attributes, and ability point spending, and the build space looks intentionally broad with 40 distinct classes called out as the backbone for roster planning.
The guildhouse functions as the steady progression layer, while campsites are positioned as the on-the-road safety valve when expeditions stretch out.
Looks like that Ashbane also leans hard on allegiance as structure. There are three campaigns, each tied to a different loyalty, with the Oathbound presented as an organized force resisting the Dreadforged, the Dreadforged framed as outcasts returning to hit back, and the Unsworn pitched as an independent outfit that takes work from both sides.
Jobs stop being neutral errands once the world remembers which side you are feeding, and the game explicitly says outcomes persist and the world reacts.
Expeditions take place in hand-built regions, but routes, threats, and rewards are described as shifting from deployment to deployment, and procedural encounters are meant to keep repeats from feeling identical.
Renown acts as the gating currency for higher stakes work, and there is also explicit mention of striking at rival guilds, which suggests the meta layer is not only about picking missions from a board, but also about pushing back on competing factions that can pressure your standing.
During battles, AoE, cones, cleaves, and chain effects are core pillars that reward spreading out, which naturally create sharper trade-offs around focus fire, protecting fragile units, and holding chokepoints.
The most important rule, though, is the escape hatch. The game says you can escape or surrender when a fight turns, because death is permanent.
The game supports Co op for up to six players, both local and online, which is an unusual ceiling for a tactics RPG and suggests the encounters are being tuned for coordination and role coverage. PvP is described with matchmaking, direct friend challenges, and leaderboards.
Ashbane is built to be modder-friendly, with support aimed at altering rules and adding content, including new classes, traits, skills, items, and expedition maps.
This is just the first announcement, and for now, the release window is simply 2026 on PC via Steam. For sure, a game I will keep following. Below is the announcement trailer.
