The colorful roguelite deckbuilder from Serial Project and Kakehashi Games lets players try its first dungeon during Steam Deckbuilders Fest 2026.
Serial Project and Kakehashi Games have launched the very first public demo for Serial World, a roguelite deck builder being developed by a two-person Japanese development company formed by Takashi Maeda (a developer formerly working at Level-5) and Sho Kawasaki (also a former developer at Level-5).
The demo is currently available to download for free via Steam as part of the 2026 Steam Deckbuilders Fest. The demo will be playable through May 11 while the full version of Serial World is scheduled for launch on PC later in the year.
When Serial World was announced globally at the Future Games Show 2025 at Gamescom, it was stated that the story would follow a character named Milo.
He lives in Bricktown and starts investigating a number of mysterious disappearances happening throughout his community. His investigations will lead to Milo getting pulled into a different type of RPG adventure featuring changing dungeons, a collection of monster-companion friends and card-based turn-based combat.
The color palette used throughout the game seems to reflect a cartoonish aesthetic, and the variety of monsters illustrated in the game appears to draw similarities to those found in classic video games. However, the progression system in Serial World incorporates aspects of modern deck-builder systems.
Players will have access to one randomly generated dungeon crawl session using their three starting Anima within the demo.
These Anima include; Porcupint, the attacker; Tanibo, the defender; and Reptibud, the support. Each Anima has its own set of unique cards, characteristics and roles within combat. Therefore, the intention is for players to see how the deck builds change based upon the creatures that make up Milo’s party. Within this preview, players will explore Plains World, encounter various oddball types of enemies and test out various combinations of Anima.
While combat uses traditional turn-based card mechanics, the primary draw of Serial World comes from how your party makes up the shape of your deck.
When playing Serial World, you’re not simply collecting general attack or buff cards. Rather you’re building a deck around a trio of creatures, each providing a defined purpose to your team. As such, there is a discernible level of strategy present from the beginning.
Porcupint contributes to increasing damage output, Tanibo helps keep the party stabilized, and Reptibud offers a layer of protection for players as they figure out how all of their skill sets, combos, and enemy patterns work together.
Beyond combat, Serial World combines elements of dungeon crawling with some light RPG exploration.
Bricktown serves as Milo’s hometown location, where players can interact with citizens, discover new locations, and obtain items that may assist them prior to venturing into maps that are always changing.
The demo is currently accessible on Steam as part of Steam Deckbuilders Fest 2026, with the full PC version of Serial World expected sometime later in 2026.
