This week, when it comes to new RPGs and turn-based strategy games you can actually play, I’ve got a ton of indie titles you probably haven’t heard of, and honestly, I hadn’t heard of many of them either. As usual, I’m covering every type of build, whether it’s a brand-new release, a full launch, or Early Access, as well as demos and playtests.
Aside from checking out a few of the titles below myself, I’ll be spending the next few hours with that game coming at the end of the month, the one set in that famous sci-fi TV universe. You know which one I mean? Developed by former XCOM team members and published by a company that almost everyone seems to hate. Got it now? Yep, that one!
With that said, I’ll leave you with the list of new games available to play.
Deadlock Station
- Developer: Luxorix Games
- Release Date: August 19, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Available on Steam
I’ll start with an indie tactical game featuring some really well-crafted pixel art and a combat system where we’ll command units indirectly.
In Deadlock Station, squad members move and act independently, leaving the player to influence each encounter through starting position, activated abilities, equipment, traps, and environmental hazards. Enemies can be pushed onto mines, lured into dangerous areas, or contained behind improvised defenses.
Ten characters can be assembled into different squad configurations, while permanent Station upgrades unlock quests, weapons, equipment, and additional abilities for future runs.
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter – Demo
- Developer: Nihon Falcom
- Demo Release Date: August 20, 2026
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch
- Full Release: September 17, 2026
- Free demo available
The most recognizable name in this week’s selection arrives in demo form. Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter continues Estelle Bright’s journey following Joshua’s disappearance, placing her against the Ouroboros organization and a growing crisis threatening the Kingdom of Liberl.
The remake expands combat with new Crafts and S-Crafts, Brave Rush attacks during Quick Battles, and the returning orbment system used to configure Arts. Progress made in the demo can be transferred into the full game when it launches in September.
There is an important warning for newcomers: this is a direct sequel, and its demo contains major spoilers for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. Completing the previous game first is strongly recommended. The Nintendo Switch demo can also be played on Nintendo Switch 2 through backward compatibility.
Entropy – Early Access
- Developer: Lovely Hellplace
- Publisher: DreadXP
- Early Access Release Date: August 18, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Available on Steam
Personally, the game I’m most excited about this week is undoubtedly Entropy. I’ll wait a bit before jumping in since it’s launching in Early Access, but I’m very happy to see that the first reviews are already very positive.
A theatre performance interrupted by a demonic attack. Armed initially with little more than stage equipment and wooden weapons, the performers must defend themselves before setting out across a deteriorating world where humanity is slowly disappearing; these are the game’s premises.
Up to six characters can participate in its tactical turn-based battles, with mercenaries available to replace fallen party members. Exploration takes place across an overworld containing settlements, dungeons, optional locations, equipment, spells, and people who may influence the direction of the story.
The initial Early Access build contains the complete first act, set across the Gloaming Isles. According to the developer, this area represents approximately one quarter of the planned game and currently includes two towns, three main dungeons, and several smaller challenges.
ROBOSCAV – Demo
- Developer: Smiley Face Games
- Demo Release Date: August 15, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Free demo available on Steam
I’m downloading the ROBOSCAV demo right now because I find both its premise and visual style really interesting.
Almost every useful component in ROBOSCAV creates a problem. The parts recovered during an expedition can repair the crashed spaceship, but those same materials may also be needed to upgrade the machines expected to survive the next trip.
After landing on a hostile planet, an engineer sends remote-controlled droids into dangerous areas to gather scrap, confront local factions, and search for a route home. Individual limbs, chassis components, combat systems, class chips, and utility modules can be replaced, giving each robot a more specialized purpose.
Scrap doubles as currency, although some traders ask for specific objects through barter. Escaping the planet remains the obvious objective, but the factions living there may introduce other paths as the story develops.
That tension between rebuilding the ship and strengthening the droids looks like the central hook. Every upgrade spent on survival potentially delays the journey home.
Funeral Flowers Lament: Helena
- Developer: Kiseki Kobo Games
- Release Date: August 18, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Available on Steam
A new Fire Emblem-style SRPG has just launched, and it’s called Funeral Flowers Lament: Helena.
Speed appears to be the guiding principle behind the game. Battles begin quickly, maps bring opposing forces into contact almost immediately, and the playable roster is limited to around 13–15 characters so that every unit retains a clear purpose.
Its combat system uses a reversed weapon triangle, melee weapons capable of striking from two spaces away, and several tools intended to reduce frustration. Actions can be undone, characters fully recover after leveling up, growth rates can be inspected directly, and enemy strength can be adjusted during later playthroughs.
The story follows Helena, the daughter of a territorial lord who gradually develops into a military strategist while navigating shifting alliances. The campaign spans 30 chapters and is expected to take approximately 20–30 hours. Although this is part of a planned two-game series, Helena’s campaign is presented as a complete, self-contained story.
HEXCRAWL – Demo
- Developer: Polymorph Self
- Platform: PC
- Free demo now available
- Full game currently in Early Access
HEXCRAWL itself entered Early Access in July, but a free demo is now available for anyone interested in testing its dark fantasy exploration systems, and I thought you might be interested in trying it.
Every movement across the overworld advances time. Terrain may slow travel, poor weather can disrupt an expedition, food gradually disappears, and limited inventory space forces adventurers to decide when it is worth returning home. Random encounters can introduce monsters, travelers, merchants, ambushes, and unusual opportunities.
Caves, forts, tombs, temples, and shipwrecks lead into room-by-room Delves containing traps, hidden passages, darkness, and loot. Turn-based combat sits alongside crafting disciplines, settlements, bounty boards, procedural maps, and four broad Callings: Fighter, Practitioner, Hunter, and Sneak.
Torment Hexus – Early Access
- Developer: TMA Games LLC
- Early Access Release Date: August 18, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Available on Steam
A cyberpunk roguelike with a retro graphic style I absolutely love, built around match-3 battles, sounds like the kind of idea that could either fall apart immediately or become strangely difficult to put down. Torment Hexus is attempting the second outcome.
Matching elemental symbols generates mana, which powers spells used against corporate soldiers, robots, and bioengineered creatures. The objective is to climb a gigantic corporate tower and eventually confront the executive responsible for the organization’s abuses.
Spell chips can be installed into the protagonist’s wrist computer, while defeated enemies may leave behind relics that alter later encounters. Between fights, text-based events introduce workers, security officers, experiments, illegal traders, and other inhabitants of the tower.
The current Early Access build can already be completed. Additional bosses, enemies, items, spells, artwork, and story material are planned before version 1.0.
Stellar Freight: Endless Horizon – Demo
- Developer: Satellite235
- Publisher: Two Cakes Studio
- Demo Release Date: August 17, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Full Release: November 2, 2026
- Free demo available
Not every space RPG needs to revolve around saving the galaxy. Sometimes delivering cargo on time while keeping the engines intact is stressful enough.
In Stellar Freight: Endless Horizon, one turn represents one day. Contracts send the crew through dangerous sectors where pirates, distress calls, abandoned stations, random events, and trading opportunities may interrupt an otherwise routine job.
Ship combat is turn-based, with individual components available as targets. Disabling an enemy weapon system or damaging its engines may be more useful than simply attacking the hull.
Commanders, navigators, and engineers contribute different bonuses aboard the ship, while upgrades improve cargo capacity, weapons, shields, and overall durability. Repeatable delivery jobs sit alongside branching quests, some of which can alter conditions across an entire region.
Beyond the Fracture
- Developer: Turning Rook Games
- Release Date: August 17, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Available on Steam
The rules of Beyond the Fracture are easy to understand. Two armies of eleven units meet on a hexagonal battlefield, and victory comes from eliminating the opposing Leader or capturing the enemy base.
The complication arrives at the start of every turn, when the arena grants between one and six action points. A plan that works with six actions may collapse when the next round provides only two.
Flanking and unit support also matter. A weaker fighter can defeat a stronger opponent when allies are positioned nearby, while isolated units become much easier to remove.
Matches are expected to last around ten to twenty minutes. Single-player battles, online PvP, ranked competition, leaderboards, and dynamic match commentary are all included.
Tight Tactics – Demo
- Developer: Yellow Bear
- Publisher: Only Tactics
- Platform: PC
- Free demo now available
- Full Release: October 2026
One action. That restriction is at the center of Tight Tactics. A unit can move, attack, or use a skill card during its activation, but it cannot do all three. Reaching a better tile may mean giving up the chance to deal damage, while attacking from a poor position could leave a soldier exposed during the enemy turn.
Character development is handled through cards instead of a conventional equipment or leveling system. Players can collect, upgrade, and merge cards before assigning them to squad members.
Different soldier specializations bring their own strengths and weaknesses, so squad construction depends heavily on the opponents expected in the next encounter. The demo provides an early look at its small-scale tactical roguelite structure ahead of the planned October release.
Ad Iterum – Demo
- Developer: Gabriel Maldonado
- Publisher: Krapao
- Platform: PC
- Status: Free Demo
- Full Release: 2026
You begin Ad Iterum as little more than a walking skeleton. Becoming stronger means rebuilding that fragile body during each run, grafting new parts onto it and devouring defeated creatures to acquire mutations. This is absolutely astonishing, and I will surely give it a try during the weekend.
Claws, defensive quills, additional eyes, and stranger adaptations may emerge along the way, although some improvements also bring disadvantages. A promising character can gradually become an effective, and increasingly questionable, collection of body parts.
Underneath that unusual progression system is a traditional turn-based roguelike with procedural dungeons, permadeath, hunger, randomized enemy traits, and dangerous environmental interactions.
The free demo includes one procedurally generated biome, a boss encounter, two endings, 20 mutations, 20 genetic grafts, ten base enemy types, around 200 items, and a basic crafting system.
Solar Wave – Early Access
- Developer: SavGus Studio
- Publishers: SavGus Studio and Andgo Games
- Early Access Release Date: August 17, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Available on Steam
Solar Wave closes my roundup of new PC game releases with something much larger in scale. It is a real-time galactic strategy game built around indirect control, logistics, industrial development, and enormous fleet battles.
As an imperial governor, you capture systems, develop colonies, establish production chains, research technologies, and assign objectives to autonomous fleets. Individual ships cannot be manually directed. Admirals evaluate threats and make their own decisions based on the resources and orders available to them.
That means a defeat may begin long before the actual battle. Poor supply lines, insufficient ship production, weak infrastructure, or a badly chosen strategic objective can leave an otherwise capable fleet unable to respond.
The initial campaign already spans dozens of sectors. More factions, ships, technologies, missions, regions, and possibly a separate battle mode are planned during an Early Access period expected to last around one year.
That wraps up the week at Turn Based Lovers. Let me know what you’re playing and whether any of these titles caught your interest. See you in the Reddit community or on our other social channels. Wish you all the best. Ciao
