The week spanning the final days of April and the start of May has been packed with noteworthy new RPGs and strategy titles.
I know many of you probably have your attention locked onto a single game that launched just hours ago, a game that a lot of us, myself included, have been waiting on for nearly 10 years. But that doesn’t mean we should overlook the other interesting developments from this week.
I’ve put together a list of 12 titles covering a range of genres, including projects launching into Early Access, others finally leaving their Early Access phase, an interesting demo, and more. As always, I also want to remind you about my new Reddit channel dedicated exclusively to RPGs and turn-based games.
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era (E.A.)
- Developers: Unfrozen
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 30, 2026
- Steam Page
After clearly hinting at it in the intro, I’m opening this recap with the title that pretty much everyone had their eyes on.
Of course, we’re talking about Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, which brings the old-school strategy RPG series back into Early Access on PC, with Unfrozen developing a new prequel based on the same “loop” (collecting resources, expanding your towns, gathering heroes and sending them out to battle) which helped make the previous games as addictive as they were.
While you are exploring Jadame (the continent), collecting resources, upgrading your towns, recruiting heroes, and commanding your armies in tactical battles using hexagonal spaces – ability, magic spells, who goes first (initiative), and what faction you have chosen all will determine how well you do.
Currently available in Early Access are six playable factions, three different types of gameplay experiences (game modes), multiplayer capabilities, the start of the story campaign (act one), various scenario options, and a map creation tool; all of which should keep older fans busy while the complete storyline and additional content continues to evolve.
For those familiar with Heroes III, it has many similarities to what made their experience enjoyable, however there are also some newer elements such as unique hero abilities, rules governing each player’s faction, and today’s multi-player framework which add much more substance to this game than mere nostalgia.
Deified (E.A.)
- Developers: Unexpected
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 27, 2026
- Steam Page
I usually stay pretty on top of new releases and interesting strategy titles, and it’s pretty rare for one to slip past me, but when it does, I’m always ready to admit it, like in the case of Deified, which entered Early Access this week.
An interesting project offering a condensed Turn-Based Tactical Roguelite experience, nearly completely based upon relics, slot management, and Run-By-Run Buildcraft. In a Dark Fantasy World, players take control of Sator as he attempts to defeat Seven Fallen Lords and restore the corrupted Gold of the Rhine back to his people.
Relics aren’t simply passive loot; they have to be inserted into a specific slot for an item’s unique bonus and drawback. As such, every player will be forced to choose between pure Power vs. the issues their chosen build may cause.
Each battle does away with Mana, Action Points (AP), and Cooldowns, focusing each individual turn upon Positioning, Relic Synergies, Fragment Restoration by matching Fragments, and Boss Curses that could ruin a functional build.
Although the Early Access version is nearly complete, the developer plans to add several additional elements prior to final release, including Balance, UI polish, the Narrative Ending, and One Boss Floor.
MEMOLITH: Forsaken by Light (Out of E.A.)
- Developers: Black Anchor
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 28, 2026
- Steam Page
The story behind MEMOLITH: Forsaken by Light has been pretty turbulent, just think about the Kickstarter campaign that failed to reach its funding goal and the mid-development title change.
Regardless of the game’s overall quality, situations like this deserve real recognition. The team at Black Anchor never gave up, and today they’ve managed to bring to completion a development journey that began back in 2023 under the original title Remore: Infested Kingdom.
It is a turn-based tactical RPG set in the ruined medieval city of Remore, where the shattered Memolith has left survivors trapped under the Dark Shroud and surrounded by monstrous former citizens.
Each expedition sends only three characters into danger, which makes positioning, target priority, stealth, weapon choice, and retreat timing matter.
The 1.0 release adds a broader story path, new survivors, more boss and mid-boss encounters, a reworked quest structure, upgraded weapon crafting, and an expanded memory binding system built around more than 130 Memolith Fragments.
GladiEATers (E.A.)
- Developers: MilkBubblesGames
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: May 1, 2026
- Steam Page
One of the titles on this list that I haven’t had the chance to try yet, but it definitely comes with some very promising foundations. GladiEATers entered Early Access this week as well, with an interesting take on the creature battler genre.
It has elements of both a Top-Down JRPG and cooking mini-games, Roguelite Tournament Runs, and turn-based battles (up to 6 v 6) with Living Food Creatures fighting for different combat chefs.
The Early Access version will include three playable chefs, all of their story lines, a Roguelite version of the CALosseum with 7 difficulty levels, 1 v 1 Online Multiplayer, 30 edible GladiEATers, More than 90 Abilities, Unlock Trees, and Seasoning, which adds additional tactics.
The Full Version will have Seven Chef Stories and More Than 65 GladiEATers, Additional Run Modifiers and A Larger Story Arc.
Apes Warfare
- Developers: GigaQuests, STOIC Ent.
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 29, 2026
- Steam Page
If you’re looking for a strategy game in the vein of Advance Wars, the newly released full version of Apes Warfare might be exactly what you’re after.
With a better performance and visual quality than the Early Access model, this tactical turn-based strategy game, developed by GigaQuests and STOIC Ent., allows each player to compete on a grid map that has different types of terrain, such as jungle, mountainous areas, roads, etc.
Players also need to have control over capturing laboratory bases to get access to more powerful units. Additionally, players can influence how they interact with each other’s units based upon the terrain type (forest, jungle, road etc.) and weather conditions.
They can use all these factors to alter how they are going to approach their opponents. In addition to its single-player campaign mode, the game features two multiplayer modes; online PVP and shared/split-screen PvP.
In terms of competition within the game, there will be Steam leaderboards, achievements, and a level builder, which makes it clear that the developers want to target both campaign fans and people who enjoy fast-paced competitive skirmish matches.
Witch the Showdown (Demo)
- Developers: CitalesGames
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: TBA
- Steam Page
Another interesting project I’d like to suggest is the one developed by CitalesGames, which is offering a playable demo this week.
The game is called Witch the Showdown, and the demo gives us an early preview of what to expect in this 2027 action deck builder game, which will be similar to a Boss-Rush style of Combat, Roguelite Card Play, and Timing-Based Duel type gameplay.
The current demo version of the game is focused on one of the most exciting aspects of the game: Every single battle is going to feel like you are competing in some kind of high-pressure Showdown, and each time you successfully parry your opponent’s attack, it builds up Mana, and that mana can be turned into Real-Time Attacks using the cards that have been added to your hand.
This is NOT a Traditional Turn-Based Role-Playing Game; however, if you enjoy building decks and executing under pressure, I think you would find this interesting. Also, the developers plan to offer the full version of the game on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Monster Crown: Sin Eater
- Developers: Studio Aurum
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: April 30, 2026
- Steam Page
Even though it’s a bit darker in tone than most of its genre siblings, Monster Crown: Sin Eater is a great fit for both my daughter and me, who absolutely love this style of game, and this new chapter brings Studio Aurum’s dark monster-taming RPG back to the Crown Nation.
This time, however, there will be an emphasis on breeding and fusing monsters for your own player-shaped teams. In this game, players will experience the journey of Asur, a young man from a farm who becomes entangled in a much harsher story about family, destiny and corruption.
When developing a party using more than one thousand individually crafted monster sprite images, the main draw remains the True Cross-Breeding system. By allowing you to combine and fuse monsters together to create new versions, true cross-breeding turns what would normally be a “collect ’em all” style of team-building into the actual progress layer.
The battles remain as a traditional turn-based RPG battle type, but now have more heft due to roaming monsters, each with their own unique behaviors and how they interact with other creatures, more branching dialogue options that allow players to make choices which determine the course of the world, and ultimately a darker tone than most games in the creature-collecting genre.
Die in the Dungeon (Out of E.A.)
- Developers: ATICO
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: May 1, 2026
- Steam Page
The full version of Die in the Dungeon was released a few hours ago, offering an RPG roguelite, a “build-your-own-dice” game that lets you create your own dice to use in battle.
Instead of using cards like most other rogue games, you are able to create your own custom dice by setting which numbers appear on which side of the die and which abilities (attacks, buffs, etc.) can be triggered from those sides.
Once created, you can place your dice on a small board where the location of the dice affects how all of your dice abilities work (attacks, buffs, parries, rerolls, and poison). There are currently four frog warrior characters available at launch; Each has a specific set of pre-made dice and therefore will have a slightly different playstyle.
The base game features 31 custom dice, 142 relics (items), 36 potions, Steam achievements, and support for both Windows and macOS.
Box Dungeons
- Developers: Mito Games
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 29, 2026
- Steam Page
Another interesting title that debuted this week is Box Dungeons. An extremely small puzzle RPG from Mito Games, which builds upon the classic “dungeon crawl” genre by including both sliding movement and tactical pattern reading.
Each Room in the game acts similarly to a Shifting Board Puzzle. In the game, you slide throughout the level (stage), attack enemies, collect treasure, and clear objectives as monsters act on their own turn-based routines.
The RPG Layer of the game comes through character-specific skill trees, experience points, active and passive abilities, side objectives, and Boss Rooms that are designed around each hero’s toolset.
Additionally, the game has a tabletop & mystery dungeon Influence; hazards such as spike pits and rolling boulders, enemies that bring their own skills like parries or damage boosts, optional goals tied to loot, turn limits & overkill kills.
Overall, the game is more of a puzzle dungeon crawler than a classic RPG. However, its use of skills, enemy mechanics, and room objectives makes it accessible for players who enjoy solving tactical challenges rather than focusing solely on grinding stats.
Monster Lily
- Developers: Kasha Club
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: May 1, 2026
- Steam Page
Monster Lily launched for PC, and it is an old-school ASCII Roguelike with some humor to lighten up what otherwise would be a darkly comedic, serious, and challenging roguelike.
Players are dropped into Hanwu Divinity College to survive procedurally generated dungeons, move around with just their keyboard, experience the fear of permanent death, and have enemies that utilize their special abilities as opposed to simply rolling for stat numbers.
Positioning in combat, combining item powers effectively, creating new opportunities through critical hits, and adapting to situations as they unfold all contribute to the unique gameplay experience that Monster Lily offers.
In addition, over ninety different types of items and powers exist in Monster Lily, which provide players with many options to think creatively about how to solve problems, ranging from locking doors to manipulating the movement of monsters, to using weapons that require players to either sustain attacks or carefully navigate each step.
Finally, while players get a break from monster encounters every eight floors in the form of checkpoints, no player will be able to claim victory without completing at least one deathless run. Therefore, Monster Lily also feels very much like older, harder roguelikes; if you make a wrong decision early on in your adventure, things may quickly spiral out of control.
Magin: The Rat Project Stories
- Developers: The Rat Project
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 29, 2026
- Steam Page
MAGIN: The Rat Project Stories also had a fairly long development cycle, and just when it seemed like there was no longer any news about it, a new trailer dropped along with a confirmed release date and release, which I’m genuinely glad to see.
The game is now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and we are talking about a dark fantasy-themed adventure deck builder.
Players control two unique playable characters: Elester, the elder hitman tied to the underworld syndicate, and Tolen, the younger, more naive player, learning about his relationship to “essence”, the game’s version of magic.
The “essence” that connects to both the fear and desires of the players allows for a strong narrative component to be included with the standard deck-building battle system.
The exploration portion takes place as a side-scroller where the players interact with items and can make their own story choices and are voiced over, while maintaining a comic book style aesthetic.
Battles take the form of managing cards, emotions, and resources when battling monsters or hostile characters within a chaotic industrial world. While it has more of a story-based element than most other card battlers, the RPG elements, such as making choices, affecting the fate of your characters emotionally, and managing your deck of cards, are all connected to a single journey.
Demon Lord: Just a Block
- Developers: YuWave
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date: April 29, 2026
- Steam Page
The last title I want to highlight is definitely Demon Lord: Just a Block in which players will play as a decapitated Demon Lord who has lost his head and is trying to regain power, find some old friends, and take revenge on the Dragon Queen named Heyla.
While the combat system is built with speed and impact similar to other action roguelites, the actual rules of how combat works are more like those found in a traditional roguelike RPG.
Enemies react (and attack) immediately after the player’s movement, all attacks occur at point of collision, and a player’s ability to achieve success in their run depends upon dodging enemy attacks, parrying enemy attacks, performing counter-attacks based on the previous attack performed against you, acquiring new upgrades throughout the game, and strategically deciding which path or routes to take.
There are many different endings to the game, there are card-type progression elements, and the single hand controls allow for clear readability of each fight yet present danger if/when your pattern recognition skills begin to stack up with the enemy.
