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Crimson Moon has a stark, remarkable visual identity laden with gorgeous seraphic and demonic overtones, deliberate and visceral Soulslike combat, and some interesting roguelike progression elements thrown in for good measure. I love a great Soulslike, and as I've more recently found out, I think I'm starting to like a good roguelike, as well. Crimson Moon is both of these things and a lot more. ProbablyMonsters was at this year's Summer Game Fest Play Days to give RPGamer a behind-closed-doors look at Crimson Moon, its gothic High Renaissance world, roguelike progression systems, and its visceral action combat. The first thing that stands out about Crimson Moon is its world and visual design, which, as advertised, are brilliantly gothic and, indeed, very High Renaissance. The world of Gildenarch is gorgeous, with a distinct look and feel; derelict castles rise high and menacingly, entwined with red thorns, vines, webs, and all sorts of demonic viscera. The architecture of castle spires and churches looks magnificent, and the lighting engine does the game plenty of favors, with a sick demonic haze, sometimes red, sometimes green, other times a dark black, coating levels in a heavy, oppressive air and light. The Nephilim and demon designs both stun, with the Nephilim having a menacingly holy authority and the abominable demons looking vile and properly hellish. To top it all off, spells and particle effects, be it brilliant flashes of holy fury or bursts of demonic flame, look phenomenal, further elevating the visual flair of combat's holy crusade. [caption id="attachment_194838" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Gothic cathedrals and demons abound.[/caption] Gameplay involves traversing through procedurally generated levels and engaging in action combat. Players have the ability to execute heavy attacks, light attacks, parry, dodge, and block: everything players expect out of a Soulslike, and they all feel fantastic. The combat is deliberate, rewarding, and properly punishing, and the attack animations are perfectly telegraphed and timed, making parrying and dodging feel rewarding. Over time, excelling in combat builds up an ultimate ability that transforms the player into an incredibly powerful angel, making the hectic moments of swarming demons all the more manageable. What really makes Crimson Moon's combat stand out, though, are two elements. First, death does not result in hard resets, with a life system that allows for failure despite the relentless brutality; as long as players have lives, they can get up and continue. Players still have to leverage when they can afford to lose a life, so it doesn't trivialize levels. Second, Crimson Moon is just amazingly stylish. Every demon that players fight has a unique execution animation when purged, and succeeding at executing combos against a line or group of enemies carries a supreme catharsis, whether it's a brutal impaling or baptizing them in a dramatic, sanctified conflagration. [caption id="attachment_194837" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Performing a specialized execution on a winged demon. Rip 'em![/caption] Along the way, defeated enemies will drop armor, accessories, or new weapons, giving a roguelike progression to each run. This seemed to work relatively well, although the length of the demo unfortunately prevented deeper analysis into the strength of Crimson Moon's roguelike elements. Also limited by the demo's length was a deeper look at combat via boss encounters, with nobody in our group able to reach the level's boss, although a few people got close. The other interesting element Crimson Moon offers but did not show off during the demo is co-op play, with both players sharing lives and apparently able to engage in synergistic attacks or combine abilities. At the end of the session, I walked away extremely impressed: Crimson Moon has a stark, remarkable visual identity laden with gorgeous seraphic and demonic overtones, deliberate and visceral Soulslike combat, and some interesting roguelike progression elements thrown in for good measure. Further down the line, and before its September release, I'm hoping Crimson Moon can show off some more of its roguelike elements and co-op play, as those promise an even more thrilling experience if executed right. The post Crimson Moon: SGF Play Days Impression appeared first on RPGamer.

Developer WILD WITS and publisher Curve Games announced that story-driven Round Table management RPG Sovereign Tower will launch on August 6, 2026. The game will be released for PC on Steam, where a new demo is available as part of Steam Next Fest. The latest demo grants access to the prologue and first act, including support for English, French, Simplified Chinese, German, Korean, and Japanese language options. Sovereign Tower sees players step into the role of the kingdom’s new sovereign, where they will need to balance the needs of their knights and the kingdom’s other denizens. Players will need to send their knights on missions including corralling a stray goose or undertaking exorcisms, taking care to balance the knight’s strengths and weaknesses with public opinion and the kingdom’s treasury. Should things go wrong, players can make a deal with a demon in order to turn back time. The post Sovereign Tower Releasing on August 6 appeared first on RPGamer.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis looks to be an exciting, immersive, and gorgeous archaeological adventure full of danger and mystery, firmly recapturing the story and magic of the original while adding some new, interesting mechanics. Lara Croft and 1996's Tomb Raider left an indelible mark on the gaming industry, impressing with its revolutionary graphics, expansive worlds, intricate level design, and fluid controls. Beyond that, Lara Croft established herself as one of gaming's biggest icons, especially in the 1990s, becoming beloved for her athleticism, intelligence, and archaeological capability. Since the original run of games under developer Core Design, the series has switched developers multiple times, and the original game was remade in 2007 as Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the series' tenth anniversary. Fast forward two more decades, and yet another remake is here as Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is set to celebrate the series' thirtieth anniversary. The demo provided a little bit of backstory into the game's plot: Lara Croft is hired by wealthy businesswoman Jacqueline Natla to find a legendary artifact called the Scion of Atlantis. The beginning of her journey brings her to the Tomb of Qualopec, deep in the Peruvian Andes, which is where the curated demo takes place. Immediately upon setting foot into the area, the visuals absolutely stun. The mountains are grand and tall, the jungle foliage lush and thick, and the ancient tomb's ruins are carved with many beautiful hieroglyphs. There's some truly astonishing, high-fidelity detail throughout the environment, and it does wonders at making the tomb feel lost, forgotten, and almost forbidden. [caption id="attachment_194822" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Lara swan dives from the cliff's heights.[/caption] The first section of the demo revolves around solving a gear-rotation puzzle that requires players to make good use of Lara's athletic ability to scale the temple, as well as an arm-mounted grappling hook, which seems to be a new, but welcome addition, to the game's traversal tools. There's a dizzying level of verticality, and the game respects the player's intelligence by refusing to give hints or guiding the player with messages or environmental cues like yellow-painted ledges. It feels refreshing and immersive that the game lets the player get a little lost, forcing them to stop, pause, and take in their surroundings. Regarding her surroundings, Lara also has a new gadget in this game: an archaeological scanner that allows her to analyze flora and fauna, archaeological ruins, and artifacts she finds. How much this impacts gameplay wasn't immediately apparent due to the demo's time constraints. After solving the puzzle, Lara finds herself in a new section and confronted by a surprising threat: dinosaurs, and lots of them. Assailed by hordes of raptors, Lara must make use of her iconic dual pistols and supreme athletic skills to dodge, duck, and evade their jaws. The combat generally felt pretty solid, and the more Lara dodges, the more her Focus ability builds up. Essentially, Lara can activate Focus to slow down time, allowing her to aim and quickly annihilate enemies. While the non-Focus dodging felt a little tough to get down, the Focus mode charged relatively quickly and felt stylishly satisfying, with the overall difficulty level feeling appropriate. The demo ended with a T. rex chasing Lara, and a few of the death scenes from failing were quite brutal, cutting immediately to a black screen as the reptile chomped down on Lara. This helped set the stakes starkly, firmly establishing the danger ahead. [caption id="attachment_194823" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Lara faces down two raptors, ready to blast away.[/caption] On the whole, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis looks to be an exciting, immersive, and gorgeous archaeological adventure full of danger and mystery, firmly recapturing the story and magic of the original while adding some new, interesting mechanics. After the demo finished, a few snippets were shown of a snow-covered, mountainous area with a precarious wooden bridge, as well as some other sneak peeks at some later story cutscenes, all of which looked exciting and equally as gorgeous as the demo, leaving me excited to see what the game has in store when it releases next year. The post Tomb Raider: Atlantis: SGF Play Days Impression appeared first on RPGamer.

Aniimo's biggest potential seemed to lie in the actual world and exploration; while it may not stand out as extraordinary, the world is at least pretty and relaxing to explore, and the Aniimo are appealing enough to make for a cute adventure. Creature-catching RPGs have always been near and dear to my heart, and I grew up catching plenty of Pokémon, wrangling monsters in Dragon Quest V, and later on, taming demons in Shin Megami Tensei. Aniimo caught my attention for its cutesy style and real-time battle mechanics, offering a colorful, vibrant world full of adorable Aniimo. At this year's Summer Game Fest Play Days, RPGamer was given an opportunity to try out the free-to-play action RPG by Pawprint Studios. From the get-go, Aniimo is extraordinarily colorful, featuring an array of vivid hues and plenty of particle effects. The details are largely adequate, but nothing to really write home about, and while the creatures themselves are cute and appealing, none of the designs really stood out as especially compelling; player characters, in particular, seemed a bit too generic. While there's certainly a diverse range of Aniimo to encounter and collect, none of the individual Aniimo or the world elements stood out as particularly new or interesting for the genre. This was most evident in a section where the game asks the player to align with a cute little sun or moon-aligned Aniimo: a major story moment that seemingly had ramifications for later. Both of them were cute, but they didn't really stand out as distinct. The biggest issue in the demo was odd graphical cut-outs, where parts of the world loaded more slowly than others, with scattered pacing issues in the dialogue as well. [caption id="attachment_194830" align="aligncenter" width="640"] It's relaxing to romp around Idyll with an Aniimo.[/caption] The gameplay sees players taking on the role of a Pathfinder, whose job it is to catch the Aniimo and research them. Depending on their elemental affinity or individual tendencies, they have abilities that can be used to explore elements of the world. Catching Aniimo involves using the environment and positional advantages, and while it's lightly engaging, it felt a bit too easy to just move behind the Aniimo to significantly increase the chance of a catch. As players explore the world, they can command and fight with their Aniimo, but more importantly, they can "Twine" with them. This essentially fuses the player with them, allowing players to utilize Aniimo's true power and engage in action combat. The combat felt simple, effective, and responsive, but also not very deep, making pretty elementary use of basic elemental interactions and some light dodging. Aniimo's biggest potential seemed to lie in the actual world and exploration; while it may not stand out as extraordinary, the world is at least pretty and relaxing to explore, and the Aniimo are appealing enough to make for a cute adventure. While the demo didn't show off any of the game's MMO features, Aniimo with friends seemed like it might be significantly more fun, as well. With a little more voice acting, polish, and some extra mechanics, though, Aniimo might stand out a little more in the creature-collecting RPG landscape. The post Aniimo: SGF Play Days Impression appeared first on RPGamer.

RedSaw Games and Logoi Games have released their latest Steam Early Access update for farming sim Doloc Town. The update adds full Steam Workshop modding support, letting players add new items, decorations, crops, recipes, fish species, and resources into the game. It also adds a new high-readability vector font option, plus various bug fixes and gameplay optimisations. The companies also announced that the game will be receiving a limited-time 10% discount on its current $14.99 Early Access price -- available until June 25, 2026 -- after which it will receive a permanent price increase ahead of its upcoming full version 1.0 launch. Doloc Town features 2D pixel art graphics with side-scrolling exploration and combat. It is set in the eponymous oasis in a post-apocalyptic world, which is filled with abandoned ruins and unique architecture. Players are tasked with looking after their crops, including shielding them from weather such as acid rain. They can create automated production systems and unlock and upgrade farming skill trees. Outside of the town, players can explore a variety of biomes including forests, caves, and ruins while searching for secret relics and treasures. During exploration, players encounter threats and engage in fast-paced combat alongside customisable drones. The post Doloc Town Update Adds Steam Workshop Support appeared first on RPGamer.

Developer Schisma Games and publisher 101XP announced that narrative RPG The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian will release for PC via Steam on July 20, 2026. The release date announcement comes alongside the release of a new demo for the game as part of Steam Next Fest. The demo lets players go through the game's first two chapters. Originally announced in 2024, The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian is a follow-up to 2021 title The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante. The game puts players in the role of a crown prince of the Blessed Arknian Empire, a land where people’s lives are determined from birth, divided into Lots under the laws decreed by the gods known as the Twins. The game starts with the prince as a child, with players learning about the Empire’s culture and status before they eventually rise to the seat of Emperor. Players make choices that impact themselves and the Empire’s balance of power. The post The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian Releasing in July appeared first on RPGamer.

Bandai Namco released a demo for action RPG Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online. The demo is available now worldwide on PC via Steam, and will release at midnight (local for each region) on June 16, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. In addition, the company released a new Japanese story trailer, which features the theme song "Live to Survive", performed by Aimer. Echoes of Aincrad is the latest title based on the Sword Art Online light novel and anime series. The game is based on the first story arc of the original series, where the first “full-dive” VRMMORPG is turned into a death game where the death of a player in the game causes their death in real life. It sees players control a fully customisable character who is one of the players trapped in the game, soon reunited with a fellow beta tester called Iori. It will also include characters from the original series including Kirito and Asuna. The game, being developed by Game Studio Inc., will release for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on July 10, 2026. The post Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online Demo Released appeared first on RPGamer.