Steam's "Fest" events are a way to get more eyes on upcoming titles and major discounts; today, we're going to be looking at the Turn-Based RPG Fest that is currently running, September 30th to October 7th. Turns will be had, and baddies will be hacked and/or slashed. Or blasted with magic. Or shot in the face. You get the idea. We're goin' on an adventure with this one! Hopefully some will make their way onto your Wishlist - and mine - in the near future.

Remember you have until Monday (October 7th) to play what you can!

These are presented in alphabetical order.

Arco

Release Date: August 15th, 2024
Developed by: Franek, Max Cahill, Bibiki, Fayer
Published by: Panic

Arco is a 2D RPG with a minimalist art direction, set in a fantasy version of the Mesoamerican frontier. You'll (eventually) play as four different characters over the course of the story, exploring the concepts of vengeance and guilt across acts that jump around in time and location.

I'm gonna start by coming out and saying it: I think the story could be for someone like me, but I personally don't like the art style. You can counter with "Graphics aren't everything!" and all that, but...well...if I had to choose, I'd rather not choose graphics that wouldn't look out of place on the NES. It's not fair at all to the game, and I know some enjoy that pixel look. But in my opinion, I'd rather have the appearance from the trailer above...which hints at what could be, but alas not. It's a shame because the actual game part is interesting.

Gameplay involves conversation-navigating, exploration, and strategy-action moments. There's seemingly a strong variety to what you can choose to say or do, but as a different trailer suggests: if you wisecrack like a smart-ass, you might take a bullet to the gut. If things turn sour and a fight breaks out, it's up to you to think your way out of them. Turns are simultaneous in this turn-based RPG: you know what your enemies are about to do, and you have time to consider moving out of the way of shots, interrupting them with a biff to their face, or whatever other tactic you can think of. Once you've decided on your action, a brief amount of time plays out, with bullets or arrows moving through the air, and characters shuffling into position before time pauses and you begin anew.

Something I found interesting that I didn't personally encounter much of was the implementation of Guilt. Your decisions can weigh on you in the form of literal ghosts drawn to your guilt and shame, which do not follow the pause-act-pause methodology. This means that, even while the game is "waiting" for you to consider what to do, the ghosts are still creeping toward you - let them reach your body, and you'll take damage.

All-in-all, the gritty and grim world of Arco seems an intriguing place to experience - if you like the graphical style, this could be a cool game. To my shame, I do not, and thus will pass on buying it.

Dimensionals

Release Date: "2024"
Developed by: Mino Games
Published by: Mino Games

Return to the era of 90s cartoons with Dimensionals, a superhero turn-based roguelike. Assemble a team of various goofy characters against the evil Ragnaros I mean, Ragnarath, and his army of Specters. Level them up, customize their loadouts, and save the multiverse!

Dimensionals pulled me in right away. An only semi-serious roguelike with an almost Netflix-Voltron aesthetic and mood, plus like two dozen off-brand alien superheroes to unlock? This is the kind of experience I could eat up all day, and I'll take seconds. It's slightly unfortunate, then, that the Prologue makes you play with a human, Koa, his also-human grandfather conveniently named Gramps, and Koa's buddy-bot Boop. Holding back the best stuff for later, are we Mino Games?

Anyway, the actual gameplay is pretty straight-forward. Each turn, you'll click-and-drag abilities on your characters' hotbars to attack enemies or protect allies from the telegraphed attacks of the opponent; however, you can only go as far as your Mana will let you. It's basically ripped right out of Hearthstone with its implementation....not that that's a bad thing, per se: I found there's a familiarity with everything that provided comfort, wherein I could just focus on bopping, pew-pewing, and ka-powing Specters into goop. All I was missing were some comfy pajamas.

As a roguelike, you'll randomly acquire more ability cards as you progress - by merging copies of already-equipped abilities, you can level them up for greater effect. Koa was all about Critical Hits and multi-attacks, and Boop was status-related, but I found myself drawn to Gramps, with his power to grant Block and channel it into heavy damage. Shame you lose him by the Prologue's end, 'cause I liked him much more than his doofus grandchild. Alas, such is the way of these cartoons, with the elders makin' way for the newbies. The game will feature both a Campaign and a "Raid" mode, with several characters teaming up against gigantic bosses, which sounds kinda awesome for this genre.

All told, I'm totally on-board with Dimensionals, and threw it on my Wishlist immediately after I was done. Based on anecdotal evidence I think it's going to be put into Early Access, but that hasn't stopped me in the past!

In Stars and Time

Release Date: November 20th, 2023
Developed by: insertdisc5
Published by: Armor Games Studios

I don't know if I can give In Stars and Time a proper review! While it is ultimately an RPG with an easy-going premise on the surface - you are killed just before you can lead your party of adventurers to defeat the evil King, only to wake up the day before caught in a time loop - it appears to run much deeper than that.

From the beginning, you can tell something is just off about the whole situation, thrust into a scenario with characters who get along well and work together but don't completely know each other if you get what I mean. The wrongness is confirmed when you're killed and you see "Loop 1" flash on the screen, followed by a mysterious voice whispering in your mind to come find the owner for a chat. Of course the demo ends right as you find them, so now I'm mystery blue-balled!

In the hour or so I spent with them, I found the main cast to be incredibly well written, with believable personalities and interactions. They're charming and relatable, which means of course something bad is gonna happen that'll make me sob, isn't it? I found myself connecting with them, especially the main character Siffrin as they have a full-blown panic attack upon waking up from dying. It's not just their death, but rather their inability to prevent it, and the existential crisis of being a failure at the one job they had leading up to the moment. Even the child Bonnie isn't so bad, annoying but not overly so. They're just acting like a child would, after all.

And that's part of what I wonder about, too: some minor things about the game annoy me (one example: it takes too long to exit a fight, with the "Breathe in...and out." dialogue every time), but I'm curious if they are designed to bug me. I only got to experience the one loop, but if Siffrin is having a crisis after just the first fail, will they have a total meltdown as the hits keep comin'? Will I, the player, make it through the game intact?

Questions, with no answers: that's the In Stars and Time demo experience. I am left wanting more in the worst way! I didn't even get to the whole "combat is Final Fantasy but with Rock Paper Scissors magic" quirkiness, or the groovy music that captured me and wouldn't let go of my brain. I am compelled to put this on my Wishlist, and so should you.

Three Skies Ascension

Release Date: "Q1 2025"
Developed by: Shiny Box LLC
Published by: Shiny Box LLC

I wasn't expecting much of Three Skies Ascension with its janky name, but when it comes to video games, titles can be more than their...uhhh...title would suggest. What I got was an interesting amalgamation of gachas with their rarity system, 2D dungeon-crawling, and Pokémon, with an absurd number of heroes and monsters to recruit (and apparently fuse, later on). Not as numerous as the actual Pokémon games, but I digress.

Starting in medias res, I was thrown off by all the words and concepts being thrown at me. Who are these people, why do I care, and why do they call my player-character "linkblade91" like that's a normal name for a person?! Still, as it got going I became more and more comfortable with all the weirdness, and as soon a talking eagle told me about the Pokéball - I mean, Bonding Orb, I understood what I had stumbled into.

Each mission you take on (oh yeah, the game has a mission-based level structure) has you wandering from left-to-right through a "dungeon", running into random encounters with baddies, obstacles, and so forth. Once you narrow down the attackers to a single foe in an encounter, you can attempt to Bond with that character by throwing an Orb at it; the lower their health, and the better the Orb, the greater likelihood that you'll succeed. I almost expected a wink and a nudge in the dialogue, 'cause it's so blatantly Pokémon that I had to laugh.

Fire deals double damage to Nature, "Martial" types can't hit "Shadow" types; there's some extra spice to it, like classes and upgrading individual skills and gear, but the main combat systems so closely resemble their influence that I wonder if Nintendo would get frisky had the game a bigger audience. There are even shinies, for crying out loud! I found a "Grackle" goblin-looking thing with sparkles around it and a blue color instead of black: sure enough, it was a "Radiant" variant 'blessed' with a different color than normal. Better luck than I've ever had with the aforementioned 'mons, for sure.

I rolled my eyes throughout Three Skies Ascension to the point where they hurt, but I still enjoyed the game and might consider buying it, honestly. Pokémon is awesome, dungeon-crawling is awesome, so combining the two should naturally be awesome...right?

Conclusion/Final Rankings

Now that you've read through all of the reviews - or if you're just looking for a "TL;DR" - I'll conclude with reordering the games based how much I enjoyed them. Any that found their way onto my Wishlist will be noted with an asterisk as well!

  1. Dimensionals*
  2. In Stars and Time*
  3. Three Skies Ascension
  4. Arco

Other Games I'd Recommend

As a lover of this genre, there are naturally other titles within the sale/event that I would recommend, even if I didn't review them here. Some are listed below, in alphabetical order alongside their current sale price:

  • Baldur's Gate III - $59.99 - Current ruler of the Turn-Based Kingdom, the sheer amount of possibilities in this game are staggering. While not on sale, I would still give it an endorsement; if you somehow haven't heard of BGIII before, now you have. And thus, you must play it! I don't make the rules.
  • Cassette Beasts - $11.99 - This is one of those times where they've surpassed the original inspiration, being a Pokémon-like with a more interesting story, fun characters, great soundtrack, and better battling. It also has co-op, now, so you can Catch 'Em All with a friend! Well, what are you waiting for? There's a better version of Pokémon out there, and you're still reading this instead of playing it?!
  • Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - $4.49 - An indie SRPG that I think flew under the radar, I bought it on a whim and had a blast. The story and characters aren't overly cliche, the battle system is strong, and you can greatly customize your characters' appearances and loadouts. Plus you can knock enemies (and even some bosses) into water or pits for instant-death, which is super funny.
  • Lunar Remastered Collection - ??? - Not in the event, but I have to give a shout-out to my all-time favorite JRPGs from the original PlayStation. I learned recently they're coming back in Spring 2025, and on Steam to boot! I'm very excited!
  • Marvel's Midnight Suns - $14.99 - One of the best Marvel games out there, I will admit the Venn diagram of "Who does this appeal to?" is a little all over the place. You have to like the Marvel IP, deck-builders, strategy, and friendship talky-talky stuff. The latter in particular isn't for everyone, certainly, but you can always ignore it and punch more baddies.
  • Sea of Stars - $24.49 - In my opinion, it is absolutely embarrassing that an RPG lover such as myself hasn't gotten around to finishing Sea of Stars. 11 hours in I got distracted by work and other things, leaving this gem of a game to wallow in despair. Don't make the same mistake as me! There's a major update *and* DLC on the horizon, so I'll have to return soon.
  • Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga - $9.99 - Another indie game I picked up on a whim, it turned out to be quite good. Assemble an army with over 50(!) classes to unlock, and let them go to town on your enemies. They've been continuously improving upon the game for the past 2 years; I should replay it again, to see all the changes!
  • Tactics Ogre: Reborn - $24.99 - I have zero idea why this game has a "Mixed" Recent Review score, being one of the kings of the genre in ages past. Compelling narrative where you can actually say your choices matter, plus a frankly-insane amount of stuff to do before all is said and done. One of my all-time favorites.

And there you have it! Don't forget you have until next Monday (the 7th of October) to play whatever demos tickle your fancy, at least until the next Steam Fest event.

What do you think of these games? Discover any good gems in this month's Turn-Based RPG Fest worth buying? Let us know in the comments below!