Tag: #Techmash

Light Meets Shadow: Lumina Arrives in ARK: Dragontopia First Content Update!

Survivors, prepare to take your eyes off the ground and look to the skies. Studio Wildcard has officially launched the first major content update for ARK: Dragontopia, the massive, dragon-focused adventure expanding the horizons of ARK: Survival Ascended.

Following the jaw-dropping shadowdrop of the Dragontopia DLC earlier this month, the skybound paradise is already growing. The headline of today’s drop? The arrival of Lumina, a radiant celestial dragon ready to bring a brilliant new force to the battle above the clouds.

The Ultimate Sun-Sworn Counterpart

If you’ve been ruling the skies with Umbra, the obsidian terror born of darkness, it’s time to meet his direct opposite. Lumina is a sun-sworn, light-bending apex predator designed to restore celestial balance.

Here is what this radiant new tame brings to your draconic arsenal:

Light-Bending Traps: Scatter brilliant celestial traps in midair to blind, punish, and disrupt anyone bold enough to pursue you.
The Ultimate Sun-Flare: When pushed to her absolute limit, Lumina erupts into an unstoppable sun-flare state. This blazing transformation strips away enemy technological defences (yes, say goodbye to your precious TEK mechanics) while boosting her own speed and power.
Celestial Synergy: Lumina doesn’t just replace Umbra—she completes him. When united in battle alongside her shadow-forged kin, their combined synergy unlocks a devastating alliance of unmatched speed, fortified armour, and pure destruction.

The Road to a Boundless Skyworld

Today’s content update is just the beginning of a massive, multi-month roadmap Studio Wildcard has mapped out for the skies of Dragontopia:

Release Window	What’s Coming to the Skies
July (Out Now!)	Lumina Awakens: Tame the sun-sworn celestial dragon, explore new skill tree synergies, and master light-based aerial combat.
October	The Sky-Behemoth Rises: A heavily armored juggernaut joins the fray. This massive beast can inhale resources, allies, and enemies alike, violently expelling them as weaponized payloads or anchoring itself as an immovable flying fortress.
December	The Map-Wide Skyworld: The expansion culminates in an endless, procedurally shattered map of floating landmasses, sky outposts, new vehicles, and the full mythical roster of legendary dragons.

TechMash Verdict: Studio Wildcard is hitting its stride by leaning heavily into high-fantasy aerial mechanics. Between the midair mounts using the Drake Claw Grappler and the tactical depth of the new Dragon Skill Tree, Dragontopia is breathing entirely new life into ARK: Survival Ascended.

Have you managed to tame Lumina yet, or are you still trying to perfect your midair grapples? Let us know your thoughts on the new update in the comments below!

Find out more here

#ARK #ARKSurvivalAscended #ARKDragontopia #StudioWildcard #GamingNews #LuminaAwakens #DragonRider #SurvivalGames #TechMash

13th July 2026

Sinner to Weapon: Meet Saro, the Inquisition’s New Sanctioned Psyker in Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy
The Holy Inquisition of the Imperium has never been known for its mercy, but it certainly knows how to recycle a sinner.

Owlcat Games has dropped a blazing new trailer for their highly anticipated grimdark cRPG, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy. The spotlight this time shines directly on Saro, a newly revealed companion who perfectly embodies the cold, pragmatic philosophy of the Inquisition: if you can be used as a weapon for the God-Emperor, your sins can wait.

Check out the trailer drop and everything we know about this volatile new ally below.

The Soul of a Sinner, the Might of a Pyromancer

In the bleak universe of Warhammer 40,000, psykers are a walking existential threat. Intuned with the terrifying currents of the Warp, they can snap and unleash Chaos at any moment. Most are hunted down and executed. The “lucky” ones? They get broken, rebuilt, and turned into living weapons.

That is exactly the hand Saro was dealt. After undergoing a brutal and harrowing sanctioning process, he now serves the Tyrantine Cabal of the Inquisition.

“Even though he is now deemed a sinner who will never be granted the blessed light of the God-Emperor, his iron will and fervent belief in the Imperium have helped him survive countless battles as well as the lure of the warp.”

High Risk, Blazing Rewards

If you like your tactical combat with a side of extreme danger, Saro is going to be your go-to companion.
- The Power: In combat, Saro unleashes devastating pyromancy abilities. He is capable of conjuring massive firestorms that can incinerate heretics, mutants, and xenos alike in a single turn.
- The Catch: Wielding the Warp comes at a heavy cost. Lean too hard on Saro’s psychic abilities, and you will cause catastrophic disturbances in the Empyrean. This can trigger volatile warp phenomena or accidentally summon literal daemons straight into the middle of your battlefield.
- The Weakness: While his supernatural knowledge is invaluable for the game’s detective investigations and his destructive output is massive, Saro is a classic glass cannon. He lacks physical strength, meaning you’ll need to use the game’s revamped cover system to keep him safe.
Play the Closed Beta Today

Saro is just one of the ten distinct companions players will be able to recruit into their Inquisitorial warbands.

Want to test his pyromantic firestorms for yourself? The Closed Beta for Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy is officially running right now. You can gain instant access to Act 1 of the beta by purchasing one of the Founder’s Packs directly from Owlcat Games’ official website.

The full game is currently available to wishlist on Steam and is slated to launch on Windows PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Find out more here

#WH40K #DarkHeresy #OwlcatGames #Grimdark #cRPG #GamingNews #Warhammer40k #ClosedBeta #GamesWorkshop #Techmash
10th July 2026
Return to the Skies: Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok Has Officially Launched!
Skyfarers, adjust your flight paths and prep your crews. Tokyo-based developer and publisher Cygames has officially dropped their highly anticipated action RPG expansion, Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok.

Led by President Koichi Watanabe, the brilliant minds at Cygames have expanded the Zegagrande Skydom with a massive drop of fresh endgame content, new bosses, and deep combat mechanics.

The best news? It is available right now as of July 9, 2026.

What’s New in Endless Ragnarok?

If you thought you had mastered the skies in the base game, think again. Endless Ragnarok ups the ante with a terrifying new apocalyptic threat: the Ragnalia—powerful monsters heralding the end of times.

Here is what you can look forward to diving into:
- The Conflux: An all-new, unpredictable solo mode designed to test your absolute limits with shifting challenges.
- Master Traits & Summons: Push your favourite characters past their previous level caps and utilise powerful new tactical summons to sway the tide of battle.
- High-Tier Co-Op Quests: Grab your friends (or trust your AI companions) to take on brutal new endgame boss tiers.
Where to Play: Next-Gen Portability Meets Full Crossplay

Cygames is making sure no one gets left behind on the dock. Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok has launched across an impressive array of hardware:
- Nintendo Switch™ 2 (Featuring exclusive local wireless communication for on-the-go party grinds!)
- PlayStation®5 & PlayStation®4
- PC via Steam®
TechMash Verdict: Thanks to robust crossplay support right out of the gate, you can team up with up to four players online regardless of whether they are playing on PC, PlayStation, or Nintendo’s shiny new hardware.

Whether you are a seasoned captain or a fresh recruit looking to pick up the Ultimate/Special editions, the skies have never looked more dangerous—or more inviting.

Have you jumped into Endless Ragnarok yet? Which platform are you playing on? Let us know in the comments below!

Find out more here

#GranblueFantasy #RelinkEndlessRagnarok #Cygames #GamingNews #NintendoSwitch2 #PS5 #PS4 #Steam #JRPG #TechMash
10th July 2026
Dynasty on Delay: Why The Guild – Europa 1410 Pushing Its Early Access to September is the Right Move
If you were polishing your blacksmithing hammer or practising your medieval political bribes in anticipation of The Guild – Europa 1410 dropping into Early Access next week, you might want to put down the ledger. THQ Nordic and Ashborne Games have officially announced that they are moving the game’s Early Access launch from July 16 to September 2026.

While a delay right before the finish line is always a bit of a bummer, this is one of those times when a step back is actually a massive leap forward for the final product.

The Power of the Public Demo

The decision comes directly on the heels of Steam Next Fest, where The Guild – Europa 1410 absolutely crushed it. Out of more than 4,000 playable titles, it ranked as the 25th most-played demo. Tens of thousands of strategy fans flooded the historical streets of Kuttenberg to build up early businesses, and more importantly, thousands left detailed, constructive feedback.

Instead of ignoring that wave of data and pushing a flawed build into the wild, the dev team is listening. To ensure the Early Access experience is smooth, stable, and satisfying right out of the gate, they are using the extra two months to polish the core loop.

A Good Business Needs Patience: Originally, the content coming in September was planned as the game’s first major post-launch update. Instead, that content—plus a few extra community-requested features—will now be baked directly into Day 1 of the Early Access launch.

What’s Being Added to the September Build?

The extra dev time isn’t just for bug squashing; it’s bringing immediate tangible upgrades to the launch build:
- A Brand-New Tutorial Area: A dedicated city section designed to help new players learn the ropes of complex medieval economics.
- UI Improvements: Streamlining menus and data tracking to make running your criminal or mercantile empire much smoother.
- Enhanced Animations: Better visual representation of what your workers are actually doing throughout the day.
- Expanded Language Support: Adding more text options right at launch.
Is the Roadmap Still Safe?

Naturally, fans might worry that pushing the initial launch date cascades into delaying the rest of the game’s features. Thankfully, Ashborne Games has confirmed that the overall roadmap remains unchanged.

Major features like multiplayer functionality (supporting up to 12 players), additional maps, extra professions, and deeper political/dynastic mechanics are all still locked in for post-launch updates as the game marches toward its targeted Summer 2027 full release.

If you’re eager to see what they are cooking up, you won’t have to wait until autumn. The developers plan to drop an updated version of the Steam demo relatively soon, giving players a sneak peek at some of these incoming UI and animation adjustments.

It takes a lot of backbone to delay a game days before launch, but for a franchise as beloved and complex as The Guild, ensuring the economic foundation is rock-solid is just good business. Stay tuned to TechMash for more updates as we get closer to September!

Find out more here

#TheGuildEuropa1410 #MedievalStrategy #SteamNextFest #GamingNews #PCGaming #TechMash
10th July 2026
Anchors Aweigh: Hooded Horse Reveals Sci-Fi Roguelite ‘Rogue Carrier’
Strategy fans, it is time to map out a whole new set of logistical nightmares, because the indie genre-masters at Hooded Horse have just dropped an announcement that will have city-builder and roguelite enthusiasts instantly hitting that Steam wishlist button.

Partnering with developer Wild Fields, Hooded Horse has officially revealed Rogue Carrier—a unique blend of deep colony management and tense roguelite progression set across the infinite, hostile oceans of a sentient alien world.

If you have ever wanted to captain the ultimate floating megastructure while the planet itself tries to drag you into the abyss, this one is for you.

The Premise: Survival on a Sentient Sea

In Rogue Carrier, an interstellar scientific expedition goes catastrophically wrong, leaving your crew stranded on an unknown planet known as Keeling-IV. With your mothership destroyed, your new home is The Behemoth—a colossal, ocean-faring science carrier that acts as the physical foundation for your mobile colony.

Your goals haven’t changed: you still need to explore the surface and analyse local anomalies. However, the stakes have drastically shifted from scientific discovery to pure, unadulterated survival.

Unlike your typical static city-builder, you will be plotting waypoints across an expansive oceanic landscape, deploying recon craft, and harvesting resources from scattered islands.

Key Gameplay Features
- Build Vertically on Limited Deck Space: Space on The Behemoth is a premium resource. You will have to manage Tetris-like placement of over 80 building options—including solar panels, factories, crew housing, and R&D labs—to create powerful layout synergies.
- Balancing the Ship (Literally): Poor layout planning doesn’t just hurt your production lines; an imbalanced ship will capsize more easily when hit by the planet’s erratic weather.
- The Planet Fights Back: The world you are exploiting is fully aware and highly reactive. As you extract resources and pollute the ecosystem, the planet escalates its counter-attacks, throwing everything from severe storms to massive aquatic leviathans at your hull.
- Die, Learn, Repeat: The destruction of your ship is not the end. Following true roguelite fashion, failed runs trigger a persistent loop. You will carry accumulated data and unlockable technologies across parallel universes, exploring 50 distinct scenarios and five potential endings.
“Will you embrace polluting the world and arming your ship to the teeth to escape quickly, or will you try to balance survival with the temperament of a living world?”

Why Strategy Fans Should Care

Hooded Horse has a stellar track record for publishing complex, deeply engaging strategy titles (think Against the Storm, Manor Lords, and Terra Invicta). Seeing them back in a game that merges the high-stakes layout planning of a colony sim with the emergent storytelling of a roguelite oceanic expedition is incredibly promising.

Rogue Carrier is slated to bring its deep production chains, tense naval combat, and multiversal progression system to PC soon.

What do you think of Rogue Carrier’s unique blend of seafaring and colony management? Let us know in the comments below!

Find out more here

#RogueCarrier #HoodedHorse #WildFields #StrategyGames #ColonySim #IndieGames #PCGaming #Roguelite #GamingNews #TechMash
10th July 2026
Silent Shadows: Raw Fury and Fool Moon Announce Wordless, Card-Based Mystery Hillthorn

Indie gaming powerhouse Raw Fury has officially teamed up with Montreal-based developer Fool Moon to unveil their latest project: Hillthorn. If you are a fan of atmospheric, mind-bending thrillers that trust your brain to do the heavy lifting, you’ll want to put this one on your radar immediately.

Following in the eerie footsteps of Blue Prince and The Seance of Blake Manor, Hillthorn is a hauntingly dark, card-based investigation game where the ultimate challenge isn’t just solving the crime—it’s doing it without a single word spoken.

The Setup: Silence on the Mountain

The premise of Hillthorn drops you straight into an unsettling, isolated alpine nightmare. A child has gone missing along the treacherous, maze-like mountain trails of a secluded town. You play an outsider tasked with unravelling the truth, but there’s a massive catch: the tight-knit local community, known as “The Flock,” has absolutely no interest in talking to you.

Instead of relying on heavy dialogue trees, text boxes, or voice-acted interrogations, the entire mystery unfolds through visual Clue cards.

A World in Cards: Every unsettling detail, hidden motive, and environmental secret is physically represented as a card. Players must use pure logic and sharp intuition to Investigate, Explore, and—in some bizarre instances—”communicate” with these cards to piece together the narrative.

Mechanics That Play with Time

Finesse is key if you want to extract information from the highly suspicious locals, but you won’t have the luxury of taking your time. In Hillthorn, time is your most scarce resource.

The clock actively ticks down with every action you take, forcing a stressful trade-off between being thorough and being fast. Interestingly, the developers have teased a mechanic that allows you to revisit untrodden paths, hinting at a loop structure where backtracking is possible—but it comes at a distinct, eerie cost.

Why We’re Excited

Raw Fury has a phenomenal track record for publishing games with distinct, unforgettable identities (Sable, Norco, Cassette Beasts), and Hillthorn fits perfectly into that curated lineup. Stripping away dialogue entirely places a massive emphasis on visual storytelling, environmental design, and player agency. It’s a bold mechanic that could make for one of the most uniquely immersive detective games in years.

Watch the Announcement Trailer

Check out the debut trailer below to get a first glimpse of the game’s striking, silent aesthetic:

Hillthorn is coming to PC via Steam, and an updated demo is already live for players who want to start testing their detective skills right away. Head over to Steam to play the demo and add it to your wishlist today!

Find out more here

#GamingNews #IndieGames #Hillthorn #RawFury #FoolMoon #PCGaming #MysteryGames #CardGames #SteamDemo #TechMash

10th July 2026
Tanks Can Fly Now: Indie Roguelite ‘DroneTanks’ Smash-Hits Its Way to Announcement
Forget everything you know about tank warfare. The days of crawling over muddy trenches at five miles per hour while squinting through a rigid iron cannon are officially over.

Belgian indie developer Ludum Elite has officially pulled back the curtain on its debut PC project, DroneTanks, and it’s throwing the traditional military blueprint completely out the window. Instead of a sluggish war machine, this upcoming single-player roguelite puts you in the cockpit of a flying, superpowered, steel-plated hero that trades long-range sniper standoffs for devastating, up-close melee combat.

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to deliver a crushing hammer slam to an enemy scout drone from 50 feet in the air, this is the game for you.

Heavy Armour Meets Superhero Agility

At its core, DroneTanks reimagines the tank as an agile, mechanical superhero. Your flying tank moves with an aggressive, relentless pace, allowing you to soar through the skies, dodge incoming fire, and drop right into the middle of hostile robotic squads.

Instead of just trading projectile fire, your primary tools of destruction include:
- Devastating Uppercuts: Rocket-boost into oncoming aerial targets and launch them into orbit.
- Crushing Hammer Slams: Bring the weight of a multi-ton flying tank directly down onto ground forces.
The developers have paired this high-flying brawling with deep, real-time buildcrafting. During each run, you’ll unlock branching skill trees, buy shop upgrades, and mix-and-match powerful ability modules dropped by fallen enemies. Because you can combine these traits freely, Ludum Elite promises that you can craft absurdly overpowered, highly experimental “hero tank” builds, ensuring that no two runs ever play out the same way.

The Mission: Step into the chassis of a mechanical hero on a rescue mission to save adorable, glowing “Gemlings” from the rogue security automation network originally built to protect them.

Low-Poly Charm Meets Rhythm-Driven Chaos

Visually, DroneTanks boasts a highly stylised, cartoonish low-poly aesthetic brought to life by expressive, punchy animations that give your armoured avenger a distinct personality.

But don’t let the clean, vibrant art style fool you—the game features a brilliant, rhythm-driven twist during major encounters. The game’s audio engine is dynamically tethered to its boss fights. For instance, when facing down the notorious “Disco Boss,” the soundtrack directly dictates the enemy’s movement patterns and bullet-hell attacks. To survive, free the captured Gemlings, and win the day, you’ll have to time your dashes, uppercuts, and hammer drops perfectly to the beat.

Playable This Summer!

While DroneTanks is launching first as a feature-rich, high-replayability single-player roguelite, Ludum Elite has already noted that they have long-term plans to introduce a chaotic multiplayer mode later in development.

Can’t wait to test out your aerial boxing skills? You won’t have to wait long. Ludum Elite has confirmed it will be debuting a fully playable build of DroneTanks at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne. Attendees will be able to check out the campaign tutorial, explore three distinct biomes, experiment with the skill tree, and go head-to-head with the rhythm-based final boss. Find them at the “Home of Indies” booth in Hall 10.2.

Keep your eyes on TechMash for more updates as we get closer to the showcase, and get ready to wishlist it on Steam soon!

Find out more here

#DroneTanks #IndieGames #GamingNews #PCGaming #Roguelite #LudumElite #Gamescom2026 #TechMash
10th July 2026
Ready to Ascend? Bonfire Studios Drops Arkheron Closed Beta This July!
The wait is officially over for one of the most anticipated competitive action games of the year. Bonfire Studios—the heavy-hitting independent developer headed by former Blizzard Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo—has announced that the Closed Beta for Arkheron will officially kick off on July 15, 2026.

If you managed to get a taste of this fast-paced, isometric PvPvE brawler during Steam Next Fest back in February, you already know how chaotic and thrilling it is. For everyone else, get ready: you have exactly two weeks to jump into the Tower, test your builds, and experience a massive wave of post-playtest upgrades.

What is Arkheron?

If you haven’t been keeping tabs on it, Arkheron is a unique blend of team-based MOBA dynamics, battle royale tension, and action RPG mechanics. Teams of three fight their way up a surreal, shifting Tower constructed from fragmented memories.

The big twist? There are no fixed heroes or classes. In Arkheron, your items are your heroes. You loot, combine, and adapt your abilities mid-match on the fly. What you carry defines your playstyle, allowing you to completely pivot your strategy to counter rival teams as you scale the floors.

What’s New Since Steam Next Fest?

Bonfire Studios hasn’t just been sitting on its hands since February. They’ve taken a ton of player data and community feedback to overhaul the core experience. Here is what to look out for in the Closed Beta:
- Massive Performance Optimisation: The engineers went deep under the hood to parallelise GPU rendering simulation and rewrote the VFX system. Translation? Smoother framerates, zero stutter, and much better performance on your GPU.
- Introducing “Spires” (3v3 Arena): A brand-new mode built around pure combat and build creativity. You’ll load into a ready room, select your gear, battle it out in a best-of-three, and see how high you can climb before your run resets.
- Learning Spires: Totally new to the game? This onboarding mode lets you fight bots in a step-by-step introduction to the complex item system, giving you the space to learn without getting instantly obliterated by veterans.
- Ascension Mode: The peak competitive, multi-team experience where 15 teams battle to ascend the Tower is back with upgraded pacing, better UI, and sharper gameplay clarity.
How to Get Into the Beta

The Closed Beta runs from July 15 to July 26, 2026.

TechMash Tip: If you get an invite via Steam, check your library—the “Arkheron Playtest” will automatically convert to the “Arkheron Closed Beta.” Even better? Being invited automatically grants you three extra Steam friend invites so you can assemble your squad right away.

Servers will be live 24/7 for the Spires mode, while the hardcore Ascension queue will be open during peak regional windows (7 PM – 11 PM BST for UK and European players) on select days.

Head over to the Arkheron Steam Page right now to request access and secure your spot in the Tower.

Find out more here

#Arkheron #BonfireStudios #GamingNews #PCGaming #Xbox #ClosedBeta #PvP #IndieGames #SteamNextFest #TechMash #Gaming
10th July 2026
The Unknown Is Coming: RIFTSTORM Drops Jaw-Dropping New Teaser Ahead of August Early Access Launch

The cosmic horror and high-octane co-op action of the Mythic Protocol universe is officially creeping closer. Confiction Labs has just unleashed a brand-new teaser trailer for their highly anticipated PvE action game, RIFTSTORM, and it’s safe to say the hype train has officially left the station.

Titled “The Unknown Is Coming,” the eerie and action-packed teaser serves as the perfect appetiser for what’s shaping up to be one of the most thrilling co-op experiences of the year.

Check out what we know so far and why you’ll want to rally your squad ahead of its Steam Early Access launch on August 11, 2026.

What is RIFTSTORM?

For the uninitiated, RIFTSTORM is a co-op top-down action RPG (with serious looter-shooter vibes) that casts players as Mythic Operatives. Your job? Defend the world from occult threats, cosmic monstrosities, and anomalies breaking through the fabric of reality.

Think high-mobility combat, deeply customizable character builds, and intense threat management where teamwork isn’t just encouraged—it’s mandatory for survival.

“The Unknown Is Coming” — Breaking Down the Teaser

While Confiction Labs is keeping some of their cards close to their chest, the new teaser nails its mission statement: atmosphere and adrenaline. The trailer leans heavily into the signature sci-fi-meets-occult aesthetic of the Mythic Protocol universe. It showcases glimpses of the reality-bending threats players will face, dropping cryptic hints about the lore while promising chaotic, fast-paced tactical gameplay. It’s clear that “The Unknown” isn’t just a catchy tagline; it’s a warning of the massive, unpredictable boss fights and procedural challenges awaiting operatives.

Why we’re hyped: Confiction Labs has consistently emphasized community-driven development. With the game heading into Early Access, players will have a direct hand in shaping the game’s evolving meta, weapons, and narrative rifts.

Mark Your Calendars: August 11, 2026

We don’t have long to wait to jump into the rifts ourselves. RIFTSTORM officially hits Steam Early Access on August 11, 2026.

If you and your gaming crew have been looking for a fresh, challenging PvE grind to sink your teeth into this summer, this is absolutely one to wishlist immediately.

Are you ready to face the unknown? Let us know in the comments if you’ll be dropping into RIFTSTORM next month!

Find out more here

#Riftstorm #ConfictionLabs #MythicProtocol #CoOpGaming #PvE #PCGaming #SteamEarlyAccess #GamingNews #TechMash

10th July 2026
Hatch & Sell: Minsgon Simulator Free Prologue Drops This July!
If you’ve ever wanted to combine the creature-hatching joy of Pokémon with the absolute retail chaos of running a fantasy shop, your highly specific dream is about to come true. Developer Vokcen and renowned simulation publisher PlayWay S.A. have officially announced that the free prologue for Minsgon Simulator is set to launch on July 15, 2026.

Get ready to manage your shelves, train mythical beasts, and build the ultimate magical business.

What is Minsgon Simulator?

At its heart, Minsgon Simulator is a unique blend of a market management sim and a creature collectathon. Instead of just stacking normal groceries on a shelf, your inventory consists of mysterious, evolving fantasy creatures called Minsgons.

The free prologue launching on July 15 serves as a limited standalone version, giving players a firsthand look at the core gameplay mechanics before the full game hits Steam Early Access.

Key Features to Expect in the Prologue

The prologue will offer a solid taste of the magical grind, allowing players to jump straight into the basic loop of the Minsgon world:
- Hatch & Discover: Find mysterious eggs and watch them hatch into unique, stylised Minsgons.
- Tame & Evolve: Take care of your creatures, train them, and watch them evolve into spectacular, majestic forms.
- Build Your Shop: Manage, customise, and expand your storefront to attract more customers and sell rare creatures.
- The Magical Exhibit: Design a beautiful garden showcase to show off your collection and boost your shop’s fame.
The King of Quirky Sims Strikes Again

Publisher PlayWay S.A. is legendary in the PC gaming space for backing immersive, wildly addictive simulation titles. By teaming up with developer Vokcen, they look to be bringing that same deep, mechanical simulation layer to a dark fantasy, colourful aesthetic.

Whether you want to carefully curate a rare collection or just ruthlessly flip legendary beasts for maximum profit, Minsgon Simulator is shaping up to be a perfect weekend time-sink.

Mark Your Calendars: The free Minsgon Simulator: Prologue goes live on Steam on July 15. Head over to Steam now to add it to your wishlist and prepare for incubation day!

Find out more here

#MinsgonSimulator #IndieGames #SimulationGames #PlayWay #SteamNext #GamingNews #TechMash
9th July 2026
High Stakes, Dark Vibes: DEAD SPIN is the Horror Slot-Machine Deckbuilder of Your Nightmares
Move over, traditional card battlers. There is a new, twisted player entering the roguelike deckbuilding arena, and it wants you to gamble with your literal life.

Independent developer Strong Monkey Games has officially revealed DEAD SPIN, a deeply unsettling horror roguelike deckbuilder that swaps out the standard sword-and-sorcery decks for something far more addictive—and deadly. The game is heading to PC via Steam, and the best part? You don’t have to wait to see if luck is on your side, because an open Steam Playtest is live right now!

Check out the official announcement trailer below to see the madness in action:

Step Inside the Abandoned Casino

DEAD SPIN drops you into a grimy, abandoned casino where you are forced into high-stakes slot-machine duels against a cast of lunatic gamblers and masked captors. This isn’t just about pulling a lever and hoping for three cherries; it’s a tactical psychological battle where chance meets deep strategic planning.

To survive, you’ll need to master the art of the spin. Instead of drafting a traditional deck of cards, you shape your luck by building out a deck of symbols, chips, and coins.

Cheat the Odds or Face the Punishment

The game brilliantly blends roguelike meta-progression with intense risk-management strategy. Here is what you can expect when you sit down at the cabinet:
- Massive Synergy Scaling: With over 250 collectable items at launch—including 100+ special symbols, 50+ special chips, and consumable trinkets—you can stack effects, trigger massive score multipliers, and manipulate the rules to bend the odds in your favour.
- Eclectic, Dangerous Bosses: Every run pits you against more than eight unique opponents. Each boss boasts their own distinct playstyle, custom decks, and dirty tricks, forcing you to completely pivot your strategy based on whatever random loot you uncover.
- The Retro Horror Aesthetic: DEAD SPIN looks like a cursed VHS tape unearthed from the late ’90s or early ’00s. Its grimy, low-fi presentation is dripping with dark, grotesque humour and an oppressive atmosphere that turns every bad spin into a heart-pounding moment of dread.
- Endless Mode: Think your build is completely broken and unstoppable? Test it against relentless, scaling challenges long after you finish the main progression.
Join the Open Steam Playtest Right Now!

If you love the tense strategy of Balatro or Luck be a Landlord, but wish they had the sinister, mind-bending atmosphere of Inscryption, DEAD SPIN is a must-play.

There are no keys required and no waitlists. Simply head over to the official DEAD SPIN Steam Page, hit “Join the Playtest,” and see if you have what it takes to outscore your captors and spin for your freedom.

DEAD SPIN is slated for a full release on PC via Steam in late 2026. Make sure to add it to your Wishlist to support the developers!

Find out more here

#DeadSpin #StrongMonkeyGames #HorrorGames #Roguelike #Deckbuilder #IndieGames #SteamPlaytest #GamingNews #PCGaming #TechMash
9th July 2026
Alternate-History Soviet Madness: Hardcore Retro FPS ‘HMUR’ Locks In September Steam Demo!
Boomer shooter fans, it is time to stretch those trigger fingers. Publisher Valkyrie Initiative and solo developer FoxusSexus have officially announced that the highly anticipated demo for HMUR is dropping on Steam this September 2026.

If your idea of a good time involves lightning-fast movement, pulse-pounding electronic beats, and zero room for error, this is one indie title you need to put on your radar immediately.

Brutal Combat Meets Soviet Sci-Fi

Developed entirely by a lone dev, HMUR is a high-speed retro first-person shooter that feels like a beautiful, chaotic love child of Hotline Miami, Dusk, and the retro-futuristic Soviet aesthetic of Atomic Heart.

Set in an alternate-1990s USSR, you step into the boots of Sergei—a humble utility worker trapped inside a classified facility in the city of Mirnogorsk after a catastrophic disaster. Instead of fixing pipes, you’ll be blasting your way through relentless hordes of enemies.

The catch? One hit can mean instant death. HMUR features high-stakes, one-life gameplay where speed and absolute precision are your only mechanics for survival. Stop moving for even a second, and it’s back to the checkpoint.

Check Out the Fresh Gameplay and New Visual Style

The announcement comes right alongside a brand-new trailer, giving players a look at fresh, meatier gameplay footage and an updated visual style. FoxusSexus has been hard at work polishing the environmental details, and the new gritty, psychedelic look pairs perfectly with the game’s non-linear level design.

Here is what you can look forward to when the demo drops:
- Frantic ’90s Gunplay: Pure, unadulterated retro FPS action where momentum is everything.
- Branching Levels: Hit a brick wall on one path? Take a different route through the facility.
- High Stakes: Limited resources and fragile health mean every single bullet counts.
- A Killer Soundtrack: Blast enemies to an original blend of techno, hard bass, and breakcore.
Following its selection as one of the top 50 finalists at The Indie Premier 2026, HMUR is shaping up to be one of the most exciting solo-developed projects of the year.

How to Play

The HMUR demo will be publicly available on Steam in September 2026. In the meantime, you can head over to the official Steam page right now to check out the new trailer, look at the upgraded graphics, and add it to your wishlist so you don’t miss the launch.

Are you ready to survive the madness? Let us know in the comments if you’ll be downloading the demo this autumn!

Find out more here

#HMUR #RetroFPS #BoomerShooter #IndieGames #ValkyrieInitiative #SoloDev #SteamDemo #GamingNews #TechMash
9th July 2026
Bend Reality and Master the Elements: Fading Echo Splashes Onto PC This July!
The indie RPG scene is about to get a massive jolt of adrenaline—and a lot of hydration. If you’ve been craving an adventure that rewards raw creativity over predictable button-mashing, your next obsession has an official arrival date.

Independent publisher New Tales and debut developer Emeteria (a powerhouse studio formed by industry veterans) have officially announced that Fading Echo will launch on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.

Best of all? This highly anticipated elemental action-adventure RPG will be available for an incredibly wallet-friendly $19.99.

Become One With the Flow

In Fading Echo, you step into the fluid shoes of “One”, a young Legend gifted with the rare power of Æther. Your mission? Save a fracturing multiverse and a dying desertscape from the clutches of a reality-warping, malicious force known as the Paradox Corruption.

What sets Fading Echo completely apart from the standard RPG crowd is its brilliant systemic gameplay. Water isn’t just an aesthetic here; it is your ultimate weapon and traversal tool. Players can dynamically shift between human form and a living fluid sphere to surf through pipes, slip through cracks, and crash down on enemies.

You’ll need to master water across all three of its states—liquid, vapor, and ice—to solve mind-bending environmental puzzles and survive.

Creative Combat is Survival: The world reacts dynamically to everything you do. You can mix your water abilities with environmental hazards like lava, toxic waste, and Paradox corruption to trigger massive, explosive chain reactions. If you can dream up an elemental interaction, physics will probably let you pull it off.

A Star-Studded Cast Across Shifting Realities

To survive the Paradox, you’ll have to cross into alternate, fractured versions of the same space where resources shift, hazards evolve, and the rules of engagement change entirely.

While the battlefield is volatile, you won’t be entirely alone. The game features a beautifully realised narrative brought to life by an absolute powerhouse of an English voice cast. Narrative RPG fans will instantly recognise elite talents like:
- Samantha Béart (as One)
- Matthew Mercer (as the ruthless Paradox leader, Maddock)
- Laura Bailey (as Vellum)
- Liam O’Brien, Sam Riegel, and Jasmine Bhullar
Pair that star power with a stunning, dynamic original soundtrack composed by Maxwell Sterling, and Fading Echo is shaping up to be an absolute feast for the senses.

Lock In Your Calendar

For just $19.99, Fading Echo is delivering AA-level ambition, premium voice acting, and innovative physics-based combat at an indie price point.

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, July 21, 2026, to grab it on Steam or Epic Games Store. (And if you’re a console player, don’t fret—PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions are confirmed to follow later this year!)

Are you ready to bend reality? Let us know in the comments if you’ll be wishlisting Fading Echo ahead of its launch!

Find out more here

#FadingEcho #IndieGames #RPG #NewTales #EmeteriaStudio #PCGaming #Steam #EpicGamesStore #GamingNews #TechMash
9th July 2026
Hack, Slash, and Survive: Phantom Tower Hits Steam Early Access This July!
The wait is almost over for action RPG fans. After four long years of passionate development, Horien Studio has officially announced that their highly anticipated title, Phantom Tower, is launching into Steam Early Access on July 13th, 2026.

If you’ve been craving a fresh, adrenaline-pumping challenge that tests your reflexes and tactical thinking, this is the title to watch.

What is Phantom Tower?

Phantom Tower is a fast-paced, roguelike action RPG that masterfully blends fluid, high-stakes hack-and-slash combat with the eerie, unpredictable nature of deep dungeon crawling.

Players will find themselves scaling a shifting, perilous tower where no two runs are ever the same. Every floor throws new enemy types, environmental hazards, and brutal bosses at you, demanding split-second decisions and absolute mastery over your arsenal.

Key Features to Get Hyped For:
- Dynamic Combat: Chain together devastating combos, parry lethal attacks, and animation-cancel your way through hordes of enemies.
- Deep Dungeon Crawling: Explore procedural layouts filled with hidden secrets, lore fragments, and game-changing loot.
- Roguelike Replayability: Die, learn, upgrade, and repeat. Build synergies with unique perks and weapons to craft your ultimate playstyle.
- 4 Years of Polish: Developed with love and meticulous attention to detail by Horien Studio to ensure the combat feels incredibly tight and responsive.
Try the Demo Right Now! Can’t wait until July 13th? You don’t have to. Horien Studio has released a free playable demo on Steam right now. It gives you a taste of the first few floors, the core combat mechanics, and a sneak peek at the build variety.

Why Early Access?

Horien Studio is taking the Early Access route to collaborate directly with the community. Over the next phase of development, player feedback from the Steam community will actively shape balancing, new weapon types, additional tower floors, and endgame content.

Mark your calendars for July 13th, head over to Steam, and wishlist Phantom Tower today to support an indie gem four years in the making.

Find out more here

#PhantomTower #HorienStudio #IndieDev #ActionRPG #Roguelike #HackAndSlash #SteamEarlyAccess #PCGaming #GamingNews #TechMash
9th July 2026