New free-to-play tactical RPG launches on Steam: 95% positive reviews, no microtransactions

Outcast Tales released on Steam on 26 October 2026, free to play, and has gathered a "Very Positive" rating at 95% of its first 98 user reviews. It has been developed by Hardlane Studio and published by Inner Pocket. The game has been playable as a demo since 10 September, after a reveal at the Convergence Showcase.

The premise is essentially a post-apocalyptic treasure hunt undermined from within. Players assemble a three-person crew from a roster of wasteland wanderers and fight turn-based encounters against robots, mutants and desert raiders. The distinguishing factor here is that each character has both a class and a personality type, and the two combine — a Preacher Mercenary and an Antihero Mercenary end up with meaningfully different abilities.

Personality also governs how non-combat events resolve. A Pacifist might talk his way out of a confrontation, an Egghead might rig a trap, and a Daredevil will simply open fire. The developers' framing is that there are no wrong answers, only unintended consequences. Relationships are the other system. Crew members can form bonds or romances across a run, or come to loathe one another. Feuding characters refuse to assist each other in combat. On the other hand, strong pairings unlock new synergies.

There is also Twitch integration in Outcast Tales. Connected viewers can vote on event outcomes, the party’s next destination and ability upgrades.

Requirements are about as low as modern PC games get: a Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, 3 GB of RAM, an OpenGL 3.2-compliant GPU and 4 GB of storage, bumping up only to a GTX 760 at the recommended tier. A native SteamOS and Linux build ships alongside Windows.

Please note that Outcast Tales is single-player only, with Steam Achievements, Cloud saves, leaderboards and full controller support. Interface and subtitles cover English and Russian, with no voice acting, and the store page lists zero in-app purchases.