Prelude Dark Pain is a Tactical RPG set in a dark fantasy world. Assume the role of a local blacksmith named Soren, lead an uprising against the Order of the Ashen Crusade and save a world ravaged by war.

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Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Prelude Dark Pain has a deep narrative and mechanics that expand across a variety of playable heroes and skill types. With Early Access, we aim to keep true to delivering the full story and world we've created whilst also prioritizing fun and balanced gameplay for players as the content grows.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We plan to be in Early Access for 1 year to fully polish the game for release.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The full version of Prelude Dark Pain will include every Act of Sorens story, all 20+ playable heroes spanning 8 class types, a full world with 20 factions and 70 enemy types, including bosses. World Missions, raids and equipment crafting will be fully implemented across the games progression.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Currently, Prelude Dark Pains Early Access will contain about 15 hours of gameplay: Act 1 of the story and 9 heroes with 63 skills across them all. The world-map will be unlocked and packed with main quests, side quests, tasks, random encounters and final cutscenes.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We plan to gradually raise the price as we ship new content and features.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We actively monitor community feedback through Steam discussions, Discord, and social media. Player input helps us prioritize improvements, balance changes, and new features. We also plan to share development updates regularly and involve players in testing major updates.”
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Join the PRELUDE Dark Pain Playtest

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This game is not yet available on Steam

Planned Release Date: Q3 2026

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Feature List

Early Access release

  • Act 1 available

  • 9 heroes: Soren, Tizon, Tammais, Maya, Sade, Gala, Rufio, Urza and Rayder.

  • 4 active skills and 2 passive and virtues for each hero (~63 skills)

  • Worldmap unlocked

  • Cutscenes

  • Estimated playtime: about 15 hours of gameplay.

About This Game

Assemble a roster of heroes, build out your squad to face any scenario, learn how their skills interact for even greater strategic synergy and master the battlefield:

  • With more than 20+ playable heroes, each with two talent branches and a pool of 25 skills, there are a variety of strategies to approach each battle.

  • Up to 5 heroes can fill your roster from 8 class types: Ranged DPS, Magic Support, Assassins and more.

  • Each skill has it's own unique characteristics. Equip the ones that best suit your play style and create powerful synergistic combos between skills and across your squad.

  • Equip you characters with greater equipment as you progress and upgrade it all at your base with resources you get from missions.

Assume the role of Soren, an retired warrior, now living as a blacksmith, who will mark the steps of a great revolution following an attack on his family:

  • Engage in turn-based tactical battle with several enemy factions. Across a grid-based field, maneuver your squad and the enemy to optimize your strategy and dominate.

  • Every battlefield is different; from using higher ground to increase your attack, to navigating moving environments. Consider your surroundings and use the battlefield to your advantage.

  • Each mission will have a special challenge, pushing your knowledge of the mechanics with even greater rewards if you succeed.

Prelude Dark Pain takes place in the world of Statera, a territory ravaged by the Dark Pain, an ancient and mysterious source of destruction. The Order of the Ashen Crusade rules with blood and terror over a great extent of this territory while praying to the Lord of Pain. However, there are still free people who fight against the lurking evil, like Soren and the Blue Net faction.

The reality of Statera is being torn apart by the conflict, causing tears in the veil between worlds that protects it from supernatural forces. Through these rifts, the creatures of Pain can break through their reality to invade and cause even greater devastation.

Players will have to make important decisions that will influence both the main story and the heroes that can be recruited in battle. You may miss some of them because of your previous choices!

There will be more than 20 different factions with their own cultures scattered throughout Statera. Many of them are hostile, guaranteeing more than 70 different enemies to face. You'll also find final bosses among them!

In addition to the main story, Prelude Dark Pain will be loaded with sidequests and ways to influence the world outside of the main story. These will give you access to recruit certain heroes and even more lore:

  • World Missions can be picked up from NPC's across the world map and lead you to even more content.

  • Raids can undertaken by heroes from your settlement, helping to push back against the tide of enemies, save the innocent, spy and gather resources.

  • Craft new weapons and equipment for your heroes from your settlement as well, taking your skills warriors to an even greater degree of strength.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

This Game may contain content not appropriate for all ages, or may not be appropriate for viewing at work: Frequent Violence or Gore, General Mature Content

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
    Minimum:
    • OS:
    • Processor:
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics:
    • Sound Card: Compliant
    Minimum:
    • OS:
    • Processor:
* Starting February 15, 2024, the Steam Client will no longer support 32-bit games or macOS 10.14 or lower.
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