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Snow Patrol And Kylie Team Up On These Alarms

30 June 2026

The new single lands July 1, and it started life in the Snow Patrol archives under the working title “KYLIE”.

Snow Patrol and Kylie have announced their new collaborative single, These Alarms, released July 1 via BMG. The track is available to pre-save now, with a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl also up for pre-order ahead of its physical release on August 21.

The cover art features an original painting by Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody. Ooh, yeah.

A Snow Patrol Song Literally Called KYLIE

The best part of this announcement is the backstory, because it sounds like something a fan would make up on Tumblr and then have to prove with screenshots.

These Alarms was originally recorded for Snow Patrol’s 2024 UK Number 1 album The Forest Is The Path, but at the time, the band had given it the working title KYLIE.

Gary Lightbody says he wrote the song with Kylie specifically in mind, then played it to bandmates Johnny McDaid and Nathan Connolly. They loved it, recorded it, and then realised the problem was painfully obvious: the song needed the person it had been quietly summoning all along.

“As a huge Kylie fan, I originally wrote These Alarms with her in mind,” Lightbody said. “All the way through the recording process the song was simply called ‘KYLIE’.”

And look, if you write a song called KYLIE and then do not put Kylie on it, that is less a creative choice and more a pop emergency.

Thankfully, they sent it over. Kylie heard it. Kylie liked it. Kylie recorded her vocals.

Balance was restored.

The Queen Has Entered The Snow Patrol Cinematic Universe

Kylie described the story behind the song as “irresistible”, which feels fair, because how could you not be curious?

Imagine being Kylie Minogue and finding out Snow Patrol have a song in the vault named after you. You would have to hear it. Legally? Spiritually? Pop culturally? All of the above.

“The story behind this song was irresistible,” Kylie said. “Hearing there was a demo called Kylie that had been living in the Snow Patrol archives was a complete surprise and, naturally, I was curious to hear it.”

Same, Kylie. Same.

She also called Gary “such a brilliant songwriter” and said being invited into the band’s world was “a total honour.”

It is a very sweet full-circle moment. Snow Patrol wrote a song with Kylie’s voice in mind, waited instead of forcing it onto an album where it did not quite belong, then gave it its own proper release once the missing piece arrived.

That is the sort of pop fate nonsense we can absolutely get behind.

Cover artwork for Snow Patrol and Kylie’s single These Alarms, featuring an original painting by Gary Lightbody.

So, What Does These Alarms Sound Like?

These Alarms is a “yearning, bittersweet anthem” built around urgent, pulsating synths, with Gary Lightbody and Kylie’s voices entwined before the whole thing opens into a sweeping chorus.

Which sounds exactly like the sort of thing you listen to while staring dramatically out of a car window, even if you are actually just on the bus to work, holding a leaking iced coffee and a bag of receipts.

Snow Patrol know how to build emotional momentum. Kylie knows how to make a song shimmer without losing the ache underneath. Put those two instincts together, and you’ve got something pretty special.

There is also something properly juicy about the vocal contrast. Gary Lightbody brings that open-hearted Snow Patrol melancholy, while Kylie can make even the cleanest pop moment feel glossy and human.

Snow Patrol Are Having A Very Big Year

The collaboration arrives during a huge stretch for Snow Patrol.

The band released The Forest Is The Path in 2024, earning their second UK Number 1 album. They are also marking the 20th anniversary of Eyes Open, the album that gave the world Chasing Cars, a song so culturally embedded it should probably have its own passport.

Eyes Open was the best-selling UK album of 2006 and remains one of the biggest albums of the 2000s. Chasing Cars became one of those songs that simply escaped regular song status and entered the emotional infrastructure. Weddings, breakups, TV montages, karaoke trauma, the works. Hell, I know you already know this.

So if you have ever whispered “if I lay here” with the gravity of someone experiencing all human emotion at once, congratulations. Snow Patrol got you, too.

The band is also playing a run of UK summer dates, including a major London show at Crystal Palace Park on July 3.

Kylie Remains Kylie, Obviously

Then there is Kylie, who continues to exist in her own glittering category.

Across her career, she has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, racked up billions of streams, collected BRITs, Grammys, MTV awards, and built the kind of cross-generational pop legacy most artists would need three lifetimes and a very generous fairy godmother to manage.

She is also the rare artist who can move between disco sparkle, club heat, emotional pop, camp excess, and sincere balladry without ever feeling like she has wandered into the wrong room.

That is why this collaboration makes more sense than it might first appear.

Snow Patrol bring the widescreen ache. Kylie brings the pulse, the lift, the star wattage, and that very specific Kylie ability to make longing sound expensive.

These Alarms Gets Its Own Little Universe

Gary Lightbody said that once Kylie recorded her vocals, the band knew the song should not be “buried somewhere on an album.”

That feels like the right call.

A collaboration like this comes with lore. You have the working title. You have the band writing with Kylie in mind. You have the long wait. You have the eventual vocal. You have Gary painting the cover art. You have the limited vinyl.

You can pre-save it now, order the 7-inch if you are a physical media hoarder (my preciooous).

Single Info

Detail	Info
Single	These Alarms
Artists	Snow Patrol & Kylie
Label	BMG
Digital Release	July 1, 2026
Vinyl Release	August 21, 2026
Format	Digital / limited-edition 7-inch vinyl
Cover Art	Original painting by Gary Lightbody
Original Working Title	KYLIE
Related Album	Originally recorded during sessions for The Forest Is The Path
Pre-Save	Available now
Vinyl Pre-Order	Available now

TLDR;

Snow Patrol and Kylie have announced a new collaborative single, These Alarms.
The song is released digitally on July 1, 2026, via BMG.
A limited-edition 7-inch vinyl is available to pre-order, with shipping/release expected August 21.
The song was originally recorded for Snow Patrol’s 2024 album The Forest Is The Path under the working title KYLIE.
Gary Lightbody wrote the song with Kylie in mind, and the band held it back until she could record vocals.
The cover art features an original painting by Gary Lightbody.
Snow Patrol play Crystal Palace Park in London on July 3, 2026.

Stay unruly.

Pikuniku 2 Is Real, And Apparently We’re Chasing An Escaped Sandwich Now

Unruly Folk

10 June 2026

Some game announcements arrive with dramatic orchestral music, world-ending stakes, and a protagonist who looks like they haven’t smiled since 2014.

Then there’s Pikuniku 2.

A game that opens with an escaped sandwich.

Devolver Digital has announced that original creators Arnaud De Bock and Rémi Forcadell are returning with Pikuniku 2, a full 3D sequel to the delightfully strange indie adventure that first charmed players back in 2019.

It’s coming to PC and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027, and from the sounds of things, absolutely nobody involved has become more normal in the intervening years.

Thank goodness.

Trailer

An Escaped Sandwich Is Somehow The Least Weird Part

Your new adventure begins with two fairly significant events:

A sandwich escapes.
A boat gets wrecked.

Naturally.

From there, Piku finds himself separated from his friends across an archipelago and sets out to reunite the gang and find a way home.

Simple enough.

Except this is Pikuniku, a series where “simple” tends to wander off after five minutes and return wearing a traffic cone while explaining a conspiracy theory about vegetables.

As you explore the islands, you’ll hear rumours of:

Giant fruit
Malevolent robot frogs
An all-powerful potato

And somehow none of those things feel out of place.

If you’ve played the original, you’ll know that’s part of the magic. The world constantly feels like it’s making itself up as it goes along, but somehow everything fits together anyway.

Like a dream. Or a group chat.

The World Is Cute. The Capitalism Is Not.

One of the things that made the original Pikuniku stand out was how it balanced cheerful nonsense with surprisingly sharp social commentary.

Underneath the bright colours and goofy characters was a story about exploitation, greed, and systems designed to squeeze people dry.

Apparently, that’s making a return.

According to Devolver, the world of Pikuniku 2 might look cheerful on the surface, but there’s a sinister plot bubbling beneath the surface, one centred on profit and control.

So while you can absolutely spend your time chatting to weird little creatures and poking around colourful islands, you’ll also be joining a resistance movement.

You know. Casual picnic activities.

Everything Is Bigger, Stranger, And Now Fully 3D

The biggest change this time around is the move into full 3D.

The original game used a 2D side-scrolling perspective, but Pikuniku 2 expands the world into explorable 3D environments filled with bright colours, odd landmarks, and more opportunities to wander off in the wrong direction because something interesting caught your eye.

Which, let’s be honest, is exactly how most of us played the first game anyway.

The shift feels like a natural fit for a series built around curiosity. More space means more secrets, more hidden corners, more weird conversations, and more opportunities for developers to hide something utterly ridiculous behind a tree.

We’re promised “eye-melting environments” rendered in bold primary colours, and judging by the trailer, subtlety remains firmly on holiday.

Puzzles Powered By Chaos

Piku’s unusual collection of abilities is also returning, giving you plenty of ways to tackle environmental puzzles throughout the adventure.

The original game struck a nice balance where puzzles felt clever without becoming frustrating. You were rarely stuck because the answer was impossible. More often, the solution was simply something delightfully unexpected.

From what’s been shown so far, Pikuniku 2 seems keen to preserve that energy.

The puzzles may get stranger.

The world may get bigger.

The potato may achieve absolute power.

But the focus remains firmly on fun.

Why We’re Already Excited

There are plenty of indie sequels that arrive feeling bigger, louder, and somehow less charming than the thing people loved in the first place.

Pikuniku 2 doesn’t look like it’s chasing that route.

Instead, it feels like the original game’s weird little heart has simply been given more room to stretch its legs.

You get another bizarre adventure. You get strange characters with stranger stories. You get puzzles, exploration, colourful worlds, and what appears to be a deeply concerning amount of vegetable-related lore.

Most importantly, you get a game that seems completely comfortable being silly.

That’s rarer than it should be.

In an industry that often mistakes seriousness for importance, there’s something refreshing about a game willing to ask questions like:

“What if a sandwich escaped?”

And then build an entire adventure around finding out what happens next.

Game Info

Detail	Info
Game	Pikuniku 2
Developer	Arnaud De Bock & Rémi Forcadell
Publisher	Devolver Digital
Genre	Adventure, Puzzle, Exploration
Platforms	PC, Nintendo Switch 2
Release Window	2027
Perspective	Full 3D
Features	Exploration, puzzles, quirky characters, story-driven adventure

TLDR;

Pikuniku 2 is officially coming to PC and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027.
Original creators Arnaud De Bock and Rémi Forcadell are returning for the sequel.
The game moves the series from 2D into a fully explorable 3D world.
Your adventure begins with an escaped sandwich and a boat wreck.
Expect giant fruit, robot frogs, mysterious potatoes, strange characters, and plenty of puzzles.
A resistance movement and anti-corporate storyline are also lurking beneath the colourful surface.
It looks wonderfully weird.

Stay unruly.

Under Canopies Wants You To Stop Fighting Nature And Go Touch Grass

Unruly Folk

8 June 2026

The survival genre usually wants you to wake up in the woods, panic, punch a tree, make a sad axe, and immediately worry about wolves, hunger, weather, dehydration, or some rude little creature sprinting at you with murder in its heart.

Under Canopies has other plans.

This cosy first-person survival sim from solo developer Novemtails and publisher Assemble Entertainment wants you to slow down, breathe a little, and build a peaceful life in a handcrafted forest sanctuary. You can explore rivers, mountains, flower fields, hidden spaces, and wildlife without the usual survival game pressure breathing down your neck like an unpaid bill.

No combat. No hunting. No violence. No “oh great, the forest is trying to kill me again” nonsense.

You can build a cabin, decorate it, grow food, cook more than 30 recipes, raise animals, photograph wildlife, and wander through nature at your own pace. Honestly, after the last few years, that sounds less like a game pitch and more like a legally required mental reset.

Announcement Trailer

The Forest Is Your Home Now, Good Luck Leaving

Under Canopies was revealed during the Latin American Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest, with a demo available now on Steam.

The game puts you inside a vibrant forest world designed around calm exploration and slow living. You can move through handcrafted environments, discover forgotten places, gather useful resources, and gradually turn the wilderness into somewhere that feels like home.

There are rivers, mountains, flower fields, animals, secret areas, and plenty of reasons to get distracted for 40 minutes because you saw something pretty behind a tree.

This is the exact kind of game where you set out to collect one specific plant and somehow end up redesigning your cabin, befriending a sheep, cooking soup, and taking 18 photos of a bird because the vibes were immaculate.

Survival, Minus The Usual Screaming

The interesting hook here is how Under Canopies approaches survival.

You still need to gather, craft, cook, farm, and manage your life in the forest, but the game removes combat entirely. Exploration is built around observation, creativity, and living alongside nature rather than beating resources out of it with a rock.

Solo developer Roberto Ortiz described the game as something where your main incentive is to “gradually build a more complete, cozy, and meaningful life in the forest.”

That is a lovely pitch, and also a personal attack on everyone who has ever opened a cosy game and immediately reorganised their entire virtual home while their actual laundry formed a government in the corner.

Instead of pushing you through danger, Under Canopies seems more interested in giving you space. You can take your time. You can poke around. You can make your cabin ridiculous. You can journal what you find. You can treat the woodland like a place to understand rather than a checklist to destroy.

Build A Cabin, Then Make It Weirdly Personal

One of the big cosy hooks is cabin building.

You can raise your refuge from scratch, then customise it with furniture, decorations, handmade items, and all the little details that make a digital house feel suspiciously more organised than your real one.

This is where the self-expression side kicks in. You get to build a space that captures your style, whether that means warm woodland cottage, chaotic craft bunker, fairy-adjacent plant shrine, or “I found 12 nice objects, and now they all live here.”

Good cabin customisation can be dangerously powerful in games like this. Give people a blank little room and a handful of decorations, and suddenly everyone becomes an interior designer with a squirrel brain and a dream.

You Can Cook, Farm, And Become Slightly Too Invested In Soup

Under Canopies also lets you gather plants, tend your garden, combine ingredients, and cook more than 30 recipes.

Food seems to play into the slower rhythm of the game. You are growing things, preparing meals, and using what the forest gives you rather than treating it like a loot piñata.

There is something very appealing about a survival game where the fantasy is not “how long can I avoid dying?” but “can I make a lovely little meal from ingredients I grew myself and then wander off to photograph wildlife?”

That is the kind of low-stakes productivity my brain can get behind. A tiny task. A cute reward. A pretty forest. No man with a spear trying to ruin my afternoon.

Animals Are Part Of The Daily Loop

Animals play a big role in Under Canopies, both as companions and as part of your day-to-day life.

You can raise chickens and sheep, care for bees, observe wild creatures, and fill your photo album with rare wildlife. The game encourages you to watch, document, and live alongside animals, which feels like a very different energy from survival games wherein every creature is either dinner, danger, or both.

Wildlife photography is especially appealing here. It gives exploration a purpose without changing every trip into a resource grind. You can head out into the forest looking for rare creatures, take your time lining up a shot, and then probably forget what you were originally meant to be doing.

Nature games understand us. They know we are easily distracted by a nice frog.

Under Canopies Already Has People Watching

Before this reveal, Under Canopies appeared during Steam Next Fest, where it reportedly passed 33,000 wishlists after players got hands-on with an early demo.

That makes sense. Cosy survival is having a real moment, and Under Canopies has a strong hook for anyone who likes Among Trees, A Short Hike, Spiritfarer, or games where the emotional tension is gentle but still meaningful.

There is a real appetite for games that let you exist without constantly putting you under threat. Sometimes you want tension, danger, and a boss fight that rearranges your bones. Other times, you want to build a cabin, feed a sheep, photograph a bird, and feel like your nervous system has been tucked into a tiny weighted blanket.

Under Canopies is clearly going for that second feeling.

The Solo Dev Behind The Forest

Under Canopies is being developed by Roberto Ortiz, the solo developer behind Novemtails.

Based in Mexico, Ortiz has worked with teams including Estación Pi, Amber Studio, 1SimpleGame, Macula Interactive, and Jettelly. He also works alongside nine cats, which is either the perfect indie development environment or a daily battle for keyboard ownership.

Possibly both.

The game has that personal project energy in the best way. You can feel the specific obsession behind it: nature, craft, calm systems, peaceful routines, and interactive detail. It is polished enough to feel substantial, but still has that “one person really cared about this exact feeling” quality that makes indie games so exciting.

Game Info

Detail	Info
Game	Under Canopies
Developer	Novemtails
Solo Developer	Roberto Ortiz
Publisher	Assemble Entertainment
Genre	Cosy first-person survival sim, open-world crafting, exploration
Platforms	PC via Steam
Release Window	Q3 2026
Demo	Available now on Steam
Showcase	Latin American Games Showcase, Summer Game Fest 2026
Key Features	Cabin building, crafting, farming, cooking, wildlife photography, animal care, exploration
Combat	No combat, hunting, or violence

Accessibility Snapshot

Accessibility information checked June 2026. Detailed accessibility settings have not yet been fully confirmed, so this section should be updated when Novemtails or Assemble Entertainment share more.

Category	Feature	Options	Notes
Confirmed	Platform	PC via Steam	Demo available now
Confirmed	Gameplay Pace	Slow-paced exploration	No combat, no hunting, and no urgency are highlighted
Confirmed	Perspective	First-person	Listed as a first-person survival sim
Confirmed	Violence Level	No combat or hunting	The game focuses on exploration, crafting, farming, cooking, and wildlife photography
Confirmed	Steam Features	Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud, Family Sharing	Listed on Steam
Confirmed	Controller Support	Full controller support	Listed on Steam
Confirmed	Languages	English and Spanish interface/subtitles	Listed on Steam
Not Confirmed	Text Size / UI Scaling	Not confirmed	No detailed public accessibility settings confirmed yet
Not Confirmed	Control Remapping	Not confirmed	Full controller support is listed, but remapping has not been confirmed
Not Confirmed	Colourblind Options	Not confirmed	No detailed public accessibility settings confirmed yet
Not Confirmed	Motion / Camera Options	Not confirmed	No detailed public accessibility settings confirmed yet
Not Confirmed	Subtitle Size / Caption Options	Not confirmed	Subtitles are listed, but detailed subtitle options have not been confirmed

Accessibility options can vary by platform, build, and demo version. Players should check the final in-game settings, Steam page, and developer updates for the most current information.

Why This One Has Our Attention

Cosy survival is a tricky little beast.

Push too hard on the survival side and suddenly everyone is stressed, starving, and being bullied by weather. Push too hard on the cosy side, and the systems can start to feel decorative rather than satisfying.

Under Canopies looks interesting because it still gives you survival-shaped routines. You’ll be gathering, cooking, crafting, farming, caring for animals, building shelters, and exploring. The difference is the mood. You are living with the forest, learning its rhythms, and making a home inside it.

You can still have goals. You can still make plans. You can still build, decorate, cook, collect, discover, and improve your little life. The game just does not seem interested in punishing you every five minutes to prove it counts as survival.

And frankly, thank you. Some of us are already surviving enough outside the computer.

TLDR;

Under Canopies is a peaceful first-person survival sim from solo developer Novemtails and publisher Assemble Entertainment.
It was revealed during the Latin American Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest 2026.
You can explore a handcrafted forest, build and decorate a cabin, farm, cook, craft, care for animals, photograph wildlife, and journal your discoveries.
There is no combat, no hunting, and no urgency.
The game is coming to PC via Steam in Q3 2026.
A demo is available now on Steam.
Official Steam Page
Trailer: YouTube
Official Site: Assemble Entertainment

Stay unruly.

Star Wars Zero Company Lets You Command The Clone Wars’ Shadiest Little Squad

Unruly Folk

6 June 2026

You know how Star Wars loves a noble hero, a dramatic cloak, and someone saying something ominous in a hallway?

Lovely. Classic. Very on-brand.

But Star Wars Zero Company is looking at the Clone Wars and asking a much better question: what if you were handed a crew of dangerous little weirdos, a holotable, some extremely questionable odds, and told to fix the galaxy from the shadows?

That is the pitch, and honestly, I’m down.

Electronic Arts, Bit Reactor, and Lucasfilm Games have confirmed that Star Wars Zero Company launches on August 27, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Pre-orders are live now, and the new official gameplay trailer gives you a proper look at its single-player turn-based tactics, squad customisation, and Clone Wars drama.

Official Trailer

You Are Not The Chosen One, Babe. You Are The Squad Manager.

In Star Wars Zero Company, you step into the boots of Hawks, a former Galactic Republic officer now leading an unconventional outfit of operatives for hire.

You are commanding Zero Company, a capable, deeply suspicious squad pulled from across the galaxy.

Your crew includes a Clone Trooper, a Mandalorian from the ancient Clan Verminoth, a Jedi Padawan, and other specialists who sound exactly like the kind of people you would put in a room together if you wanted sparks, trauma, and one intensely stressful group project.

Your job is to hunt down Kundri Fathom, leader of the Separatist-aligned cult known as the Infinite Coil.

Which is already a very Star Wars sentence. You can practically hear someone in a dramatic cape saying it while a weird blue light flickers in the background.

The Tactics Behind The Clone Wars

Zero Company is set in the shadows of the Clone Wars, away from the massive battlefield speeches and Senate chamber nonsense.

You are dealing with the quieter, nastier part of the conflict, with covert missions, tactical operations, uneasy alliances, Separatist threats, and the kind of decisions that will absolutely make you stare at the screen and mutter, “Well, this feels bad.”

The new gameplay trailer shows tactical, turn-based combat with positioning, abilities, cover, and cinematic attacks. Basically, you can make a careful plan, feel very clever for eight seconds, then watch one enemy move slightly differently and ruin your entire afternoon.

You will need to think about where your squad stands, how they work together, which abilities chain well, and whether your favourite Operator should really be standing that close to a battle droid with bad vibes.

Spoiler: Nah. Probably not.

The Den Is Your Moody Little War Room

Between missions, you will return to The Den, Zero Company’s base of operations.

From there, you can recruit and develop Operators, upgrade facilities, purchase new equipment, and choose your next mission from the holotable.

That holotable is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. The game features an ever-changing galaxy map with more than 150 planets, where your choices can change how the campaign unfolds.

So yes, you can absolutely tell yourself you are just checking one mission. Then suddenly you are three operations deep, emotionally invested in a custom Zabrak, and negotiating with your own bedtime like a disgraced senator.

The Den also seems built to make the squad feel like more than little chess pieces with blasters. You are building a crew, upgrading their tools, shaping their roles, and preparing them for whatever grim little Clone Wars nonsense is waiting outside.

You Can Build Your Own Disaster Squad

Customisation is a big part of Star Wars Zero Company, and this is where the gremlin brain starts rubbing its little hands together.

You can customise Hawks and recruited Operators from eight Star Wars species:

Devaronian
Human
Neimoidian
Ovissian
Togruta
Twi’lek
Weequay
Zabrak

You can also tweak voices, outfits, appearances, specialisations, and talents over time.

Which means yes, you are probably going to spend far too long creating the galaxy’s most dramatic squad of tactical problems. You can make your perfect little unit of emotionally unavailable space professionals, give them excellent outfits, optimise their combat roles, and then pretend you are not devastated when one mission goes sideways.

The dream.

The nightmare.

The genre.

Squad Bonds Are Going To Hurt Us, Aren’t They?

One of the more interesting systems in Zero Company is the way bonds form between authored characters and player-created Operators.

As your squad fights together, they can unlock new support abilities and cross-training benefits that improve their skills and stats. So the more you use them together, the more they learn each other’s rhythms, cover each other’s weaknesses, and become a proper little found-family problem.

This is extremely dangerous.

Star Wars has always loved a found family. Weirdos, exiles, soldiers, smugglers, droids, monks, pilots, and people with terrible coping mechanisms somehow finding each other in the middle of galactic chaos? That is the good stuff.

Now you can make that emotional attachment part of the tactics loop.

You are building relationships because they might save someone’s life in combat. Very rude. Very effective. Extremely likely to make us all behave normally online.

Bit Reactor Knows Its Strategy Stuff

Bit Reactor is developing Star Wars Zero Company in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, and the studio has a serious strategy pedigree.

Bit Reactor was founded by longtime strategy developers, with team members whose credits include games like XCOM, Civilisation, Gears of War, The Elder Scrolls Online, and more.

That matters because Zero Company is walking a tricky line. It needs to feel like Star Wars, with the drama, the scale, the weird aliens, the droids, the robes, the pew pew, the deep sadness hiding under the adventure hat.

But it also needs to work as a proper tactics game. The decisions need to count for something. The maps need to make sense. The squad builds need to feel satisfying. You need to feel clever when a plan works and personally attacked when it does not.

If Bit Reactor lands that balance, Zero Company could be a very special kind of Star Wars game. The kind where your favourite character is not a Skywalker, a Kenobi, or a cameo. It is some custom little menace you made and now love with your whole silly heart.

Pre-Orders, Editions, And Fancy Droid Bits

Pre-orders are now available on PC and console.

The Standard Edition is priced at $49.99 USD on PC and $59.99 USD on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The Deluxe Edition is priced at $59.99 USD on PC and $69.99 USD on consoles.

All pre-orders include the Crystalline Astromech Cosmetic Pack, which gives you:

An R3 droid
Translucent crystalline astromech heads for R4 and R5 variants
The BR-1 droid, originating in Star Wars Zero Company

The Deluxe Edition also includes extra Clone Wars-era cosmetic goodies, including the Grand Army of the Republic Cosmetic Pack, the Shadow Collective Cosmetic Pack, and five painted weapon themes.

Do you need fancy droid heads and painted weapons? Spiritually, maybe. Financially, that is between you, your bank account, and whatever impulsive worm that lives in the pre-order part of your brain.

Gordy Haab Is On The Soundtrack, So Prepare Your Feelings

The Star Wars Zero Company soundtrack will release alongside the game on August 27, 2026, via Walt Disney Records.

The score comes from Gordy Haab, the Grammy-winning composer whose work will already be familiar to Star Wars game fans.

That is worth paying attention to, because tactics games live on tension. You need the music to make every move feel sharp, every pause feel nasty, and every bad decision feel like it happened in IMAX.

A strong score could do a lot here, especially if Zero Company is going for cinematic strategy rather than dry tactical board-clearing.

Game Info

Detail	Info
Game	Star Wars Zero Company
Developer	Bit Reactor
Collaborator	Lucasfilm Games
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Genre	Single-player turn-based tactics
Setting	The twilight of the Clone Wars
Platforms	PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
Release Date	August 27, 2026
Pre-Orders	Available now
PC Storefronts	EA app, Steam, Epic Games Store
Console Storefronts	PlayStation Store, Xbox Store
Composer	Gordy Haab
Australian Classification	Mature: Mature themes and violence

Why This Could Be A Big Little Star Wars Problem

A Clone Wars tactics game is such an obvious good idea that it is slightly disrespectful we have not had more of them.

That era is built for this kind of thing. You have political rot, military pressure, doomed loyalty, uneasy alliances, weird planets, disposable armies that should absolutely not feel disposable, and a galaxy full of problems that cannot all be solved with one dramatic lightsaber pose.

Star Wars Zero Company seems to understand that the interesting bit is not just the war. It is the people you drag through it.

You can build the squad. You can shape the strategy. You can choose the missions. You can get attached to your Operators against your better judgment. You can tell yourself you are making sensible tactical decisions while clearly picking favourites based on vibes, armour, and whether they have a tragic little face.

If Bit Reactor can make the strategy deep, the squad bonds meaningful, and the Clone Wars setting properly tense, Zero Company could become one of the more interesting Star Wars games we have had in years.

Also, yes, I am already scared of making one bad move and getting my favourite custom Twi’lek absolutely cooked by a battle droid with no respect for narrative attachment.

TLDR;

Star Wars Zero Company launches on August 27, 2026.
It is a single-player turn-based tactics game set during the twilight of the Clone Wars.
The game is developed by Bit Reactor in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games and published by Electronic Arts.
You play as Hawks, a former Galactic Republic officer leading a squad of unconventional operatives.
Your mission is to stop Kundri Fathom, leader of the Separatist-aligned cult known as the Infinite Coil.
You can recruit Operators, customise species and appearances, upgrade The Den, build squad bonds, and choose missions across a galaxy map with more than 150 planets.
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S.
Pre-orders are available now.
Official Website: Here
Steam Page: Here
Official Gameplay Trailer: YouTube

Stay unruly.

Fields of Aaru Brings Ancient Egyptian Farming To The Afterlife

Unruly Folk

6 June 2026

There are many things I expected from the afterlife. Judgement. Existential admin. Possibly a man with a shrunken head side-eyeing my life choices.

What I did not necessarily expect was farming, fishing, village restoration, desert exploration, and a cosy little Nile-side routine. Honestly? Rude of real life to make that sound more relaxing than most weekends.

Fields of Aaru, the Ancient Egyptian afterlife life sim from Zymartu Games, has just released its first public demo on Steam, revealed during the Women-Led Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest. The game invites you to begin a new eternal life in Aaru, the paradise of Egyptian mythology, where farming meets ruins, obelisks, offerings, and the very specific fantasy of fixing up a village after you have already shuffled off the mortal coil.

Official Demo Launch Trailer

Welcome To The Good Place, But With Irrigation

In Fields of Aaru, you settle along the fertile banks of the Nile, building a home, farming the land, fishing, gathering materials, and helping restore a struggling riverside community.

The cosy sim bones are all here. Grow crops, craft tools, shape the land, meet locals, upgrade the village, and slowly turn your corner of the afterlife into something a little less “dusty eternity” and a little more “I could put a cute pot plant there. Nice.”

The setting is what gives it a proper little spark. Rather than another familiar woodland village or suspiciously cheerful island, Fields of Aaru leans into Ancient Egyptian mythology, with shrines, gods, obelisks, pyramids, tombs, oases, and ancient crafts woven into the loop.

And look, as someone whose cosy game brain has been trained to see a patch of dirt and immediately think “I could absolutely grow something here,” this is dangerous information.

The Desert Is Calling, Which Is Worrying Because I Am Very Indoorsy

Outside the calm Nile-side farming life, Fields of Aaru expands into open desert exploration. You can search for hidden oases, wander through ancient ruins, uncover buried tombs, and gather rare materials and lost knowledge beneath the sand.

A big part of progression seems tied to restoring long-dormant obelisks, which unlock new regions, powers, and fast travel options across the world. You can also earn blessings from Egyptian gods through offerings and shrines, adding a mythological twist to the usual “please accept these ten turnips and love me forever” cosy game economy.

You will also be able to learn ancient crafts, including:

Stone shaping
Clay firing
Canal building
Tool crafting
Irrigation systems
Resource gathering and land shaping

That irrigation bit is especially interesting because any farming sim that makes the actual relationship between water, land, and survival part of the design immediately gets my attention. Give me systems. Give me little canals. Give me the dangerous illusion that I am organised. It’s nice to dream.

A Husband-And-Wife Indie Team

Zymartu Games is an indie studio founded by Marcel and Thu, a husband-and-wife team who have been building Fields of Aaru together for more than three years.

Both come from software engineering backgrounds at Google and Amazon, and started the studio to create original games built around atmosphere, worldbuilding, creativity, and strong technical foundations.

That combo makes sense here. Fields of Aaru looks like the sort of project where the cosy systems need to feel satisfying, but the world also needs to feel rich enough that you actually want to keep poking around every suspicious ruin like a nosy little archaeology goblin.

Game Info

Detail	Info
Game	Fields of Aaru
Developer	Zymartu Games
Publisher	Zymartu Games
Genre	Cosy life sim, farming sim, adventure
Setting	The Ancient Egyptian afterlife
Platform	PC via Steam
Demo	Available now on Steam
Release Date	Coming soon
Showcase	Women-Led Games Showcase, Summer Game Fest 2026

Accessibility Snapshot

Accessibility information checked June 2026. Confirmed details are currently limited, so this section will be updated if the developer shares more.

Category	Feature	Options	Notes
Confirmed	Platform	PC via Steam	Demo available now
Reported	Controller Support	Not confirmed	Steam tags list controller support, but detailed implementation has not been confirmed.
Not Confirmed	Text Size / UI Scaling	Not confirmed	No public details found in the provided release
Not Confirmed	Remapping	Not confirmed	No public details found in the provided release
Not Confirmed	Colourblind Options	Not confirmed	No public details found in the provided release
Not Confirmed	Camera Shake	Not confirmed	No public details found in the provided release
Not Confirmed	Difficulty / Assist Options	Not confirmed	No public details found in the provided release
Not Confirmed	Subtitle Options	Not confirmed	No public details found in the provided release

Accessibility settings can vary by platform, build, and demo version. You should check the in-game settings menu, Steam page, and developer updates for the most current information.

Why This One Has Our Attention

There are a lot of cosy games out there, and bless them, I love a cute field and a suspiciously overworked local blacksmith as much as the next emotionally tired little gremlin.

But Fields of Aaru has a more specific hook. An Ancient Egyptian afterlife sim where farming, village restoration, mythology, exploration, and crafting all seem to feed into one another. It is a cosy life sim with sand in its shoes and gods in the group chat.

The new demo is available now on Steam, so if your current mortal existence could use fewer emails and more Nile-adjacent farming, this may be one for the wishlist.

TLDR;

Fields of Aaru is a cosy Ancient Egyptian afterlife sim from Zymartu Games.
The first public demo is available now on Steam.
You can farm, fish, craft, explore deserts and ruins, restore a riverside village, and unlock powers through obelisks and offerings to Egyptian gods.
The game was shown during the Women-Led Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest 2026.
Release Date: Coming soon.
Play the demo and wishlist on Steam: Here
Official Website: https://zymartugames.com/fields-of-aaru

Stay unruly.

Kioku: Last Summer Brings Cosy Island Mystery To Steam This Week

Unruly Folk

27 May 2026

Some games want you to optimise your build, memorise seventeen status effects, and prepare for a boss with three health bars.

Kioku: Last Summer would rather hand you a bike, point you toward a mysterious island, and gently suggest that wandering around might actually be the whole point.

The cosy, story-driven adventure from Norwegian indie studio Lugn Games and publisher Assemble Entertainment is launching on Steam for PC on 28 May 2026, with a demo already available on Steam.

Welcome To Kioku Island. Please Leave Your Brain Goblin At The Pier

In Kioku: Last Summer, players step into the tiny shoes of Asti, a young girl spending her first summer on the mysterious island of Kioku. It’s pitched as a story-led adventure full of friendships, secrets, small routines, and that very specific childhood-summer feeling where every path looks like it might lead to treasure, trouble, or a new best friend.

The world itself blends Scandinavian landscapes with Japanese-inspired aesthetics, giving Kioku that warm, handmade, postcard-from-somewhere-your-inner-child-remembers look. Think forest trails, coastal corners, quiet conversations, and just enough mystery under the sunlight to keep your curiosity doing little zoomies.

Fishing, Marubi Battles, And One Very Important Dog

Kioku’s island life is built around slow exploration and playful little rituals. Steam lists fishing, crab catching, villager friendships, in-game photos, and Marubi, a collectible marble-monster mini-game where players open packs, build a team, and battle locals.

So yes, for anyone whose cosy-game needs include “let me collect tiny weird creatures and become emotionally attached within 4.7 seconds,” Kioku appears to understand the assignment.

The press release also confirms the real headline: you can pet the dog.

Games are complicated. Life is complicated. Dog-petting remains legally and spiritually essential.

Daya Is Heading Back to Australia for Her Debut Headline Tour This July and August

Unruly Folk

30 April 2026

Well, hello. Daya is finally getting her own Australian headline run.

The US pop singer-songwriter will hit Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane this July and August 2026 for her debut Australian headline tour, bringing the new album Til Every Petal Drops to local stages. If you were there for the ‘Hide Away’ days, the ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ chokehold, or more recently got your life together to ‘Dreamin’ with Dom Dolla, this is the part where you start checking your bank account and pretending to be calm.

Presented by Destroy All Lines, the tour kicks off at Rosemount Hotel in Perth on Tuesday 28 July, before heading to Melbourne’s Corner Hotel, Sydney’s Factory Theatre, and Brisbane’s The Triffid. All four dates are 18+.

This tour comes correct

There is something especially appealing about an artist like Daya doing intimate headline dates. She is not exactly short on big-stage experience. Since breaking through in 2015 with ‘Hide Away’, she has played everywhere from Coachella and Lollapalooza to The White House, while also popping up across dance, pop and electronic spaces with collaborators including Gryffin, RL Grime, Illenium, Anyma and, very relevant to Australian ears, Dom Dolla.

But a smaller run like this feels like a nice fit for where she is at now. Til Every Petal Drops is being framed as her second album and a big creative step forward, with a more experimental sound and a sharper sense of who she is as an artist. She knows exactly what she wants this to sound like now.

“I have a deeper sense of myself as an artist,” Daya says. “I’ve evolved so much, and I’m exploring everything I can. I’ve embraced who I am at this point of my life, and I’m confident and excited for the world to hear it.”

From ‘Hide Away’ to now, she’s had a pretty ridiculous run

It is easy to forget how young Daya was when she first blew up. ‘Hide Away’ went triple platinum and pushed her into the spotlight at just 16, then Sit Still, Look Pretty followed not long after, with the title track helping cement her as one of those pop voices who could swing between radio-ready hooks and something a bit moodier.

Then came The Chainsmokers collab ‘Don’t Let Me Down’, which became absolutely massive and scored a GRAMMY Award for Best Dance Recording. Since then, she has kept moving between genres rather than staying boxed into one lane, which probably explains why her catalogue still feels surprisingly fresh instead of trapped in a very specific 2016 time capsule.

Her connection with Australian audiences got another boost in 2025 through ‘Dreamin” with Dom Dolla, which went on to earn multiple ARIA nominations and took out Best Dance Release.

Daya 2026 Australian Tour Dates

Here is the full run:

Tuesday 28 July – Rosemount Hotel, Perth (18+)
Thursday 30 July – Corner Hotel, Melbourne (18+)
Friday 31 July – Factory Theatre, Sydney (18+)
Saturday 1 August – The Triffid, Brisbane (18+)

Ticket Info

Tickets are about to move quickly, so here is the useful bit without the waffle:

Destroy All Lines presale sign-up: Thursday, 30 April at 11 am AEST
General on-sale: Friday, 1 May at 11 am local time

If you are in Perth, that presale time is 9 am AWST today, Thursday, 30 April. No nasty surprises. You are welcome.

Event Info

Category	Details
Artist	Daya
Tour	Australian Headline Tour 2026
Presented By	Destroy All Lines
Touring In Support Of	Til Every Petal Drops
Perth Date	Tuesday 28 July – Rosemount Hotel
Melbourne Date	Thursday 30 July – Corner Hotel
Sydney Date	Friday 31 July – Factory Theatre
Brisbane Date	Saturday 1 August – The Triffid
Age Restriction	18+ all dates
Presale Sign-Up	Today. Thursday 30 April at 11 am AEST
General On-Sale	Friday 1 May at 11am local time

TLDR;

Daya is returning to Australia for her debut headline tour in July and August 2026.
The tour will hit Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
She is touring in support of her second album, Til Every Petal Drops.
The run starts at Rosemount Hotel in Perth on Tuesday,y 28 July.
All shows on the tour are 18+.
Destroy All Lines presale sign-up opens today, Thursday, 30 April at 11 am AEST.
General tickets go on sale Friday, 1 May at 11 am local time.

Stay unruly.

InterfaceX26 Is Live on Steam, and It’s Rallying the Weird Little Computer Games Into One Proper Home

Unruly Folk

29 April 2026

Promotional artwork for InterfaceX26, a Steam event celebrating ‘Fake OS’ games set inside digital interfaces such as desktops, chat logs, and operating systems.

Some games do not happen in worlds so much as inside someone else’s machine.

You are clicking through fake desktops, opening dodgy folders, reading chat logs you absolutely were not meant to see, and piecing together a story from digital crumbs like a nosy little gremlin with a mouse. You know the type. Her Story. Hypnospace Outlaw. The Operator. The games where half the thrill is snooping.

Now that whole corner of gaming has a spotlight on it. InterfaceX26 is live on Steam until 4 May 2026, bringing together more than 150 developers and publishers to champion the ‘Fake OS’ label and give these interface-driven games a genre name people can actually search for.

It’s about time.

The Genre Already Exists. It Just Needed a Name

This is one of those things players have understood for years before storefronts properly caught up.

You can absolutely tell when a game belongs to this family. It might be built around a desktop, a phone, a fake operating system, a messy inbox, a haunted browser window, or some deeply cursed little database. The format changes. The brain itch stays the same.

That shared language is what InterfaceX26 is trying to pin down. The event is built around the idea that ‘Fake OS‘ deserves to stand as a proper genre tag on Steam, so players can find more of these games without having to search by vibes and pure luck.

A rare win for taxonomy nerds, and I mean that affectionately.

A Steam Event, a Sale, and a Grassroots Tagging Push

InterfaceX26 is doing a few things at once.

First, it is running a weeklong Steam sale featuring nearly 100 games. The wider initiative involves 150+ developers and publishers, including names such as Devolver Digital, tinyBuild, Fellow Traveller, and No More Robots.

It also pulls in creators linked to some of the best-known games in this space, including Sam Barlow of Her Story and Immortality, Daniel Mullins of Inscryption and Pony Island, and Zach Barth of Zachtronics.

This is a proper push from people who have been making, publishing, and shaping this style of game for years.

Then comes the more community-driven part. Players are being encouraged to tag games on Steam as ‘Fake OS’ to help formalise the genre and make it easier to discover. InterfaceX26 also has a custom web app to walk people through that tagging process, which is deeply specific in a way I respect immensely. Utter babes.

It is organised. It is nerdy. It is powered by people who clearly care. Love that.

The Showcase Is Happening This Week Too

Alongside the sale and tagging campaign, InterfaceX26 is hosting a live showcase on 2 May at 10 AM PDT / 6 PM BST on YouTube and Twitch.

For local readers, that lands at 1 AM AWST in Perth, or 3 AM AEST on the east coast, which is either a fun late-night watch or a truly irresponsible life choice, depending on your sleep schedule.

The stream will be hosted by GameSpot’s Kurt Indovina and Lucy James, with Jesse Cox, Dodger, Nookrium, and Stormfall33 also involved, and will feature 32 upcoming and newly updated games.

That is a strong lineup of people to front a showcase full of funky interface games. Nobody is going to look confused explaining why a fake desktop full of suspicious documents rules.

Showcase Games Include Some Extremely Good Names

The official showcase lineup includes:

Alawon: Life of a Game Composer
Author Sim
Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division
Deep Fog Signals
Desktop Explorer
Digital Processing
Directory Dungeon
DOLOS: Your Best Future
Forbidden Solitaire
Heaven Does Not Respond
HOMEPAGE
I.T Never Ends
Imprinted
Lost Wiki: Kozlovka
lovebyte.exe
mobOS
Murder Meet Cute
MyDear.exe
New Folder
Plobania 47/B
Short Short Fictions
Shutter Story
SPRKLS.exe
Super Real AI
SYNTAXIA
The Games You Make
The Outer Frame
Void Future: Hacking Protocol
ZeroPrompt

That is a proper feast for anyone who likes poking around a fake interface and emerging three hours later with a conspiracy board in their head.

Also, New Folder is an absurdly funny name for one of these. Full points.

Why You Should Care

Steam is full of games that get flattened into broader tags that do not quite explain what makes them special. Puzzle. Narrative. Horror. Simulation. Investigation. Sure. Fine. But those labels do not really get at the texture of this stuff.

The whole draw of a Fake OS game is the interface itself. The screen is the setting. The folders are part of the story. Clicking around is the experience.

Giving that style of game a clearer home helps players find more of it, helps devs talk about what they are making, and helps this whole strange little scene stop floating around unnamed.

And for a genre built on rummaging through digital clutter, having a proper label is a surprisingly big deal.

Event Info

Category	Details
Event	InterfaceX26
Platform	Steam
Dates	Live now until 4 May 2026
Focus	Establishing ‘Fake OS’ as a Steam genre tag
Developers and Publishers Involved	150+
Games on Sale	Nearly 100
Live Showcase Date	2 May 2026
Showcase Time	10 AM PDT / 6 PM BST
Australian Time	1 AM AWST on 3 May / 3 AM AEST on 3 May
Streaming Platforms	YouTube, Twitch
Website	InterfaceX

Accessibility Snapshot

Category	Feature	Options	Notes
Access Format	Online event	Confirmed	InterfaceX26 is a digital Steam event with an online tagging campaign and livestreamed showcase.
Platform Access	Steam participation	Confirmed	Players can browse the sale and tag participating games on Steam.
Web Access	Tagging support web app	Confirmed	A custom web app is available to guide players through the tagging process.
Livestream Access	YouTube and Twitch broadcast	Confirmed	The showcase will be streamed on both platforms.
Captions / Subtitles	Closed captions on livestream	Not Confirmed	No captioning details were publicly listed in the information provided.
VOD Availability	Replay after livestream	Not Confirmed	No public confirmation was provided about archive or replay availability.
Screen Reader / Keyboard Access	Web app accessibility support	Not Confirmed	No specific accessibility details were given for the custom web app.
Language Support	Alternate language streams or subtitles	Not Confirmed	No multilingual support was mentioned.

Trailer

TLDR;

InterfaceX26 is live now on Steam and runs until 4 May 2026.
The event brings together 150+ developers and publishers to push ‘Fake OS’ as a proper Steam genre tag.
It includes a curated Steam sale with nearly 100 games.
Players can support the campaign by tagging games on Steam with ‘Fake OS’.
A custom web app is available to guide players through the tagging process.
The live showcase airs on 2 May at 10 AM PDT / 6 PM BST, which is 1 AM AWST on 3 May in Perth.
The stream will be hosted by Kurt Indovina and Lucy James, with appearances from Jesse Cox, Dodger, Nookrium, and Stormfall33.
Featured names involved in the event include Sam Barlow, Daniel Mullins, and Zach Barth.

Stay unruly.

Drop Duchy Is Out Now on PS5, Switch, Xbox and Game Pass

Unruly Folk

22 April 2026

Some games look cute enough to fool you for a second. Then five minutes later, you’re hunched over the screen, fully invested, trying to place one more tile like your tiny cardboard kingdom depends on it. Drop Duchy feels very much like that sort of game.

The clever genre mash-up from Sleepy Mill Studio and The Arcade Crew is available now on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and Xbox Game Pass, with Drop Duchy: Complete Edition now landing on PS5 and Switch. Better still, that console release bundles in all additional content released so far, including ‘The Tribe’ and ‘The North’ DLCs, so new players are not getting the watered-down version. It’s the whole tactical feast, as it should be.

A deckbuilder, puzzler and roguelite all stuffed into one very charming box

Drop Duchy drops players into a maquette-inspired medieval world where the aim is to build up your duchy piece by piece using a mix of deckbuilding, puzzle mechanics and roguelite progression. Which, yes, is already a very tasty combination.

You are placing terrain tiles and buildings, gathering resources, building up your forces and trying to outmanoeuvre enemies while shaping the kind of run that best suits your playstyle. It is the sort of setup that feels neat on paper, but the real appeal is in how those systems bounce off each other. Every placement matters, every combo matters, and your little kingdom can absolutely go from “aw, adorable” to “wait, I have become frighteningly efficient” in no time flat.

The Complete Edition means console players are eating well

The big news here is that PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch players are getting Drop Duchy: Complete Edition, which includes both ‘The Tribe’ and ‘The North’ DLC packs. That means console players jumping in now can start with the fullest version of the game currently available, rather than having to play catch-up later.

Meanwhile, the game is already available on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass, which makes this wider console push feel like a proper all-platform moment for the game.

That is always nice to see, especially for a strategy game that seems built around experimentation and replayability. If a game’s whole thing is discovering better builds, sharper tactics and new combinations over time, having that extra content included from the start is part of the appeal.

More than 110 cards and a lot of room for tactical nonsense

One of the standout details here is the promise of more than 110 unique cards to customise your deck. That should give players plenty of room to tweak their approach, chase different strategies and find the kind of combinations that make them feel either wildly clever or deeply cursed, depending on how the run is going.

The game is also clearly leaning into replayability, with unlocks, fresh combos and new strategies to uncover across repeated runs. There are a lot of games that say they want you to replay them. There are fewer that actually make you want to do it because the systems keep nudging you toward “okay, but what if I tried this weird little plan next time?”

Drop Duchy knows exactly where that itch lives.

Cute, minimal and still very much for the tactics gremlins

Visually, Drop Duchy is selling a charming minimalist look, with its tiny medieval world built like a lovingly arranged tabletop model. That softer presentation is likely to be part of the draw for many players, especially those of us who enjoy strategy games but would also like them not to look like tax paperwork.

That said, the real hook seems to be the tactical side. It is a game about planning, adapting and making the most of the cards and terrain in front of you. Basically, if you like games that let you feel smart while also occasionally ruining your own plans through pure hubris, this one sounds worth a look.

Game Info

Category	Details
Title	Drop Duchy
Developer	Sleepy Mill Studio
Publisher	The Arcade Crew
Available Now On	PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass
Edition	Drop Duchy: Complete Edition
Included DLC	‘The Tribe’, ‘The North’
Genre Blend	Deckbuilding, puzzle mechanics, roguelite progression
Key Feature	Tile and building placement to grow your duchy and defeat enemies
Card Count	Over 110 unique cards

TLDR;

Drop Duchy is now available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass.
Drop Duchy: Complete Edition has arrived on PS5 and Switch.
The Complete Edition includes all released extra content so far, including ‘The Tribe’ and ‘The North’ DLCs.
The game mixes deckbuilding, puzzle mechanics and roguelite progression in a charming medieval world.
Players can build their duchy by placing terrain tiles and buildings, gathering resources and battling enemies.
There are over 110 unique cards to customise your strategy.

Stay unruly.

KAZ Just Made Its Demo Way More Chill, With a New No Stress Mode and a Bigger Bag of Tricks

Unruly Folk

22 April 2026

Sometimes a game update arrives, and you can immediately tell it understands the assignment. KAZ, the reaction-based roguelike from HAKURO and solo developer Kalinarm, has dropped a major demo update that adds more ways to play, more ways to experiment, and more reasons to lose an hour to “just one more go accidentally”.

The headline addition is No Stress mode, which removes the timer and swaps it out for limited moves instead. That means you can take a more deliberate, strategic approach to the game’s grid-based action instead of feeling like your brain has been launched down a staircase. For anyone who likes the look of KAZ but would rather think before they slam keys like a raccoon in a synth shop, that sounds like a very smart addition.

A slower mode, but more stuff to mess with

KAZ now also includes seven new themes, including winners from the game’s community UGC contest, and each one comes with its own gameplay-altering ability. That is the kind of addition that can really change how a run feels from one attempt to the next, which is exactly what you want from something pitching itself as a flow-state arcade roguelike.

The update also expands the game’s pool of items and maluses, adding more variety across runs. Between items, boosts, spells and consumables, there looks to be a lot more room now for weird little builds, risky choices and those moments where a run suddenly clicks, and you feel like the cleverest person alive for about three minutes.

KAZ seems very aware that the best arcade roguelikes live or die on momentum, and this update looks focused on feeding that lovely little “go again” impulse.

KAZ is leaning harder into its music-driven heart

One of the more interesting bits of this demo update is the reworked audiovisual feedback. Score gauge animations and sound design have been updated to better match the game’s music-driven rhythm, with more than 10 interactive music tracks that evolve as your score climbs.

That feels like a strong fit for a game like this. If KAZ is chasing that locked-in, hyper-focused flow state, having the soundtrack and visual feedback shift with your performance makes a lot of sense. It gives the whole thing a bit more pulse, a bit more feedback, and ideally that very tasty sensation of your brain and the game briefly agreeing on something.

Streamers can also unleash the gremlins

If you are the kind of person who likes your gameplay with a side of audience sabotage, the demo update also adds built-in Twitch integration. Streamers can connect their channel and let chat vote on item choices after each round, which sounds like a fantastic way to turn every decent run into a democracy-based nightmare.

Respectfully, this is the sort of feature that could be either brilliant or emotionally devastating, depending on how much your viewers enjoy your suffering.

Why this one feels worth watching

There are a million indie games fighting for attention at any given moment, so when one gets described as minimalist, music-driven, reaction-heavy and now also flexible enough to support a slower strategy mode, that is worth a second look. KAZ seems keen to meet players where they are, whether that means speed, planning, experimentation, or handing control of your fate to Twitch chat and living with the consequences.

That is a solid pitch, frankly.

Game Info

Category	Details
Title	KAZ
Developer	Kalinarm
Publisher	HAKURO
Genre	Reaction-based roguelike / minimalist arcade roguelike
Latest Update	Major demo update
Key New Feature	No Stress mode
Other Additions	7 new themes, expanded item pool, more maluses, reworked audiovisual feedback, Twitch integration
Platforms	Steam demo

Accessibility Snapshot

Accessibility Snapshot: Based on publicly available information shared alongside the update as of 21 April 2026.

Category	Feature	Options	Notes
Game Pace	Alternate play style	Confirmed	The new mode is specifically designed to remove time pressure.
Input Pressure	Reduced time pressure option	Confirmed	No controller or key-rebinding details were provided in the public information shared here.
Streaming / Social Play	Twitch integration	Confirmed	Streamers can link their channel and let the chat vote on item choices after each round.

Accessibility features can change between the demo and the full release. It is always worth checking the latest Steam page, in-game settings, or developer updates for the most current information.

Watch the Trailer

TLDR;

KAZ has received a major demo update with new gameplay options and content.
The biggest addition is No Stress mode, which removes the timer and replaces it with a limited number of moves.
The update also adds seven new themes, including community-designed winners, with each theme changing gameplay in different ways.
Items and maluses have been expanded, giving each run more variety.
The game’s audiovisual feedback has been reworked to better match its music-driven flow, with more than 10 interactive music tracks.
Twitch integration is now built in, letting chat vote on item choices after each round.
Find Kaz on Steam.

Stay unruly.

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