Just like in the Victoria series from Paradox Interactive, you command a chosen nation, guiding it through diplomacy, industrialization, and warfare to achieve global dominance. The game’s world is alive and interactive, letting you place cities, railways, and buildings anywhere on the map, shaping your nation’s growth with precision.

Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender stated: “We love grand strategy games, and Gilded Destiny is shaping up to be one of the most exciting titles in the genre.” Aquila co-founder Kenneth Mei added: “Partnering with Hooded Horse will gild the road ahead, helping us realize our vision for a living world with deep military and economic systems.”

Funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $150,000 from 2,300 backers, Gilded Destiny is targeting an Early Access launch in late 2026.

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Firesquid Games will showcase their latest games, including the god game Reus 2, the medieval city-builder City Tales – Medieval Era, the narrative-driven Becoming Saint, and the alien-busting Xenopurge. Hooded Horse will feature new releases like the horror-tinged He is Coming and the recently launched Every Day We Fight, plus discounts on popular titles such as Manor Lords, 9 Kings, and Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic.

TactiCon 2025 will also feature new reveals. FireFly Studios will share details on Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition. Fulqrum Publishing will update us on New Arc Line, a steampunk RPG with strategic elements. Ex Sanguis, the next project from Othercide developer Lightbulb Crew, promises to blend dark visuals with tactical depth. Plus, an upcoming turn-based roguelite will debut on Steam, with details still under wraps.

Last year’s event drew over 2.3 million visitors and saw an average of 8,000 wishlists per game, with 107 titles featured.

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In 9 Kings, you start with a small village and build it into a powerful kingdom by playing cards to summon units like knights, warlocks, or imps. The game shines with its chaotic deck-building, letting you create wild combos, such as explosive wizards or necromantic sheep, to defeat enemy kings. Each of the nine kings has a unique deck, and looting enemies unlocks their cards, offering endless strategies.

Sad Socket was founded by childhood friends Andre Young and Rafael da Silva Melo. Young, a YouTube star with around 800k subscribers and creator of Latin America’s largest Game Jam, brought experience from games like Seraph’s Last Stand. Melo, a creative director with a background in film and advertising, shaped the project’s vision. They also shared on Steam: “We’re just two guys chasing a dream”, crediting the community’s 170,000 wishlists for their success.

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In a dark fantasy world, 9 Kings challenges you to build a thriving kingdom to outlast rival kings. From a nine-tile grid around your castle, you draw cards to construct buildings, summon troops, or cast spells. The trailer highlights battles with knights, warlocks, and sentient mushrooms, where you can drop rocks from your castle to smash foes. Each of the nine kings brings a unique starting deck, and looting rivals’ cards lets you craft wild, game-breaking builds.

Crafted by a small São Paulo and New York team, 9 Kings builds on Sad Socket’s success with Seraph’s Last Stand, which sold over 500,000 copies. Backed by Hooded Horse, known for polishing indie gems, 9 Kings will evolve through Early Access toward a full Q3 2025 release.

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For those unfamiliar with the game, you are tasked with rebuilding civilization in a world devastated by apocalyptic rains. Lead diverse races, including humans, lizards, foxes, and harpies, with the goal of restoring the wilderness’s splendor while managing resources and securing a future for the last survivors.

What makes the game unique is its blend of city-building with roguelite mechanics, focusing on multiple campaign playthroughs filled with challenges and varied starting conditions. Console versions will feature a tailored user interface to ensure a smooth and accessible gaming experience.

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You’ll start as a small, humble workshop that can grow into a bustling forge, producing swords, armor, kitchenware, and jewelry. Every item begins as raw material, such as ore mined from quarries or wood from forests. Resource management is key to keeping production running, and your decisions, whether to invest in worker camps or expand your workshop, will directly impact your business’s success.

The process of transforming raw materials into finished goods is complex. Each item follows its own recipe, some require intricate procedures like forging, tempering, and grinding, while simpler items can be crafted more quickly. As your reputation grows, you’ll unlock opportunities to expand your workspace, upgrade tools, and develop new products to satisfy increasingly demanding clients.

Success isn’t just about resources, it also depends on the workers in your forge. Each employee has unique skills, and their progression is tied to your investment in training and equipment. For a glimpse of what to expect from the game, check out the trailer below.

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The initial Early Access version will feature asymmetrical factions, such as the battle-hardened Drakken of Arkesha or the mystical Vaulters, each with their own unique mechanics, units, and narratives. During the Early Access period, players can expect new factions and mechanics that will further expand the game’s strategic depth.

A core feature of the game is the Tidefall events, dynamic catastrophes that open up new areas and alter the world’s political landscape. For instance, the retreat of oceans reveals new paths and resources, but also brings unexpected dangers, forcing players to constantly adapt their strategies.

Depending on your chosen faction, you’ll be able to wage conquest-driven wars, build mighty empires, engage in diplomatic maneuvering, or even take on the role of mythical beasts. Each approach offers a unique narrative and set of challenges, promising deep replayability across the board.

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The Aspects stand out as an economic and diplomatic empire, emphasizing cooperation over conquest. Their greatest strength lies in a unique mechanic that allows them to spread coral terrain. This faction plants so-called Coral Spores, which gradually colonize surrounding land. These coral outgrowths can eventually evolve into cities and also serve as hubs for further network expansion across the map.

The coral infrastructure offers numerous advantages, from accelerating city development and resource collection to providing military benefits such as faster healing and movement. Even water surfaces become traversable once covered by the coral network. Expanding coral into other factions’ territories can lead to diplomatic bonuses, making it easier to forge alliances and peace treaties.

Endless Legend 2 is set to launch in Steam Early Access sometime in 2025.

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The hype built up massively pre-launch, hitting over 3.2 million Steam wishlists, and it sold a million copies in its first 24 hours after dropping into Early Access on April 26, 2024. That’s wild for an indie title, especially one that’s not even finished yet.

On one hand, the game’s got a lot going for it. Visually, it’s stunning with detailed villages, seasonal shifts, and a vibe that screams 14th-century Franconia. The city-building is deep and organic, with no grid, letting you shape settlements naturally around the landscape. Players love the micromanagement: juggling resources, production chains, and villager needs while watching your hamlet grow into a bustling town.

Insane! Thank you for playing https://t.co/Q4PNIS42BK

— MANOR LORDS (@LordsManor) May 16, 2024

Steam reviews sit at 87% “Very Positive” from over 58,000 users, and it peaked at 173,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. For a niche genre like city-builders, those numbers are amazing. Fans argue it’s a passion project done right, with Styczeń’s transparency about its Early Access state earning trust. The 39.99€ price (often discounted to 29.99€) feels fair to them for the polish and potential, especially without AAA greed like microtransactions.

However, the hype train got way out of control, some expected a Total War killer or a sprawling RPG, and Styczeń had to rein that in pre-launch, saying it’s not that. Combat’s shallow compared to dedicated RTS games, and the endgame lacks bite once your town’s stable. Early Access means it’s incomplete: missing features like diplomacy, robust AI, or a clear progression loop beyond survival.

Some players on Reddit and Steam call it a pretty shell with a short gameplay loop, repetitive after 20 hours, buggy at times (sheep glitches, anyone?), and not enough meat to justify the buzz. Critics say it rode a wave of YouTuber hype and wishlist momentum rather than delivering a fully baked experience. At 40€, that can sting if you wanted more than a promising foundation.

Sales-wise, 3 million is unreal for a solo dev’s debut, but deserved? It depends. If you see it as a reward for ambition and a solid base – yeah, it tracks. Hooded Horse’s fair pricing and Styczeń’s grind (with updates like new maps and bridges by late 2024) back that up.

But if you think hype should match a complete, genre-defining game, it falls short. Did it overpromise? Maybe. Did it deliver enough to earn its spot? For many, yes.

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More complex titles like Terra Invicta and Old World sit at 39.99€, often with DLCs priced between 5€ – 10€ each. These prices are fairly standard for mid-tier indie games with deep mechanics, especially compared to similar titles from publishers like Paradox Interactive, where base games typically start at 39.99€ – 49.99€ and expand with pricier DLCs over time.

Hooded Horse’s CEO, Tim Bender, has publicly emphasized a fair pricing philosophy, avoiding “triple-A pricing” (typically 60€ – 70€) and rejecting tactics like excessive editions or Day 1 DLC. They frequently offer launch discounts of 10–25%, temporarily lowering prices for new releases. For example, Manor Lords launched with a 25% discount, bringing its price down to 29.99€. This approach contrasts sharply with AAA publishers, who rarely discount new releases and often push premium editions or microtransactions.

🏰 CATACLISMO 1.0 IS AVAILABLE NOW! 🏰

The Early Access is over, but the battle for Hogar starts now!

🧱 Brick-by-brick fortress building.
📖 20-hour Campaign.
✨ Level Editor, Sandbox & Skirmish modes.
💀 Revamped Survival Mode for endless replayability. pic.twitter.com/5nUgB8vGOm

— Digital Sun | Cataclismo 1.0 OUT NOW! (@DigitalSunGames) March 20, 2025

Cataclismo recently launched out of Early Access at a full price of 39.99€. However, like most Hooded Horse titles, it’s currently discounted by 35%, bringing the cost down to 19.49€, an excellent value for a game with Very Positive reviews. While Early Access can be a hurdle for some players, Hooded Horse has managed it effectively, balancing transparency and player expectations.

Community feedback on Steam and Reddit reflects mixed but overwhelmingly positive sentiment. Fans of Against the Storm and Manor Lords frequently highlight their replayability and polish as justifying their price tags; Against the Storm alone has sold over 2.5 million copies by late 2024, validating its 29.99€ pricing. That said, some players critique Early Access titles like Xenonauts 2 for feeling overpriced due to bugs or incomplete features, though this is a wider Early Access industry issue, not specific to Hooded Horse.

Compared to market standards, Hooded Horse’s pricing falls squarely within expectations. Mid-tier strategy games like Frostpunk (29.99€) and RimWorld (34.99€) sit in similar ranges, while AAA releases such as Civilization VII launched at 69.99€. What sets Hooded Horse apart is its commitment to fair monetization, their titles avoid loot boxes, pay-to-win mechanics, and other aggressive monetization common in AAA gaming. For fans of deep, niche strategy games, this positions their pricing as “fair” rather than “premium.”

Ultimately, value is subjective. While 39.99€ for an Early Access title may seem steep to players who prefer finished products, it’s a reasonable ask for those who: value supporting indie developers, appreciate complex, systems-driven gameplay and want to engage with games during development. This balance reflects Hooded Horse’s player-first approach in a genre where depth often justifies the price.

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