Many RPG players enjoy Final Fantasy for its story, characters and ever-evolving combat systems, but at the same time there has been some demand for new RPGs that have a different style and mechanics. That's the place Heart of Gaiussteampunk inspired action RPG coming soon Steamcomes because it could attract a group of players who are looking for an alternative experience with real-time combat and a unique fantasy world. Long-standing Final Fantasy Fans in particular may find something worth their time here, as it seems to offer the character and depth of world-building that some believe Square Enix's beloved franchise has lost over the years.
Heart of Gaius comes from Brokentail Games, an indie developer and publisher that appears to be debuting an action RPG. It is currently still in pre-release on Steam, with a Q1 2026 release window and a fully playable demo for players to use and try out the game. At first glance, it doesn't look like the blockbusters of some of the newer ones Final Fantasy games were, but that's where the decades-old RPG franchise may have the edge. There's a lot of ambition here in terms of a world rich with lore and engaging party mechanics, but that's exactly what many fans Final Fantasy they have been asking lately.
Heart of Gaia's Steampunk World and Party-Driven Combat fill a Final Fantasy-sized void
Heart of Gaius is a steampunk action RPG set in a world that has never fully recovered from the cataclysm known as the Decline of the Gods. Long ago, a primordial chaos dragon almost brought everything to ruin before it was sealed away, but now the signs are that history may be repeating itself. As cults and shadowy forces begin to move behind the scenes, a new group of unlikely heroes are drawn into the center of a growing crisis as they fight to prevent the reemergence of an ancient evil. Through real-time combat and party-based character switching, players enter a world caught between vanishing divinity and mechanical progress, where the past refuses to stay buried.
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The heart of Gaia's core functionality
- AN EXPANSIVE STEAMPUNK WORLD — Explore a vast fantasy setting with a steampunk aesthetic.
- PARTY BASED RPG ELEMENTS — Build and control a party with different skills.
- REAL TIME COMBAT SYSTEM — Fight with dynamic real-time action combat.
- CHARACTER SWITCHING MECHANICAL — Exchange between party members during combat.
- CHALLENGES AS A SOUL — Includes heavy combat and exploration challenges.
- EMPHASIS ON RESEARCH — Move across large areas and discover secrets.
- RICH LORE AND STORY — A story driven by ancient mysteries and conflicts.
Even if you look at it, it's easy Heart of Gaius is not your typical RPG, as its art style and presentation set it apart from almost every other game in the genre. It's not done in the HD-2D pixel art style of some of Square Enix's latest games like Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD-2D Remakeit's not in the more photorealistic style of modern JRPGs like Final Fantasy 16and it doesn't even call back to retro RPGs from the SNES days. Instead, he opts for oil-painting-like visuals that look hand-drawn but are rich in detail.
Where Heart of Gaius he truly aims to excel, however he is in his struggle. While many modern RPGs often choose between turn-based combat or simple real-time mechanics, Heart of Gaius leans fully into the action RPG genre, with mid-battle character swaps that allow players to better tailor their approach to unique situations. Instead of relying on a single protagonist, players cycle through a roster of six playable characters with distinct fighting styles and abilities. While games like Octopath Traveler The party swapping mechanic makes this kind of real-time character switching somewhat rare in the RPG genre, especially when it means switching between playstyles rather than just character models.
The hearts of the six Gaia playable characters
- OLEG LUPÁK — A shadow warrior shaped by tragedy, summoned to Aetheria and driven by vengeance.
- ALEXANDER PALADIN — Captain of the Northern Infantry and a loyal member of the Order of Paladins, the personification of honor and justice.
- BALTAZAR MAG — A mysterious scholar on a secret mission to track down a rogue mage, analytical and knowledgeable of forbidden magic.
- Priestess KATEŘINA — A priestess of light known for her compassion and powerful command of white magic.
- SIGFRA HUNTER — Elven master archer and elite ranger guarding the Dark Forest, alert and pragmatic.
- Monk LEORA — A disciplined monk from the Floating Isles, devoted to maintaining the sacred seal against the dark curse.
From the looks of things, Heart of GaiusThe diverse roster of characters isn't just for combat, as each party member contributes to the seemingly story-driven game world. In traditional JRPGs, character arcs are often the emotional core of the story—especially the story Final Fantasy series – a Heart of Gaius is trying to continue this tradition. The combination of personalities, backgrounds, and skills within the roster should, in theory, not only add depth to the game's combat, but also to character development and the dynamics of the relationships between them.
Instead of relying on a single protagonist, players cycle through a roster of six playable characters with distinct fighting styles and abilities.
Narration aside, Heart of Gaius presents a “vast” world worth exploring. Beyond what players can see in the game's demo, information about what its world has to offer is limited. But they're guaranteed to navigate multiple steampunk-themed environments, and its lore-rich world in each region will make it feel like a place with its own history, its own scars, and its own unanswered questions.
One of Heart of GaiusThe Steam tags indicate that it is an open world game, but it is not confirmed that it is fully open world.
A Gaia heart on a smaller scale could work to her advantage
When comparing Heart of Gaius to something like Final Fantasyit is important to note the difference in scale. Final Fantasy games often come with enormous budgets, cinematic cutscenes, and global marketing pressures. Heart of Gaiuson the other hand, it is a smaller, independent project, but that could work in its favor. Freed from the pressure to live up to blockbuster expectations, Brokentail Games seems to be focusing on the core elements that make the industry's best RPGs so popular.
There are still a lot of unknowns – the final balance, story pacing and how deep the character arcs will go are unknown until Heart of Gaiusedition. But based on what's publicly visible, it stands out in the crowded RPG announcement space by promising a more intimate but still ambitious take on the genre. If it continues towards launch, it could very well satisfy RPG fans looking for something that hits the emotional beats they've been missing from more recent releases. Final Fantasy games without falling into well-worn tropes.
Heart of Gaius triggers on Steam in Q1 2026.
