Coming Soon is a forward-looking series about new turn-based games, released monthly. It also coincides with my favourite day of the week: #TurnBasedThursdays, a weekly community list of game devs showcasing their turn-based games. Give them a follow on BlueSky and keep up-to-date on new turn-based games alongside my LFG: Learning from Games and Science Shorts series!
👋🏼Hello JOMT Reader!
I’m back from a much needed vacation to the east coast of Canada, exploring sea floors at low tide and watching the waves come in. As much as I love exploring new an fantastic vistas in video games, nothing beats being able to stand in the ocean waves as it rolls on to the beach. But I’m ready to get back into some digital vistas — here are my top picks releasing next month!
Artis Impact
🔗 Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1864000/Artis_Impact/
📅 Release date: August 7, 2025
🖥️ Developer: Mas
📢 Publisher: Mas
🕹️ Platform: PC (Steam)
🎮️ The game
A beautiful pixel art RPG story.
🎯 Who it's for
If you love pixel art
If you want to get into turn-based games but are turned off by complicated mechanics
If you love looking for secrets
‼️ What I'm excited about
The first thing you’ll notice about this game is the beautiful pixel art. The characters, environment, and maps may be pixel art and small but they are full of discoverable details. From locked boxes to vending machines, I had a lot of fun in the demo looking for secrets. Mixed in with the pixel art are comic style drawings that add subtle details to the pixel art.
Combat is refreshingly simple, focusing the attention on when to attack or use special. No need to time button presses or consider a million options on a map. The smooth animations show off the player’s different moves, adding some variety to combat.
I noticed an option to finish or spare an enemy after an early encounter in the demo, hinting at an Undertale-like moral system. So, I’m curious to see how these decisions might affect the ending or gameplay.
Dice Gambit
🔗 Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812860/Dice_Gambit/
📅 Release date: August 14, 2025
🖥️ Developer: Chromatic Ink
📢 Publisher: Spelkollektivet, WhisperGames
🕹️ Platform: PC (Steam)
🎮️ The game
A dice-rolling, dynasty-building, turn-based strategy game.
🎯 Who it's for
If you don’t mind a little bit of input randomness (dice-rolling)
If you love deep customization
If you’ve always wanted some dynasty management in your turn-based games
‼️ What I'm excited about
Like Artis Impact above, the first thing you’ll notice about this game is the colourful, graphic novel-style illustrations. And one of the first things you’ll be able to do is customize the illustrations to suit your character. Everything from eyes, nose, hair, and armour have multiple options for you to choose from. Otherwise, a click of a button will randomize all or parts of your character for you (my very first character started with a Rudolph the Reindeer nose).
I’m very curious to see how deep the dynasty management side of the game will go. Early in the game, you’ll be asked to start expanding your family tree, choosing suitable partners who will also help you during battle. I’m guessing that eventually, children will become involved who will become playable characters. It’s not a roguelite in the traditional sense, but because you’re building a dynasty, there will be perks and bonuses that can be used throughout the generations.
Speaking of perks and bonuses, there are over 200 unique powers that can be unlocked through relationships you build with various characters. These can be mixed and matched to suit your play style and adds a ton of replayability to the game. All in all, a fascinating new entry in the turn-based genre that I can’t wait to play in full.
Lotus: Lost Memories
🔗 Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2906620/Lotus_Lost_Memories
📅 Release date: August 1, 2025
🖥️ Developer: Fenyx Digital
📢 Publisher: Fenyx Digital
🕹️ Platform: PC (Steam)
🎮️ The game
A pixel art side-scrolling adventure about a samurai.
🎯 Who it's for
If you want to experience a story set in feudal Japan
If you want a simple but engaging turn-based game
If you love pixel art
‼️ What I'm excited about
All of my picks this month seem to be focused on visuals and Lotus: Lost Memories is no different. Feudal Japan is reimagined in beautiful pixels as you guide the main character on a quest to save his father.
In a different way from Artis Impact, the combat is refreshingly simple. There are 5 actions to choose from on any given encounter: 2 for moving and 3 for attacking. You get to choose three of those five actions in any combination. But it’s this simplicity that adds tension to the encounters. You don’t have hundreds of hit points to tank. Just a couple of hits is all that stands between victory and defeat.
Thankfully, there is a parry system that will help you stay alive longer. It’s a simple mechanic, but one that works really well in this setting. Although I was horrible at parrying in my first encounter, by the end of the short demo, I was a self-proclaimed parrying god.
If you liked what you read, please consider giving this post a like! What games are you most looking forward to? Let me know below!
Expedition 33 made me appreciate turn based again. Dice Gambit is one I will be trying out.
I really like the look of Lotus: Lost Memories.