Curated by taste and lineage

A fallen princess and a young mercenary fight for their own convictions, not good against evil. Each of the 17 characters branches through a power-up you choose yourself.

Per Steam's own listing, this is a turn-based tactical RPG set in a world of swords and sorcery, where three nations hold an uneasy peace until the smallest of them, the Lieav Empire, wins a lightning revolution and then, denied the scale of aid it demanded from its neighbors, declares war on the Kingdom of Feal and takes its capital in what should have been a reckless gamble. The story proper begins where that opening ends: Alma, the fallen kingdom's princess, fleeing with a handful of soldiers, meets Klaus, a young mercenary. The store text is explicit about the tone it wants: a story and drama of people fighting for their own convictions rather than good against evil. Mechanically, the roster of 17 characters each carries a unique weapon and a set of skills earned through growth, and the game's stated centerpiece is 'Class Change,' a major power-up whose direction you choose, branching each character's identity rather than assigning it. The system is pitched as simple and welcoming for beginners, with a Hard mode the store calls a genuinely tough SRPG, and after the story is cleared an extra mode strips out luck entirely so you can re-conquer every stage on pure decision-making. Made and self-published by the solo developer Yuugiri, whose only three Steam listings are this game, its soundtrack, and its demo. Priced at ¥1,500, it is at 92 percent across 76 reviews (70 positive, 6 negative), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with no AI-generated-content disclosure and Steam's content descriptors completely empty. English and Japanese are both supported, so nothing is stopping you. One honest note: of its 76 reviews, 70 are in Japanese and just 3 are in English, and no English-language article about this game exists yet, on AUTOMATON WEST or elsewhere.

Published 2026-08-08

01First, the one feeling

• The pitch is explicit and it matters: nobody in this war is simply right. Watching a small, desperate nation's demand for aid curdle into a war of conquest, and then following the story from the losing side, sets up stakes that a good-versus-evil framing would flatten.
• 'Class Change' is not a stat squeeze, it's an identity choice. Because it branches who a character becomes rather than just how hard they hit, deciding when and which way to change a unit feels closer to casting than to optimizing.
• The post-game mode, luck stripped entirely so every stage becomes a pure test of decision-making, is a quiet vote of confidence: the designer is willing to let you re-fight the whole game with nothing left to blame but your own reads.

02Who this is for (and who it is not)

03The roots of this taste

92% positive·only 76 reviews — yet almost no one has found it

04Make this gem shine

If it speaks to you, check it on Steam and give it your first pass. Your push is what makes a buried gem shine.

05The bloodline of this taste

• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together Root
• Little Hearts You are here
  • Read-and-build games another taste