Dead Monarchy
Released May 2023
Dead Monarchy is an open-world, turn-based tactical RPG set in a low fantasy world. Personally lead and manage your mercenary company as the captain and embark on your personal quest to defeat the arena champions.
81% positive · 137 reviews
Not yet
Released, but content still planned
High confidence
Content Planned
Not yet
Released, but content still planned
High confidence
Content Planned
Where to buy
Steam $9.99
Can't confirm — worth a look
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Evaluation
Dead Monarchy launched out of Early Access on May 19, 2023 and has received a sustained stream of free post-release updates from solo developer Kevin Zhang. Three major content updates have shipped since the 1.0 release: the Roaming Patrols update (September 29, 2024), the Arena Monarchy companion title release (March 7, 2025, which brought a large body of new combat content developed in parallel), and the Grand Arena Update (January 4, 2026), described by the developer as "the largest update ever" — merging the entirety of Arena Monarchy's content into Dead Monarchy for free.
The January 4, 2026 post is explicit that this update is only Phase 1: it ports the new content into the game in a single isolated area (the Grand Arena). A planned Second Phase will distribute this content more broadly throughout the game world — into shops and roaming patrols — and the developer states this process "will most likely take years." The October 2024 teaser for "Northern Expeditions" (new maps, armors, enemies, and weapons) also remains undelivered to Dead Monarchy's live build; that content was folded into Arena Monarchy's development as an interim step, with the expectation it will eventually arrive in Dead Monarchy.
As of today (October 1, 2026), the Grand Arena content is still on a beta branch and has not transitioned to the main live build, and the developer has made no posts since January 4, 2026. While the developer has noted his time for Dead Monarchy will be more limited due to focusing on a next-generation project, he has explicitly committed to returning to Dead Monarchy periodically and aligning future updates with the new project's milestones. The announced Second Phase content and the Northern Expeditions content represent concrete, developer-stated future deliverables for the game.
Evidence
Grand Arena Update (Phase 1) released to beta branch — merges Arena Monarchy's full content into Dead Monarchy for free. Developer explicitly states a Second Phase is planned to spread content into shops and roaming patrols, and that 'this entire process will most likely take years.'
Arena Monarchy released into Early Access. Developer confirms the vast majority of its content will eventually be ported back into Dead Monarchy, and that development on Dead Monarchy has not stopped.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Kevin Zhang
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player
About this game
Please Read First
Dead Monarchy is ultimately designed to be a hardcore game with no hand-holding however it is highly recommended to do a playthrough on the default difficulty settings before trying anything harder. Diving into Emperor difficulty blindly will most likely just prove to be frustrating and result in an initial bad impression of the game and its overall mechanics. Once you have learnt the mechanics and want more of a challenge, you will find Emperor difficulty to be more enjoyable.
Dead Monarchy is an open-world, turn-based tactical RPG set in a low fantasy world. Personally lead and manage your mercenary company as the captain and embark on your personal quest to defeat the arena champions.
Explore the open-world region known as the Midlands. As you traverse the overworld map you will encounter random events as you travel to havens where you can take on contracts, hire men and resupply. Discover caves, ruins, graveyards, abandoned fortresses and then engage in turn-based tactical combat in the tactical map.
Dead Monarchy Features
- Personally lead and manage a medieval mercenary company in an open-world sandbox environment. It is game over if your player captain dies in combat. Supports both manual saving and ironman mode. Death is permanent for your fellow mercenaries.
- Train and fight to the death in 5 arenas which progressively become more difficult as you attempt to defeat the arena champions and rise through the champion ranks.
- Detailed and complex turn-based tactical combat where you can lead up to 18 mercenaries during combat. Overworld locations match up with tactical maps, fight in the fields, camps, caves, ruins, graveyards and abandoned fortresses.
- One of the few 3D "melee focused" turn-based tactical combat RPGs to feature an elevation system that affects hit chance, as well as counter attacks, attacks of opportunity, ranged combat and a flanking system where unit positioning actually matters.
- 10 factions to fight against with their own combat styles and unique unit designs.
- 10 unique weapon types that determine your combat style, over 100 unique weapon models. Character backgrounds determine which weapons the character is proficient with.
- 200 pieces of visually unique equipment to collect which include helmets, armours, trinkets and rings. Helmets and armours are low fantasy, historically inspired and will appear when equipped on characters.
- 180 perks and abilities to choose from. A lightly armoured swordsman will fight differently compared to a medium or heavily armoured swordsman. Do you want to build a swordsman who specialises in counter attacks, a heavily armoured brute who focuses on wild strikes, a fast moving and lightly armoured fencer, a stalwart shield-bearer who holds the line or even a hybrid fighter who fights from both range and melee? The choice is yours however you must plan your builds carefully, weapon abilities are not always the most optimal path for every build.
- Freedom in an open-world sandbox environment. Take on contracts to exterminate outlaws, bandits and raiders, or become one yourself and eventually have the noble houses hunt you down. Explore caves, graveyards, ancient ruins and abandoned fortresses, but be wary of the enemies that lurk inside. Become a trader, craft and sell equipment or follow the overarching story and train to become the arena champion.
- Post-game boss battle and end-game content where you hunt down elite units (champions) to claim their rare masterwork equipment. More content will come in the free post-release expansions.
Solo Indie Developer
Dead Monarchy took 6 years to develop and is developed by one guy named Kevin Zhang. I'm a solo developer and a gamer who's been chasing a lifelong dream of creating a RPG that I could live in. I was born and raised in Australia and I spent my childhood playing games. Dead Monarchy is my passion project and a game that I completely rebuilt from the ground up following the initial release into early access. It has been influenced by games such as Battle Brothers, XCOM and Jagged Alliance. I plan to develop Dead Monarchy for several years, even after release. If I don't, then I'll see you at the stake.
Cheers,
Kevin.
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Oct 1, 2026
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