Steam drops free taster of Fallout-inspired tactical RPG

The Fallout series has long been a big influence on the RPG space over the years, with plenty of independent developers taking inspiration from it to create their own post-apocalypse adventures for players to enjoy.

Steam users can now pick up a free taster for an upcoming tactical RPG that has all the shades of Bethesda’s iconic wasteland series.

Outcast Tales is a new party-based RPG set for release sometime in 2026, taking place in an apocalyptic world full of raiders, mutants, and robots.

The game is all about finding the right strengths and weaknesses of each enemy type, and ensuring you use the right abilities for each of your party members to overcome the odds.

Some abilities that they possess will be more effective when combined with others, so it’s all about finding your opponents’ weaknesses and humiliating them on the battlefield.

In Outcast Tales, you can combine a character’s class and personality type to give them a unique set of abilities, with each combination creating some unique builds.

Developer Hardlane Studio highlights this with two types of Mercenaries that you can get: Antiheroes and Preachers, where both will behave very differently despite having a similar class. What follows is a fun process of finding combinations that work well together, where you can either create a balanced crew or go for something that’s a little more unpredictable.

Inner Pocket

Outside of combat, Outcast Tales also tells stories that bind these characters together. Your characters will develop their relationships as the story progresses, where they develop bonds or rivalries depending on your actions.

They may even fall in love as a result. Hardlane describes it as “like in a dating game, but not quite”, where your journey can “become a wholesome story about newfound friendship, or a gruesome tale of three strangers constantly at each other’s throats” according to your preferences for what sounds more fun.

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Outcast Tales has a free demo available now

If you want to check it out ahead of launch, which Hardlane has also announced will be free, you can head over to Steam now and play the free demo now.

The demo features a rather chunky size of the game already available to experience, with around half of the full experience available to play right now.

Compared to a previous version of the demo, this version of the game features seven new bosses and four times the encounters, along with a new ending for getting across the desert.

The demo has full Twitch integration included, where streamers can connect their accounts to the game so that viewers influence the gameplay. Chat will be able to make big decisions during key events, as well as deciding on the next destination or ability upgrade.

Outcast Tales does not yet have a confirmed release date, but it does seem on track for a 2026 release judging by the Steam store description.