Game: Forsworn
Developer: Resummon Studios
Publisher: Resummon Studios (self-published)
Genre: Turn-Based Tactics Roguelite
Released: September 10, 2026
Platform: PC (Windows & Linux/SteamOS)
Price: $15.99 · 20% off to Sept 24
Players: 1–4, online co-op
Content: 6 heroes · 200+ abilities · 150+ items
Steam Deck: Unknown
👀 The Reviews Will Warn You About the Graphics. They’re Right.
Something unusual is happening on Forsworn’s Steam page: players who love it are going out of their way to pre-warn newcomers about how it looks. “The graphics are trash, but the gameplay is legendary.” “This game looks like ass but it’s fun and deep and well worth your time.”
One reviewer even noted they’d read that warning beforehand and were glad of it. So consider yourself warned too — and then read on, because everything under the presentation is excellent.
$15.99Price
200+Abilities
150+Items
18Hero Builds
38Achievements
⚔️ Know this first: this is Baldur’s Gate 3 combat with everything else removed. A player put it perfectly — if you enjoyed BG3 and wished they’d cut all the talking and camp management, this is that. Pure tactical encounters and build tweaking, structured like Slay the Spire.
⚖️ BG3 Combat, Slay the Spire Progression
Nearly every review reaches for the same two reference points, independently, and they’re both correct.
The combat is BG3-adjacent tactical work — isometric, positional, turn-based, with real weight behind every action. The structure is Slay the Spire — node-based runs through a branching map, death ends the run, and meta-progression carries power into the next one.
What you’re actually doing is stacking synergies until the numbers break. With 200+ abilities each carrying its own upgrade path and 150+ items to build around, the goal isn’t surviving — it’s theorycrafting a combination so absurd that gods stop being a problem.
Crucially, upgrades don’t just raise stats. They evolve abilities, unlock new mechanics and change how a hero plays. Six heroes with three distinct subclasses each gives you eighteen starting points before items enter the picture.
Defeat is just another beginning
“It is so sad that many AAA companies cannot make a game half as enjoyable as this one. Stop reading reviews and just buy it already, bro.”
Forsworn is a turn-based tactics roguelite from Resummon Studios, self-published and out now at $15.99 — currently 20% off. It launched on September 10 and sits at Very Positive across 252 reviews, with over 700 players in-game as we write.
Our verdict: Forsworn nails the roguelite formula by letting you build absurdly broken synergies that make your party feel genuinely overpowered. It’s one of the best-playing and worst-looking games we’ve covered this year, and the first of those matters considerably more.
Simultaneous Turns Fix Co-Op Tactics
⏱️ The Design Decision Nobody Talks About
Co-op tactics games have one structural problem, and it’s brutal: if four players take turns in sequence, three of them are watching at any given moment. A fight that’s tense solo becomes an exercise in patience with a group.
Forsworn solves it directly. All players take their turns simultaneously. Everyone is thinking, positioning and acting at once, so a four-player battle takes roughly as long as a solo one.
That’s why the co-op praise is so consistent — “amazing game, even better in multiplayer,” “great co-op,” “very fun as a co-op experience.” It isn’t that co-op adds something novel. It’s that co-op doesn’t cost you anything, which in this genre is genuinely rare.
⚠️ One gap players flagged: there’s no map drawing or pinging tool, so groups end up designating one person to choose the route while everyone else follows blind. An easy fix, and an obvious one for a game this co-op focused.
🔥 Ultimate Charge
Built by every action — attacking, casting, even defending. Each hero’s Ultimate turns a fight.
🧬 18 Starting Builds
Six heroes, three subclasses each, before 150+ items and 200+ upgradeable abilities.
📈 Scaling Trials
Random enemy modifiers and map-wide trials that reshape an entire encounter.
💀 Death Is Progress
Runs end, meta-currency carries, and the next attempt starts meaningfully stronger.
Yes, It Looks Rough
🎨 The Presentation Is the Weak Link, and Nobody Pretends Otherwise
Players are blunt about this, and they’re blunt while recommending it, which tells you how much the mechanics are carrying:
“The graphics are trash, optimization is horrible, but the gameplay is legendary.”
“This game looks like ass but it’s fun and deep and WELL worth your time.”
The most constructive version came from a player who argued the fix isn’t more detail — it’s more style. Specifically: the repeating textures could be hidden or restyled so they stop being an eyesore, and the characters need more personality, perhaps with colour customisation.
They also made a genuinely sharp observation — they liked the faceless character motif and wished it were applied to every character consistently. A unified stylistic choice would do far more for this game than better assets, and it’d cost a self-published studio far less.
There’s some jank too, and one report of poor optimisation. Another reviewer put the whole thing charitably: “there’s some jank but I’m willing to overlook it because the mechanics are so great.”
One thing worth adding in Resummon’s defence: several players describe it as “a lovely little D&D style tactical RPG that would’ve fit nicely back in 2005” — and meant it as a compliment. There’s a version of this presentation that reads as dated rather than cheap, and a stylistic pass is what separates the two.
The Route RNG Needs Work
🗺️ Hard Mode Strips Out the Nodes You Need
The sharpest mechanical criticism, and it’s well argued by a player who clearly put the hours in.
On normal difficulty, routes reliably offer a helping hand — ability upgrade nodes, healing nodes, something to keep you viable.
On hard, those are almost entirely replaced by elite nodes. The consequence is predictable and frustrating: you arrive at the final boss “with little to no health.” And when a healing node does appear, the path to it is often littered with elites and battles, making it cost more than it gives.
That’s not difficulty, it’s attrition without an answer — and the player’s conclusion is the right one: the game “needs improvements to route RNG.”
Two smaller mechanical notes:
• The reinforcement mechanic can force your hand, pushing you toward AoE or stun picks whether or not that’s the build you wanted
• Meta progression is grindy — though the player who raised it immediately added “which is fine,” and that seems to be the consensus. Expect to lose your first several runs and bank currency
The Developer Is Shipping Constantly
A player noted that the developer listens to feedback and provides daily updates — and the store page backs it. The 2 Hero Party Update landed on September 18, eight days after launch, and the update history has been running continuously since release.
That matters more than usual here, because almost every complaint in this review is fixable by a studio that’s paying attention. Route RNG is a tuning problem. Texture repetition is an art pass. A map pinging tool is a small feature. None of it requires rebuilding the game — and the part that would require rebuilding, the combat and build systems, is already excellent.
The community wishlist is consistent too: more encounters, longer runs or an endless mode after the final boss, more classes, more items, and more variation in mystery events. One player asked for 1–6 player scaling. These are the requests of people who’ve finished the content and want more of it, which is the good version of “it needs more.”
Things to Know Going In
📋 Setting Expectations
• $15.99, currently 20% off at $12.79 — the offer ends September 24
• Very Positive across 252 reviews, with 700+ concurrent players ten days after launch. There’s no OpenCritic score yet
• Expect to lose early. Multiple players say don’t expect to win your first few runs — bank the permanent upgrade currency and you’ll see progress each attempt
• You can finish it in an evening, but players report 20+ hours and expect 40+. The replay is the point
• The soundtrack gets singled out repeatedly — one player called it “godly,” which is not a word that usually appears in indie tactics reviews
• 1–4 player online co-op with simultaneous turns. Solo is well regarded, co-op is better
• Twelve languages, with full voice audio in at least five including Japanese and Korean. That’s a serious localisation investment for a self-published studio
• Full controller support for both Xbox and PlayStation pads, plus Steam Leaderboards and six accessibility features
• Runs on Windows and Linux/SteamOS, on a GTX 960 minimum — but Steam Deck compatibility is listed as Unknown
• 25 GB install, which is large for a game that looks like this
• There’s a free demo, and given the visual warnings above it’s the sensible first step
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| Build Depth That Actually Breaks200+ abilities with individual upgrade paths, 150+ items, six heroes with three subclasses each. Upgrades evolve abilities and unlock mechanics rather than nudging stats — and the stated goal is theorycrafting something broken enough to kill gods. |
Hard Mode’s Route RNGHealing and upgrade nodes get replaced by elites, so you reach the final boss depleted — and the rare health node is usually gated behind more elites than it’s worth. That’s attrition without an answer, not difficulty. |
It Looks Rough, and Everyone Says SoPlayers recommending the game still open with “the graphics are trash” and “this looks like ass.” Repeating textures are the specific culprit. The fix players propose is more style rather than more detail — and applying the faceless motif consistently would unify the whole thing. |
| Simultaneous Turns in Co-OpFour players act at once, so a group battle takes about as long as a solo one. Co-op tactics usually means watching three other people think — here it costs you nothing, which is why every multiplayer review is glowing. |
The Reinforcement Mechanic Railroads YouIt can push you toward AoE or stun picks whether or not that’s the build you were assembling — which cuts against a game whose entire appeal is building what you want. |
Some Jank, and One Optimisation Complaint“There’s some jank but I’m willing to overlook it because the mechanics are so great” is the general mood. A 25 GB install for a game that looks like this also raises an eyebrow. |
| A Developer Shipping DailyThe 2 Hero Party Update landed eight days after launch and the update history hasn’t stopped. Every complaint here is a tuning, art or small-feature problem — exactly what an attentive studio fixes. |
Grindy Meta ProgressionExpect to lose several runs banking currency before you’re competitive. The players who raise it mostly shrug — “which is fine” — but it’s a real time cost up front. |
Steam Deck Status UnknownUnrated by Valve, on a turn-based game that would otherwise be an ideal handheld fit. There’s a Linux build, which is encouraging, but nothing confirmed. |
| Sixteen Dollars, Twelve Languages, a Godly SoundtrackFull voice audio in at least five languages including Japanese and Korean, both controller brands, leaderboards, 38 achievements and a free demo — from a self-published studio. Players report 20+ hours and expect 40+. |
No Map Pinging in Co-OpGroups end up appointing one route-picker while everyone else follows blind. Small gap, obvious fix, and conspicuous in a game this co-op focused. |
—Nothing else recurs. The criticisms here are presentation, tuning and missing conveniences — the core systems draw near-universal praise. |
The Verdict
Forsworn is the clearest example we’ve seen this year of mechanics carrying a game past its own presentation. Players are literally warning each other about the visuals in the process of recommending it, which is a strange and rather touching thing for a community to do — and it works, because the tactical systems underneath are genuinely exceptional.
The BG3-plus-Slay-the-Spire comparison is exact, and the reason it lands is that Forsworn kept the part of BG3 people replay and cut the parts they skip. No camp management, no dialogue trees, no travel — just encounter after encounter and the constant question of which ability to upgrade next. With eighteen build starting points and two hundred upgradeable abilities, the theorycrafting has real room to breathe.
Simultaneous turns in co-op is the quiet masterstroke. It removes the one thing that makes multiplayer tactics games a chore, and it’s why the multiplayer reviews are the most enthusiastic ones on the page.
What holds it back is fixable and being actively worked on. The route RNG on hard needs rebalancing, the reinforcement mechanic constrains builds more than it should, and the art needs a stylistic pass rather than an expensive one. Resummon are shipping updates daily and listening to feedback, which is the best possible sign for a list of problems like that.
The honest read: play the demo, then buy it before September 24. At $12.79 during the offer — for something players are putting twenty to forty hours into — the value is not really arguable. Just go in knowing you’re buying a game to play rather than a game to look at.
And if Resummon get the funding for an art pass, one reviewer’s prediction seems fair: the sequel is going to be something special.
For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Build Depth & Synergies9.5/10
Localisation Breadth8.5/10
Hero & Subclass Variety8.0/10
Visual Presentation4.5/10
Final Score
8.0/10
Forsworn — Resummon Studios
A game to play, not a game to look at
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