RPGs Coming This Week, 5/4/25

Best Served Cold – May 5th (Windows, macOS)

Coming in hot is Best Served Cold, a detective game about solving murder cases while running a speakeasy. You’ll be collecting testimonies and uncovering clues while serving up the right alcoholic beverages to your clientele. There are apparently 22 people to meet throughout the story, which takes place over five cases. The game is set in an alternate version of Europe that’s in decline and seemingly headed to war, so it’s different but not too different, if you know what I mean. Overall, the game looks really slick, and I hope it finds an audience amid there being a fair number of similar games lately.

by Gio Castillo

Creature Keeper – May 8th (Windows)

Well, isn’t this just adorable. Creature Keeper is an action RPG about taming monsters and battling with them throughout your own little adventure through the world. That’s cool enough on its own, but I like how it’s been fleshed out with a few more sub-systems. For one, there are tons of options to upgrade and customize your critters, as well as a “Pocket Garden” to feed them with. Naturally, we get a bestiary so we have a good reason to track down all 50 of them. Wrap it all up with a warm pixel-art aesthetic and we may have a winner.

by Gio Castillo

Empyreal – May 8th (Windows)

Empyreal is a sci-fi action RPG with a pretty compelling hook. The player character (fully customizable, by the way) joins an expedition to investigate a huge monolith on an unexplored planet. This is the setup for what could be a thematically rich story about our place in the universe. In a trailer, Joseph Rogers, creative director at developer Silent Games, invoked the idea of human civilization having a purpose that is seemingly forgotten not just in the game but also in our own world. That’s its own can of worms, but I instantly respect what the team is going for.

It doesn’t hurt that, ambitious narrative aside, Empyreal features a potentially deep combat and ability systems, as well as branching questlines for each member of the expedition. The game is mostly single player, but it features asynchronous multiplayer elements to round things out.

by Gio Castillo

Pixelshire – May 8th (Windows)

Pixelshire releases this week for PC. In this charming-looking farming RPG, players embark on a journey to build and nurture their very own community on the vast continent of Arcadia. While exploring or building up the town, players can forge deep friendships with neighbors and recruit them to assist with various tasks. The neighborly interactions unlock unique skills and talents linked to their professions.

As the town grows, players can access terraforming tools to sculpt the landscape. The possibilities become limitless with all the different tools. Arcadia is quite an expansive continent as well. Players can find hidden treasures in dungeons and engage with the typical array of farming-sim activities. Players can express their creativity and cultivate a thriving community in Pixelshire on May 8th.

by Jimmy Turner

King Arthur: Legion IX – May 6th (PS5, XSX)

The tactics RPG King Arthur: Legion IX is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S about a year after launching for PC. Our own Mark Roddison reviewed this dark fantasy take on Ancient Rome last year.

by Gio Castillo

Touhou Spell Carnival – May 7th (Windows)

After a 2024 console release, Touhou Spell Carnival makes its way to PC via Steam on May 7th. The game combines the bullet hell action for which Touhou Project is known with strategy RPG gameplay. Developed by Compile Heart (Hyperdimension Neptunia) the game displays a unique gameplay blend that works rather well in practice.

by Jimmy Turner