Delve Survivors Brings Turn-Based Horde Battles to PC November 12
Delve Survivors will launch for PC on November 12, 2026, bringing its unusual combination of traditional turn-based dungeon crawling and survivors-style enemy hordes to Steam.
Developed by Japanese studio iDiOSLAB and published internationally by NGJ Corporation, the roguelike will arrive as a complete Version 1.0 release rather than entering Early Access. Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 versions will follow on January 21, 2027.
The finished PC game will include nine main dungeons, an expanded selection of skills and equipment, and a 100-floor endgame dungeon called The Abyss. A free demo is already available through Steam for players interested in trying its hybrid approach before launch.
Despite the “survivors” half of its name, Delve Survivors does not unfold in real time. Instead, every action advances the world by one turn. Players can move as quickly as they like when the route ahead is clear, then slow down and consider individual steps when a room becomes crowded.
That structure applies the familiar “time moves when you move” rule to the escalating enemy density and automated abilities associated with games such as Vampire Survivors. Moving into an enemy tile triggers a melee attack, while equipped skills activate automatically once their turn-based cooldowns expire.
Positioning therefore matters as much as assembling a powerful build. Players must plan routes through incoming enemies, decide when an ability is likely to trigger and avoid taking a seemingly harmless step that leaves them surrounded on the following turn.
Skills can produce area attacks, summons and status effects, with combinations becoming increasingly elaborate as a run progresses. The aim is to create the kind of screen-clearing build found in an action survivors game without abandoning the deliberate decision-making of a grid-based roguelike.
Loot introduces another layer of customization. Equipment is divided into Magic, Rare, Legendary and Unique tiers, and individual items can improve statistics, strengthen abilities or unlock new interactions within a build. The launch version will expand the pool of equipment and skills available during expeditions.
Between dungeons, players return to a town hub where weapons and armour can be upgraded, class-based statistics improved and supplies purchased. Items can also be transferred between characters using the same game mode, allowing useful discoveries to contribute to later attempts.
Bosses are intended to test whether those upgrades actually form a coherent strategy. Each dungeon contains elite enemies and mid-level bosses before ending in a larger encounter built around positioning, resource management and build synergy.
Players will also be able to decide how severely the game punishes failure. Casual mode retains both loot and world progress after death, providing something closer to a persistent dungeon-crawling RPG. Casual Rogue sends the player back to the first dungeon but lets them keep collected equipment.
Hard Core mode is the traditional all-or-nothing option, removing both loot and progress when a character dies. Offering three different rule sets should make the game accessible to players interested primarily in experimentation while preserving meaningful permadeath for roguelike purists.
iDiOSLAB estimates that individual runs will take approximately 15 to 30 minutes. Procedurally generated dungeon layouts and randomized equipment are intended to make those shorter attempts replayable, while The Abyss provides a much longer challenge once the nine principal dungeons have been conquered.
The studio cites early roguelikes including Rogue, Angband and Tales of Maj’Eyal alongside modern survivors games as influences. That lineage is evident in the reveal: its pixel-art presentation and tile-by-tile movement are deliberately old-school, but the number of simultaneous enemies and emphasis on ability combinations belong to a much newer genre.
Delve Survivors will also be shown at Tokyo Game Show 2026 in the Indie Area of Makuhari Messe. The appearance comes as newly established publisher NGJ Corporation prepares to bring the Japanese-developed game to a wider international audience.
The PC version will be priced at $12.99, with its soundtrack available separately for $4.99. Digital Switch pricing is currently listed at $16.99, while the Switch 2 edition is expected to cost $19.99. A Japanese physical Switch 2 package containing a soundtrack CD and printed materials has also been announced.
For now, the free Steam demo offers the clearest indication of whether turn-based movement can preserve the tension of a horde-survival game. The hybrid sounds contradictory on paper, but giving players direct control over the speed of every encounter could make crowded rooms feel more tactical without losing their sense of escalation.
Delve Survivors launches on November 12, 2026 for PC, followed by Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on January 21, 2027. It can be wishlisted and its demo downloaded from the game’s Steam page.
