Lair of the Leviathan is an open-world fantasy RPG built to look and play like the party-based classics of the late ’80s and ’90s. It has pixel art, a top-down view and turn-based battles, and you run a squad of heroes you create from scratch. It comes from Nostalgic Realms and Whiskeybarrel Studios and is published by Deck13 under its Spotlight label. The game was announced on October 15th, 2026, alongside a teaser trailer that runs just over a minute and moves through nearly every system in the game.
Quick answer: Lair of the Leviathan is due in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. No exact release date has been confirmed, and the Steam page lists it as “To be announced.”
Lair of the Leviathan release date, platforms, and studios
The game launches across six platforms at once, last-generation consoles included. That fits a 2D pixel-art game with modest hardware demands. On PC it is listed on both Steam and GOG. Wishlisting it on the Lair of the Leviathan Steam page gets you a notification once a date is set.
| Detail | What is confirmed |
|---|---|
| Release window | 2027 (exact date TBA) |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC |
| PC storefronts | Steam, GOG |
| Developers | Nostalgic Realms, Whiskeybarrel Studios |
| Publisher | Deck13 (Deck13 Spotlight) |
| Modes | Single-player only |
| Steam features | Achievements, Family Sharing |
The Leviathan quest and the world of Ormande
The setup is simple, and it is meant to be. In the world of Ormande, a posted notice offers riches and glory from the Imperial Capital to anyone who kills the Leviathan. Everyone you meet has heard the story. Most people sensibly stay in the tavern. You can take the job, or you can ignore it.
The setting is the western frontier, well beyond the Empire’s military reach. Rival rulers, rogue duchies, and warlords contest the region, with a northern invasion looming. Once night falls, monsters and bandits strike towns. You can skip the main story; instead, the game steers you toward side quests, dungeons that may be beyond your current strength, and strange finds, such as a mill trapdoor leading down into a vast cavern.
The trailer opens on the overworld, a hand-drawn map of mountain ranges, dirt roads, forests, rivers and walled settlements. Your party travels across it between regions. In one shot a bird flies overhead and casts a shadow on the map, and later the same map shifts to night with lanterns lit.
Ultima, Pool of Radiance, and the first Baldur’s Gate titles are cited by the developers as influences, and you can readily see their mark. Brief NPC exchanges and found scrolls deliver the lore, rather than lengthy exposition.
Party creation: no pre-made companions
The game has no written companion characters. Every member of your party is someone you create, which is how Pool of Radiance worked and the opposite of modern Baldur’s Gate. The trailer’s character sheets show the depth involved. Each hero has a class, an alignment, an age and height, a background, a skill list and hit points.
| Character | Class | Alignment | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ed the Grift | Level 1 Human Rogue | Neutral Evil | Barkeep |
| Zendar | Level 1 Human Fighter | Chaotic Good | Unknown |
| Ceinwyn | Level 1 Human Cleric | Neutral Good | Hermit |
| Ultheus | Level 2 Human Mage | Not shown | Not shown |
Ed has 20 HP and Zendar has 22. Ultheus, a level higher, has 28 HP and an Armour Class of 13. Skills shown include Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Medicine and Survival. Zendar’s sheet lists 206cm for height, so he is a very tall fighter.
The creation screen uses the six attributes anyone who has rolled a D&D character will know. In the trailer you spread points across them, and at that moment the screen reads “You have 14 points left to spend.”
- Primary stats are Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma
- Portrait options cover armour, head, hair, eyebrows, beard, scars, accessory, and eye and clothing colours
- A separate in-world figurine has its own hair, skin, beard and offhand settings
- You pick a voice set, and one option is labelled “Voice 1 [goblin]”
- A Random button and Male/Female options are on the creator screen
Gear shows up on a paperdoll, so a character’s sprite changes with the equipment they wear. Slots cover headwear, necklace, body armour, cape, main hand, offhand, rings, belt and boots. Classes have limits, too. A Longbow in Ceinwyn’s inventory is marked as a damage type the Cleric cannot use.
Turn-based combat in Lair of the Leviathan
Fights start with a “Battle Begins” banner and play out turn by turn on a gridless field. Positioning matters here, because where each hero stands can decide a hard fight. You choose actions from a radial menu around the active character. Options shown include Melee Attack, Power Strike, Snap Shot and a class-specific “Use Power.” Damage numbers float up from targets, and selection circles sit under the active unit.
Weapon stats use dice notation, so a Club deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage. Magic covers more ground. In the late part of the trailer Ultheus hits several enemies with one spell and then throws an explosive fireball into a group.
The bestiary covers the full range of fantasy enemies. The trailer shows goblins, a Goblin Grunt, a Skeletal Warrior, an Orc Axe Thrower, slimes, bandits and a Woodsman. Near the end there is a three-headed green serpent in a field of bones. The store description also promises spectral knights, a storm giant, the humble dungeon rat and five-headed hydras, with fights in mountains, deserts and inside a magical painting. The trailer ends with the party surrounded by skeletal warriors, then cuts to the title art.
Towns, shops, and a world on a schedule
Between fights, the trailer spends time in settlements full of townsfolk, horse riders, windmills and river crossings. Day turns to night, storms pass through, and NPCs keep routines. A hunter spends his evenings at the tavern, and a graveyard keeper is gone by dawn. You rest at camp, and in one scene Ultheus greets the morning with “Daybreak at last! A long night.”
Conversations are short. A Hooded Patron in a tavern warns you off with “I’ll mind my business, friend. You mind yours.” A Donkey Cart driver mentions he is heading to the Blackfens.
The trailer also visits shopkeeper Gerrick duPont, whose General Store Inventory lists 13 items. Most of the prices shown are below.
| Item | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Club | Weapon | 1 Gold |
| Staff | Weapon | 1 Gold |
| Dagger | Weapon | 2 Gold |
| Traveller Boots | Clothing | 2 Gold |
| Shortbow | Weapon | 9 Gold |
| Shortsword | Weapon | 9 Gold |
| Longsword | Weapon | 10 Gold |
| Greatsword | Weapon | 20 Gold |
| Feathered Cap | Headwear | 30 Gold |
| Tower Shield | Shield | 50 Gold |
| Greater Healing Potion | Consumable | 400 Gold |
Healing costs a lot compared with gear. The Greater Healing Potion heals 6d8 HP and costs more than every other listed item put together. The party stash in the demo holds 37,035 gold, so these numbers are probably from a late-game save and do not reflect early-game money.
Lair of the Leviathan PC system requirements and languages
The minimum PC specs are very low, which suits a game modelled on 30-year-old RPGs. Only minimum specs are published so far. The recommended tier lists just the 64-bit requirement.
- 64-bit processor and operating system
- Windows XP SP3, 7, 8, 10 or 11
- 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM
- Intel HD Graphics or better, DirectX 9.0c
Even though older Windows versions are listed, the Steam client itself only supports Windows 10 and later.
| Language | Interface | Full audio | Subtitles |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Japanese | Yes | No | Yes |
| German | Yes | No | No |
| Spanish – Latin America | Yes | No | No |
For now, Lair of the Leviathan is a 2027 game with no fixed date. The teaser still shows a lot. It has a stat-heavy party builder, a paperdoll gear system, a functioning economy and a world with day-night routines, all clearly far along. Players who miss making a whole party from scratch and sending it after a monster everyone else avoids will find that this is the entire idea.
