Poly Fighter is a single-player roguelike fighting game from HeartLoop Games, set in the city of Heartville during a street tournament called the Brass Knuckle League. It mixes one-on-one, combo-driven 2.5D combat with the run-based structure of a roguelike, where you fight your way along a branching map and pick up new moves after each victory. The reveal trailer introduces the roster, the progression system, and the way you build a fighter’s style over a run.
Quick answer: Poly Fighter is a roguelike fighting game launching in PC Early Access on October 13, 2026, and a playable demo is already available on Steam.
What Poly Fighter is
The core idea joins two genres that rarely meet. You play a fixed, named fighter with a set style, then take that fighter through a run of duels. Every opponent you beat can teach you a new move, so your moveset grows and shifts across a single run rather than staying locked from the start.
Combat is built around combos and reads like a retro arcade brawler. You can choose between simple inputs or motion inputs, so both newer players and people used to traditional fighting-game commands can play the way they prefer. Matches use familiar fighting-game furniture such as health bars, character portraits, and a combo counter on the HUD.
The Heartville roster
The trailer runs through a “Meet Your Fighters” showcase, giving each combatant a name, a nickname, and a home turf around Heartville. These are the characters you can play as and the rivals you face during a run.
| Fighter | Nickname | Setting shown |
|---|---|---|
| Shogo | The Loaded Dice | Casino |
| Roxy | The Harbour Fighter | Gym ring |
| Mutt | The Failed Experiment | Alleyway |
| Janice | The Bitter Veteran | Supermarket aisle |
| Smackenzie | The Clout Queen | Food court |
| Master Otis | The Wandering Master | Rooftop |
| Onimaru | That Horn Guy… | Graveyard |
Beyond that lineup, the footage also shows Hiro, Spark, and Zverov in action, and other fighters appear as opponents you meet on the map. Rivals you defeat can be added to the pool of characters you can select and face later, so the cast you interact with expands as you play.
Some fighters are locked behind specific conditions. Janice, for example, appears on the character select screen with unlock requirements that ask you to grab every grappler, clear Act 1 without dashing, and win by timeout in the Mall stage. The game also teases hidden combatants, including a “Muscle Horse” that shows up at a special node and shadowy silhouettes of mystery fighters still to be unlocked.
How a run is structured
Progression uses a branching node map, the same shape familiar from roguelike path crawlers. Each run is split into acts, starting with Act 1, and you choose a route through the nodes toward a boss encounter at the end.
The nodes come in a few types, each marked with its own icon on the map:
- Combat nodes where you fight an opponent.
- Healing or first-aid nodes to recover.
- Training or weights nodes to build up your fighter.
- Boss encounters at the end of a route.
The map can also hide extra paths and optional opponents, so choosing where to go changes which fights and rewards you see. Before a rival fight, short story dialogue plays with options to confirm or skip, giving each matchup a bit of context.
Learning new moves between fights
After a win, a “Learn a New Move!” screen lets you add a skill to your fighter. The moves are split into categories such as Special and Super, and many come with ranks that raise their strength. Examples in the footage include a Slide Kick, a Lightning Spark projectile, and a Super called Spinning Torpedo Inferno.
Each move lists concrete stats so you can weigh your pick. A Rank 2 skill might grant +10% Damage, a Rank 3 one +25% Damage, and some carry effects like Crit Chance, described as a 25% chance to land a critical hit for double damage, or properties such as a knockdown from a low sliding kick. Stacking these choices across a run is how you shape your fighter’s style, which is the game’s central hook.
Release date and how to play now
Poly Fighter’s PC Early Access launch is set for October 13, 2026. Until then, a Steam demo lets you try character selection, check out the node map, and play through part of the combat before the Early Access version goes live.
The demo covers Act 1 and lets you unlock rivals through their conditions, which is the clearest way to see how the roguelike structure and move-building come together before committing to Early Access.
