Reptilian Rising is a turn-based tactical roguelite developed by Gregarious Games and Robot Circus, co-developed by Hyper Luminal Games, and published by Numskull Games. The game’s biggest demo yet dropped on Steam on February 18, 2026, giving players their most substantial taste of what’s coming. Based on our time with it, this one has a lot of personality to back up its wildly entertaining concept. It’s heading to both PC and Nintendo Switch.
Wishlist Reptilian Rising on Steam now.
1. Story: History’s Greatest Heroes, Assemble!
The premise of Reptilian Rising is wonderfully absurd: genocidal Reptilians have broken through the time dimension, threatening humanity across every era.
With extinction on the horizon, history’s greatest figures are pulled from their respective timelines to fight back, ranging from ancient conquerors like Julius Caesar and Cleopatra to scientific minds like Albert Einstein, wartime leaders like Winston Churchill, and legendary outlaws like Robin Hood.
Think Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure crashing headfirst into The Terminator, and you’re in the right ballpark.
Crusade Era.
The demo gives access to two eras, including the tutorial, which is just enough to get a feel for the premise and its tone. The story keeps things light and punchy, matching the game’s campy ’80s B-movie energy.
Between missions, each hero also comes with background lore you can dig into if you’re curious about who you’re actually fielding, which is a nice bonus for anyone who likes a bit of context behind their miniatures.
We do hope the full game elaborates on why humanity’s last stand is being staged on an ’80s tabletop game, because that meta-narrative layer has genuine comedic potential that hasn’t been fully explored yet.
Reptilians Attack 2025.
2. Gameplay: My Turn, Then Yours
Before stepping into any era, thorough preparation is your first job. Once you unlock a new era, the shop opens up, allowing you to spend accumulated Obsidian and Gold on Time Tech upgrades and Hero Perks.
These upgrades are strictly available at the start of a run — once you enter an era, your loadout is locked in. Here’s what to keep in mind heading into the shop:
- Obsidian and Gold are your two main currencies, earned through completing missions and side objectives
- Time Tech upgrades improve your overall tactical toolkit and carry impact across runs
- Hero Perks are character-specific enhancements that sharpen individual capabilities
- You cannot reaccess the shop after entering an era, so invest wisely before committing
The roguelite loop comes through clearly here. Losing a run doesn’t feel like wasted effort, because your resources carry over, and each shop investment makes subsequent attempts progressively more manageable.
The upgrade path is satisfying to grind, and there’s no shame in losing, as the game is designed to reward persistence and learning.
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- Extinction Era.
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- Tile movements.
Battle: Tactics on the Grid
Entering the battlefield, players start with a maximum of two heroes selected from their recruited resistance members. Each hero carries a distinct class, faction, role, and ability set, so team composition is already a meaningful decision before the first turn is taken.
As fights progress through an era, heroes level up and unlock stronger abilities, creating a satisfying sense of momentum as encounters intensify.
Combat flows through an initiative system: either side moves first, then the other responds. On your turn, heroes can move within their designated grid squares, attack, defend, or activate abilities.
Hero Summoning.
Winning means completing the main objective and eliminating all remaining enemies within 30 rounds, with optional side quests available for extra rewards to funnel back into the shop. We found these elements crucial to managing our runs effectively:
- Hero roles and positioning — placing the wrong hero in the wrong spot gets punished quickly, and spacing between units has real consequences
- Priority management — deciding which threats to address first is your most important decision each turn
- Time Crystal management — these power your time-twisting abilities, including cloning troops, calling in reinforcements, or opening time-gates to teleport heroes across the map in a single move
- Reading all ability descriptions — abilities aren’t always self-explanatory on first glance, so taking a moment to understand your toolkit is worth the time investment
There’s also a two-defeat rule worth knowing: players must either finish the era or be defeated twice to complete or reset it. There was no option to reset from the beginning mid-run during our playthrough, so keep that in mind when committing to a run.
Extinction Era.
Battlefield Collectibles
Scattered across the battlefield are optional collectibles that unlock extra soundtracks and artwork for your account. They’re minor additions right now, but the concept has real appeal for completionists.
We’re hoping the full release rewards collecting them all with something more substantial, and making them a unique surprise or unlockable for finishing your collection would give players a genuine reason to scour every corner of every era.
Card Collection.
3. Graphics and Audio: Totally Tubular Presentation
Reptilian Rising‘s visual identity is immediately distinctive. Heroes and enemies are rendered as claymation-style miniatures fighting on a detailed grid-based tabletop, which nails the ’80s vintage toy-collection aesthetic down to its core.
The enemy roster is just as imaginatively designed as the hero lineup, featuring Manborgs, Lazer Raptors, the Tri-Cannon, a triceratops-minigun hybrid that is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, and the Dictatorsaur, a three-headed fascist dinosaur that serves as the Reptilian army’s most terrifying commander. Watching these miniatures clash on a tabletop battlefield gives the whole game a charming toy-box energy that you don’t see often.
The audio design matches the visual energy well. The soundtrack leans into a retro sci-fi future sound that suits the setting, and it’s worth noting that you collect cassettes to unlock alternate tracks during play, which is a clever in-world mechanic for music discovery.
What we’d love to see as the game develops is more musical variety across different eras, something like a medieval-tinged ’80s synth remix for the Crusader era would be a delightful touch that deepens each era’s identity. The foundation is solid; it just needs more range.
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- Victory rewards.
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- Time Gate Activation.
This Reptilian Rising Preview on PC is made possible thanks to JF Games Marketing and Communications.
