Release 2026 — After Strategy

Ashes of the Singularity II confirmed for November 10, 2026

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stardock and Oxide Games announced it on October 14: Ashes of the Singularity II arrives on PC on November 10, 2026, with a launch discount. A new trailer published on October 26 repeats that date, two weeks before launch.

The game is developed by Oxide Games and published by Stardock Entertainment. Here is what is confirmed, and what the studio has not said yet.

November 10, with two editions

The prices announced by the studio are in dollars. The standard edition costs $39.99. The Premium Edition, at $69.99, bundles the game, the first three DLC packs and the soundtrack.

Both editions get a 20% launch discount from November 10 to 17. That brings the standard edition to about $32 and the Premium Edition to about $56 for the first week. The game will be sold on Steam, directly from Stardock and through other partners.

These amounts are dollar prices. The studio has not detailed a euro price in its announcements, which matters for a European reader before buying.

Three factions, and humanity on the back foot

The game offers three playable factions: the United Earth Forces (UEF), the Post-Human Coalition (PHC) and the AI Substrate. The solo campaign is played with the UEF, while skirmish and multiplayer open all three sides.

The most interesting point is how Stardock presents the UEF. The nations of Earth have set their rivalries aside to unite, but they remain behind in technology and weaker unit for unit. They must rely on large armies, disciplined infantry and strategies drawn from thousands of years of military experience.

That is a sharp choice for a large-scale RTS, and in practice it matters more than the date. A side that does not win on the quality of its units has to win through numbers, logistics and positioning. It matches the game’s promise: victory comes from planning and logistics rather than speed or reflexes.

Facing the UEF, the Post-Human Coalition brings together humans who have abandoned their bodies and who lead in technology. The AI Substrate is a machine civilization built by an artificial intelligence that slipped out of control.

Continental scale, terrain that keeps the scars

Stardock promises thousands of units in real time on continent-sized maps. Strategic Zoom lets players move seamlessly from the orbital view to the front line.

Terrain plays a role too. Fighting takes place on frozen lakes, mountain passes and lava-filled chasms, and the scenery changes with the battle’s persistent damage. The Steam page describes war zones that transform in real time as structures fall and as terrain turns to or from Turinium.

For the player, that changes how a map reads: a strong position can change character as the fight goes on, and attacker and defender alike must adapt to the shifting ground.

What happened before launch

The game has already been shown to the public. A demo ran during Steam Next Fest, then a public multiplayer playtest took place from September 8 to 14 on Steam, with the UEF and the PHC. Stardock says it has kept improving balance, performance and multiplayer stability since that feedback.

The September test did not open the AI Substrate, so the public has had less chance to try it before launch. The studio also publishes video blogs on maps such as Ashfall Caldera, a terrain of trenches and chokepoints built for defence.

What still needs checking

The risk for a launch-day buyer is paying before three points are settled. The first is the euro price, absent from the announcements. The second is the content of the first three DLC packs, which Stardock has not detailed. The third is how multiplayer holds up at launch, after a single public test centred on two factions.

To gauge the scale the project is aiming for, our first images of the game already give an idea of the armies on screen. What is confirmed on November 10 deserves to be compared with that promise.

Sources

Going further

Kingdom Rush 6: Genesis Launches September 24 — 15 Towers, a Time Paradox, and One Real Question

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop Vez’nan before he becomes the Dark Wizard that Kingdom Rush players know: that is Ironhide’s bet with Genesis, the sixth game in the series. The recipe stays classic tower defense, with towers placed along a path, but the Uruguayan studio has swelled the content and reworked its systems at the last minute. The game launches on September 24, 2026 on Steam, iOS and Android.

Update, October 26, 2026: the game launched on September 24 on Steam (20,49 €), iOS and Android. Patch 1 on October 6 added 20% more gold on Casual difficulty. It also cut the experience needed to bring a hero to level 10 by 40%, and Patch 2 is in testing. On Steam, 77% of the 3,738 reviews from the last 30 days are positive.

A trip through time to an earlier Linirea

The starting point is a time portal. According to the publisher, you jump through it to rewrite history and stop a young Vez’nan before darkness takes hold. Gerald, the hero of the first Kingdom Rush, therefore travels to a younger Linirea, where you revisit familiar battlefields at a time when legends were just beginning.

The campaign has 18 handcrafted stages spread across three landscapes: the Citadel, the Stormcloud Depths and the far lands of Arcania. Each stage has its own mechanics and its own paths. The studio also promises hidden easter eggs in every corner. Against you stand more than 40 enemy types from 5 factions and 6 colossal bosses.

The devlogs published this summer fill in the setting. The Shadow Order, a secret society of bandits and assassins, harasses the early zones: Vez’nan hired it, and it foreshadows the brigands of the first game. The eccentric mage Nivus, founder of the Arcane Academy and former mentor of young Vez’nan, waits for you in his Lozagon tower, in the middle of a still-empty field.

A mythology older than the series

Ironhide also devoted devlogs #17, #19 and #20 of summer 2026 to a mythological story. In the first age, the goddess Elynie, deity of light and creation, entrusts the elves with two relics before vanishing: a gem and a sword. The elves then split between the Sylvans, keepers of the oath, and the Twilights, who see the gem as a source of knowledge to explore.

The sword then passes from hand to hand over the centuries. In the days of the Alliance, Vez’nan tries to claim it and burns his hand. Genesis draws on this history for its setting, which gives the 18 stages a narrative layer.

15 towers, 12 heroes, 9 spells

Devlog #29 on September 18 revealed the full cast. The fifteen towers are the following: Archer Garrison, Knights Order, Royal Catapult, Scholar Mage, Dwarven Culverin, Elven Elite Ranger, Ironbark Treant. Then come Wildcat Huntresses, Gold Prospectors, Sunray Master, Light Priestess, Cursed Crossbows, Alchemist Shack, Arcane Forger and Sentry Watchtower.

Of the 12 heroes, nine were already known from the devlogs and the June demo: Gerald, Zefira, Bolin, Connor, Ignus, Malik, Oni, Drakkan and Ashbite. Three names join them on September 18: Rhodes, an earth bastion animated by a sun gem, Gemina, an arcane illusionist, and Illiana, a dragon tamer. You bring two of them to each stage.

Two of these heroes get an origin story. Oni, the red warrior with burning blades, was once an honorable fighter; according to legend, he condemned his own soul to hunt demons in the Pit of Fire. He climbs back up to Linirea when he hears that a powerful wizard is dealing with their lord Moloch. Ignus, an impatient mage of the Academy, is caught just before his final transformation into a living torch.

The nine spells are Reinforcements, Rain of Fire, Royal Edict, Gnome’s Shop, Thunder Zapper, Teleportation Sigil, Wintersong’s Wrath, Aspect of Sol and Ace Musketeers. The musketeers are presented as the latest recruits in the ranks of Linirea.

The most original tower is the Ironbark Treant. Rooted, it hits nearby enemies like an artillery tower. Uprooted, it walks onto the path to block and fight in melee. The devlog ties it to the rotten forest of the first game, here still golden but already threatened by a corruption.

The U-turn on upgrades

This is the most important point to know before buying. Ironhide first presented a system where each tower leveled up individually. After the demo feedback, the studio announced on July 24 that it was scrapping that system, judged too close to grinding. Devlog #28 on September 11 confirms the return of global tower upgrades, as in the original trilogy.

Heroes and spells keep their own levels and upgrade trees. To soften progression, those that lag behind your best ones earn double experience. The interface was also redone along the way, with the wood and iron panels of the first game back, as players had asked.

The Steam page sums up the result: individual trees for every hero and every spell, plus global tower upgrades that you can retune between stages. Towers can still unlock their third skill by reaching the top of their tree.

Five ways to play every stage

Each stage unlocks five modes that change the rules. Iron Challenge offers a single elite wave and a single life. Blitz chains three waves of faster enemies, with increased gold gain. Hero Party gives you four heroes but no spells, and Spell Rush removes the heroes to leave only towers and faster spells.

The fifth mode, Classic Rush, was announced on July 28 for the series’ 15th anniversary. You replay each stage with the original arsenal: Barracks, Archers, Mages and Artillery, a single hero, and the Reinforcements and Rain of Fire spells. The studio calls it a love letter to 2011.

No demo on the eve of release

A demo existed on Steam during the summer. It was among the most played demos of the June Steam Next Fest, and the studio extended it until Monday, July 6 after 100,000 wishlists, with the first six stages. It was then pulled: Ironhide said goodbye to the demo on July 6. As of September 23, there is no demo left to try the game.

Platforms and price

Genesis launches on Steam for Windows and Mac, with 10 languages, partial controller support and Steam achievements. On mobile, it arrives on iOS and Android as a paid purchase, announced at $6.99, and not as a free-to-play game. Ironhide did not detail in-app purchases in the sources we consulted.

What to check at launch

Three questions remain open. The first is balance: the studio already reworked its progression system along the way, and the difficulty modes will have to prove they go the distance. The second is parity between PC and mobile: the studio insists that both platforms matter equally, but the simultaneous launch will have to prove it. The third is the real value of 15 towers with skills, if two or three of them dominate the rest.

For players who loved the older Kingdom Rush games, this is a game to watch closely, especially for its volume of content and its Classic mode. The risk is that the richness of the cast does not make up for balance that is still unstable. If you want to wait for the first feedback, the price and the first patches will quickly show where the game stands.