THE SWITCHBOARD / INDIE STRATEGY / DISCOVERY
A tactical game normally rewards the perfect plan. Eternal Mist is built around the uncomfortable possibility that there isn’t one. Developer Rionix’s real-time strategy project lets you inspect the enemies, risks and rewards before a mission, but not precisely how each battle will unfold.
That uncertainty is the hook. A fast enemy can get behind the line, a tougher creature can disrupt a formation and a ranged attack can punish troops left exposed. The developer has recently added more decisions to make before the fighting even begins.
Six resources make the map matter
In a development update published on 7 October, Rionix described a redesigned resource system with six resource types, including Plasma, Metal and Wood. Different enemy encounters now offer different rewards, encouraging players to choose routes based on what their squads need rather than simply clearing every available battle.
The same update introduces settlements. These offer somewhere to recruit squads, purchase equipment and prepare before heading out again. Different shops stock different items, so where players stop could become as important as their battlefield tactics.
The system is still being developed, and whether those choices create genuinely interesting trade-offs is something that needs to be judged in play, not assumed from a feature list.
Choose a difficulty carefully
Rionix has added a new tutorial and three difficulty settings: Easy, Normal and Hard. The developer recommends Easy for a first run, describing it as the intended starting experience. Normal increases the cost of mistakes, while Hard can make lost squads permanently unavailable. There is an important wrinkle: difficulty is selected when creating a player profile and cannot be changed later in that profile.
Higher settings offer extra resource rewards, but the more severe loss rules could completely change the way players approach an unfamiliar fight.
Where to try it
Version 0.7.2 of the Eternal Mist demo is available on itch.io for Windows and Linux, and the Steam page also lists a demo. The full game has a planned Q4 2026 release window on Steam as of 18 October; this estimate may change. Crucially, the demo is free; the finished game has not been confirmed as free.
For anyone who enjoys adjusting a plan when the enemy refuses to cooperate, Eternal Mist looks worth exploring. We would especially like to see whether the new settlements provide meaningful respite between battles, and whether resource planning improves replayability.
Keep discovering: browse The Switchboard for more independent games, or read the developer’s full update notes.
Sources: Rionix itch.io page, 7 October development log and Steam listing, checked 18 October 2026. Editorial discovery only; CSP has not played or reviewed this game. Featured promotional artwork is from Rionix’s official Steam listing, reproduced for editorial identification.