Silver Palace is an upcoming free-to-play action RPG that combines fast-paced anime-inspired combat with a Victorian-inspired city full of mysteries, conspiracies and supernatural intrigue. Developed by Elementa Games, the game enters an increasingly crowded market, but its distinctive setting and emphasis on detective work could help it stand apart from its competitors. During Gamescom, we met with the developers and spent some hands-on time with the PC version, discovering a visually impressive adventure with plenty of potential, although some important questions remain unanswered.
What we know
Silver Palace is an upcoming open-world action RPG set in Silvernia, a sprawling industrial metropolis inspired by the Victorian era. The city has undergone a technological revolution thanks to Silverium, a mysterious substance that has transformed society while creating new conflicts and opportunities for those seeking power. Beneath the gas lamps, grand architecture and aristocratic extravagance lies a darker world of political conspiracies, corporate intrigue, criminal organisations and supernatural threats. Players take on the role of the Detective, represented by the protagonist Hugin or Munin, and must uncover the truth behind the city’s many mysteries.
Investigation is intended to be more than a conventional quest-giving system. Players will gather evidence, question citizens, examine crime scenes and connect clues through a Detective Board to progress through cases and uncover the larger conspiracy surrounding Silvernia. This investigative focus is paired with real-time action combat, in which players assemble a team of up to four characters and switch between them to maintain offensive pressure, exploit enemy weaknesses and combine their abilities. Each character has a distinct fighting style, weapons and special attacks, while dodging, parrying and breaking an opponent’s guard provide additional opportunities to turn a difficult encounter in the player’s favor. Successful posture breaks can leave enemies vulnerable to powerful Execution moves, adding a more tactical dimension to the otherwise fast-paced action.
The roster includes an eclectic collection of characters, from the sword-and-pistol-wielding Detective to Cinderella, who combines fiery melee attacks with heavy weaponry, and Rex Bentham, a police superintendent who favors close-quarters combat with dual truncheons. Other characters fulfil specialised roles, offering everything from defensive support and healing to enemy staggering and damage buffs. Their different abilities encourage players to experiment with team compositions rather than relying on a single fighter. As a free-to-play game, Silver Palace also sits firmly within the character-collection RPG space, although its eventual monetisation and progression systems remain important unknowns.
Exploration takes place across Silvernia’s interconnected streets, rooftops and other urban environments, with mounts and traversal mechanics offering ways to cover greater distances. The city itself combines period architecture and industrial machinery with fantastical technology, creating a setting that aims to distinguish the game from more conventional fantasy adventures. Silver Palace is in development for Windows PC, PlayStation 5, iOS and Android. Elementa Games has yet to announce an official release date.
What we saw
Our preview was based on a demo build of Silver Palace that we played on PC during Gamescom, where we also had the opportunity to meet with the developers. The session offered a look at the game’s combat, several playable characters, a selection of spectacular boss encounters and a brief opportunity to explore Silvernia. While the demo provided a useful introduction to the game’s action and visual presentation, it offered only limited insight into the detective mechanics and the broader activities that will fill its open world. As such, this was a glimpse of the experience Elementa Games is building rather than a comprehensive look at how all its systems will work together.
What we thought
The first thing that stands out about Silver Palace is its visual identity. Victorian architecture, gas lamps, imposing industrial structures and elaborate character costumes give Silvernia a distinct personality, while the anime-inspired cast and extravagant weapon designs introduce a more fantastical element. Rather than feeling like two incompatible styles forced together, the combination gives the game a recognisable aesthetic of its own. The environments are richly detailed, and the lighting, reflections and material effects contribute to a convincing sense of scale. The larger set pieces are particularly impressive, with elaborate character animations helping to sell the spectacle of the boss encounters. There is a theatrical quality to these battles that makes them more than straightforward exchanges of attacks and damage. However, the city can feel surprisingly empty when moving through it, which takes something away from the illusion of a thriving metropolis. Its impressive scale will mean little if the streets lack enough people, activities and discoveries to make exploration worthwhile. The PC version looks promising, but it will also be interesting to see how well this visual ambition translates to mobile devices, where hardware limitations could require compromises.
Combat is another major highlight, and there is more to it than simply switching between characters and unleashing spectacular abilities. The controls are relatively approachable, with standard attacks, special moves, dodging and parrying forming the foundation of the system. However, timing and positioning still matter, particularly when enemies telegraph attacks that can be avoided or countered. Successful parries and sustained pressure can break an opponent’s guard, opening the way for an Execution that deals substantial damage and helps maintain the offensive momentum. Character switching adds another layer, allowing players to bring different weapons and abilities into a fight without necessarily interrupting their combos. The playable roster also offers meaningful variety in how encounters unfold, rather than making every character feel like a cosmetic variation on the same moveset. The resulting action is fast, fluid and satisfying, while the emphasis on defensive timing gives players a reason to pay attention instead of mindlessly attacking. That said, the demo was too limited to establish how well these mechanics will hold up against more demanding enemies or whether later encounters will require more substantial tactical thinking. The visual effects can also make battles busy, although the action generally remains readable enough to follow what is happening.
The game’s premise could prove equally important to its long-term appeal. A detective investigating crimes in a city shaped by industrial progress, competing power structures and hidden supernatural forces offers plenty of narrative possibilities. It is a more unusual foundation than another straightforward fantasy adventure, and the Detective Board could give the story a stronger sense of player involvement if gathering evidence and connecting clues require genuine deduction. Unfortunately, the demo concentrated primarily on combat and cinematic encounters, leaving little opportunity to evaluate the investigation mechanics in practice. The opening narrative also introduces its world in a fairly chaotic fashion, with dramatic developments arriving before there is much time to understand the people, institutions or underlying conflicts involved. The spectacle is entertaining, but the story will need to provide enough context and character development to make its more extravagant moments meaningful. Exploring Silvernia between battles could help establish that connection, provided the city offers substantial side cases, interesting characters and environmental discoveries rather than serving mainly as an attractive route between combat arenas.
There is also the question of how Silver Palace will distinguish itself beyond its presentation and combat. The free-to-play character-collection model is already well established, and the emphasis on assembling a team of distinctive fighters inevitably invites comparisons with other action RPGs in the same space. That approach can support a rewarding combat system, but its success will depend on how characters are obtained, how progression is balanced and whether players can experiment with different team compositions without excessive grinding or spending. Those details remain unclear, making it difficult to judge the wider experience from a short demo. Nevertheless, Silver Palace has made a strong first impression. Its Victorian-inspired world gives it an appealing identity, its combat has the foundations of an engaging action system, and its detective premise could offer something more substantial than a succession of battles. The challenge will be ensuring that the investigation, exploration and progression systems are as compelling as the presentation. If Elementa Games can deliver on those elements while keeping the free-to-play structure fair, Silver Palace could become an interesting alternative in an increasingly competitive genre.