Overview
Hero's Adventure: Another Tale has been public since September 2025, first under its announced title, Another Hero's Adventure, and the studio has talked about it steadily since. This page collects the dated milestones in order: the announcement, the developer question-and-answer post, the first closed test, the trade-show showing, the public demo, the August 2026 retitle with its dated-then-delayed launch, and where the release window stands now. Everything here comes from the studio's own posts and store listings; where a detail has not been stated publicly, this page says so instead of guessing.
When | What happened |
|---|---|
September 2025 | The game is announced and its Steam store page opens, described as the second title in the studio's wuxia series. |
November 2025 | A developer question-and-answer post answers player questions about the release model, the story's distance from the earlier game, and the art direction. |
November 2025 | A first closed test runs for roughly a hundred players recruited through the official player group. |
22-23 November 2025 | The game is shown with a playable booth at the WePlay Expo in Shanghai. |
February 2026 | A free demo goes live for Steam Next Fest, then receives three patches inside a week. |
After Steam Next Fest | The demo listing is taken down and is no longer downloadable. |
August 2026 | The game is retitled Hero's Adventure: Another Tale; a launch is announced for August 19, then delayed one day later to around late December 2026. |
The Studio Behind It
The game is made by Half Amateur Studio and published by XD Inc. When the game was announced, the studio's founder explained that he had formally left the company he had been working under and taken most of the team with him to set up a studio of his own, which he framed as a move to a more independent way of working. He also said the team kept full rights to the earlier game, that the earlier game would continue to be maintained, and that new-content work had moved onto this project.
The team's stated reason for starting a new game rather than continuing to patch the old one is worth recording, because it explains a lot about this title's design. The studio said it had spent the years after the earlier game's launch expanding it through frequent updates and then through downloadable content, and had gradually realised that some of that game's underlying design problems could not be fixed by patching: even when the team knew where the fault was, changing it risked knocking something else over. Patch-driven development was wearing on the team's appetite for the work, so the decision was made to start something new that could address those regrets from the ground up.
Announcement, September 2025
The store page opened in September 2025 alongside a post from the studio introducing the game as the second work in the series and a spin-off set in the same world. The same post listed the concrete changes the team had set out to make relative to its earlier title: eight-direction movement and character creation were named as the first two shortcomings addressed, and the game adds jumping and player-initiated attacks along with more interaction with the environment. Combat was described as returning to a classic turn-based footing, with Shield Break Combos and Team Skills introduced to sharpen its pace and tactics. The studio said it expected to meet players in 2026 and asked people to wishlist the game.
The Developer Question-and-Answer Post, November 2025
Two months later, marking the earlier game's second anniversary, the studio published a set of answers to the questions players had been asking about the new title. Four of them matter for this wiki.
No Early Access this time. Asked whether the spin-off would launch into Early Access as the earlier game had, the studio said no: it will arrive in one go as a finished version. It acknowledged that the earlier game's drawn-out Early Access period had tired out developers and players alike, and said the team had agreed unanimously to present this game in a more complete state, which would need more planning and polish and therefore more patience.
The rights question. Players asked whether founding a new studio put the earlier game's ownership at risk. The studio said it had settled the rights first thing when the new studio was formed and holds them outright, that the earlier game will keep being maintained, and that new-content development has moved to the spin-off.
How far apart the two stories sit. The spin-off's story takes place several decades after the earlier game. A small number of the powers from that era can still be traced; most have faded into history. The team said it approached the writing as an entirely new story, on the view that the martial world needs its inheritance but mostly needs a new journey. See Setting and Story and Factions and Sects.
On the art direction. Some players said they preferred the earlier game's pixel interface and character art. The studio replied that it had pushed for visible changes out of concern the new game would not feel fresh enough, that the result had divided opinion, and that its first priority was polishing the content before revisiting how far it could accommodate that preference within its art schedule. It added that it was glad the pixel style had found an audience. The current look is described on Visuals and Presentation.
First Closed Test, November 2025
In the same anniversary post the studio announced its first recruitment test, planned for the following week. It was deliberately small: a confidential test of roughly one hundred players, recruited through the game's official player group, running on an early build that stacked up the core loop rather than showing a polished slice. The studio's stated reasoning was that it has always wanted players involved early enough for their feedback to change something. At the end of November the producer confirmed he had finished going through that test build and had moved on to planning the next round of development.
WePlay Expo, 22-23 November 2025
The game was shown in person at the WePlay Expo, held at the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Hall on 22 and 23 November 2025. The studio confirmed the appearance in advance and invited players to come and talk to the team; the producer was on the floor across the show, and afterwards described collecting a good deal of useful feedback from people who played the build there. Hardware for the booth was supplied by two sponsors. This was the game's first public playable showing, three months before the Steam demo.
The producer also accepted a speaking invitation from a Chinese indie-games association in the same stretch, where he talked about lessons from the studio's recent years.
The Demo, February 2026
The studio confirmed in mid-February 2026 that the game would take part in that month's Steam Next Fest, and the free demo went live on 23 February 2026 as a separate listing. The studio was blunt about how much had changed since the build shown the previous November, saying the demo amounted to a rebuild in both substance and presentation: the interface was returned to a look closer to the earlier game's and its layout simplified, including an All tab added to the inventory's second-level categories.
The demo also introduced the five-element layer to combat, which the studio described as its attempt to add depth to the turn-based system, and shipped 8 internal arts, 19 martial arts and 15 weapons, with the full version expected to hold roughly ten times that volume. Three patches followed within a week of launch, covering movement fixes, combat tuning and quest repairs. The demo ranked among the fifty most-played demos of that Steam Next Fest. It was taken down after the event and can no longer be downloaded.
Retitle and the Dated-Then-Delayed Launch, August 2026
In August 2026 the game shed its announced name. The English title became Hero's Adventure: Another Tale, and the Chinese title changed in step, pulling the spin-off visibly under the series banner of the studio's earlier release. The store page, key art, and description were refreshed around the new name, and the supported-language list grew to five with the addition of Japanese and Thai.
On August 13, 2026 the studio announced a launch for August 19, priced with a two-week launch discount at $16.19 and timed to land beside the second anniversary of the studio's independence. The same post revealed pixel-art portraits for the entire cast, a selectable female protagonist with free customization of appearance and outfits, and a firm statement that the game is fully standalone with no required play order against the original.
One day later, on August 14, the studio delayed the release to around late December 2026. Its stated reason was candid: after another look at the build, it judged the density of companion-bond content short of players' expectations and chose more development time over the original schedule. The delay post doubled as the game's fullest scope statement to date: a prologue and four main chapters plus an epilogue, 13 companions with their own side stories and character events, four endings and one True Ending, a 20-to-30-hour single playthrough, roughly 60 hours for full completion, and additional modes inspired by the original's features. The months until release are earmarked for expanding key emotional moments for major companions, new scenes and art in service of those relationships, and a new Campfire conversation feature where companions share everyday stories.
Where Things Stand
As of mid-August 2026 the release is targeted for around late December 2026, with the store page still listing only the year until a firm day is set. The studio has apologized for dating and delaying the launch within two days, and has committed to more open, regular communication through the rest of development. For the release model, pricing status and language support, see Editions and Availability; for the questions players ask most often, see Frequently Asked Questions.