Romestead is an action-adventure survival game developed by Beartwigs and published by Three Friends. Set after the apocalyptic fall of the Roman Empire, it tasks one to eight players with rebuilding civilization: gathering resources, building towns, fighting the walking dead, and reconnecting with the Roman gods, who have all lost their memories. The game launched into Early Access on May 25, 2026, and is available on PC via Steam.
The game blends two halves. By day, players explore a procedurally generated world, gather resources, and venture into dungeons. By night, the dead walk, and players defend their settlement, farm crops, and decorate their towns. It can be played as a solo journey or as a cooperative experience with up to seven friends. See Gameplay for the core loop and Early Access for what is in the current build.
Setting
An apocalyptic event has left Rome in ruins, and its citizens have been reanimated into walking husks. The seven Roman gods, having lost most of their worshippers, have also lost much of their power and their connection to the world. Players establish a new settlement among the ruins, recruit surviving artisans, and slowly turn a camp into a working town while pushing back against the enemies of Rome.
The world is procedurally generated but is filled with handcrafted places, secrets, and dungeons. More detail is in Story and Setting.
Key Features
Feature | Summary |
|---|---|
Survive alone or with friends | Supports 1 to 8 players, with difficulty that scales to the number of players in the world. |
Physical resource management | Heavy resources such as lumber and rocks are physical objects that can be picked up, carried, thrown, and hauled. See physical Resource Management. |
Build settlements | Recruit survivors as artisans, keep your people happy and fed, and grow towns into hubs for crafting, farming, and production. |
Restore the gods | Make offerings and sacrifices to restore the seven Roman gods and unlock their technologies, buffs, and upgrades. |
Find your role | Build around melee, ranged combat, magic, farming, building, or exploration. |
Explore, fight, and loot | Venture into a procedurally generated world filled with dungeons, bosses, and secrets. |
Early Access at Launch
The Early Access build contains the core gameplay systems: exploration, combat, crafting, farming, town-building, progression across three biomes, co-op multiplayer, and a procedurally generated world featuring handcrafted dungeons. Beartwigs has stated the game is expected to remain in Early Access for one to two years while content is expanded.
Three progression biomes: Plains, Forest, Desert, plus the Volcanic biome added for Early Access.
Five bosses, including the Guardian of Minerva, Pyzifax, and the Cyclops in The Eye dungeon.
Over fifty dungeons and points of interest scattered across the world.
Seven gods to restore: Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Vulcan.
Eleven supported languages with full English voice.
Game Information
Detail | Information |
|---|---|
Developer | Beartwigs |
Publisher | Three Friends |
Release | Early Access, May 25, 2026 |
Platform | PC (Windows) |
Players | 1 to 8 |
Genres | Action, Adventure, Survival, Town-builder, Indie, Early Access |
Engine | Not publicly disclosed |
Launch Reception
Romestead launched with strong wishlist momentum, having accumulated more than three hundred thousand Steam wishlists in the months leading up to release. The free demo at Steam Next Fest in February 2026 was a top-ten most-played demo. At launch, the community review rating settled at "Mostly Positive."
For the broader genre and structure, see Gameplay. For multiplayer details, see Multiplayer and Co-op. For hardware needs, see System Requirements.