May 2025: Announcement
Silver Palace was officially announced on May 13, 2025. The debut trailer showed the game's Victorian-inspired anime aesthetic, detective gameplay, and action combat. The reveal confirmed PC, iOS, Android, and unspecified consoles as target platforms. The announcement generated enough interest to hit over 2 million pre-registrations within days.
August 2025: Shanghai Demo
An offline demo event was held in Shanghai, giving attendees hands-on experience with the combat and investigation systems. This was the first time outside media could test the detective gameplay loop and QTE combat mechanics directly.
December 2025: Beta Announced
In December 2025, Elementa announced the global Monotype Closed Beta Test. Recruitment opened on December 19, 2025, and closed on January 5-6, 2026 (16:00 UTC).
The same month brought a milestone that was not part of the marketing cycle at all. On 24 December 2025 the game received its Chinese publishing licence, under ISBN 978-7-498-16063-8, in that month's batch of approvals. The licence is issued in the category covering mobile and client games, so it permits phone and PC operation in China but not console, and it names a Shanghai company within the Happy Elements group as the operator. A licence is a regulatory prerequisite for charging money in China rather than a release announcement, so it fixes no date; what it does establish is that the Chinese release cleared its approval gate more than half a year before the second closed beta ran.
January 2026: Monotype Beta
The Monotype Beta ran from January 13-18, 2026, on PC only (version v0.09.70.5). Seven playable characters were available. The test included Chapter 1 of the story ("Burnt to Cinders" with three cases), exploration of select Silvernia districts, and combat challenges.
A minor patch (v0.09.70.6) was deployed during the beta to fix Estate Investment error messages, camera angle issues, and incorrect text.
Post-Beta Milestones
By January 18, 2026, Silver Palace had surpassed 4 million pre-registrations. No official release date or release window has been confirmed.
April 2026: Official Creator Program
On April 2, 2026, the team opened permanent recruitment for an official content-creator program, inviting community creators to produce ongoing coverage ahead of launch. This was a community and marketing initiative rather than a new build; no additional playable content was released alongside it, and the playable build remained the Monotype Beta Round 1 slice.
Beta Patch Details
Mid-test patch v0.09.70.6 deployed during the Monotype Beta (Round 1) addressed three specific issues identified by early testers:
Estate Investment error messages: The Property and Estate System surfaced incorrect or unclear error strings during property purchase flows. Resolved.
Camera angle issues: Reported in cinematic sequences and traversal transitions, particularly when mounting and dismounting the Silverium Pegasus. Resolved.
Incorrect text: Localization and text-string corrections in mission briefings and item descriptions. Resolved.
Pre-Registration Milestones
Milestone | Date | Total Pre-Registrations |
|---|---|---|
Reveal trailer + pre-registration opens | May 12-13, 2025 | Initial campaign launch |
Early uptake | May 2025 (within days of reveal) | Surpassed 2 million |
Beta sign-up window closes | January 5-6, 2026 | Increased momentum from sign-up flow |
End of Monotype Beta Round 1 | January 18, 2026 | Surpassed 4 million |
Second closed beta ends | August 2026 | Surpassed 10 million across PC, console and mobile |
Pre-registration opens on four storefronts | 31 August 2026 | Over 10 million, as announced on 18 August |
Beta Content Slice
The Monotype Beta Round 1 build (v0.09.70.5) shipped a substantial slice of the full game. The included content was:
Area | Detail |
|---|---|
Playable characters | 7 characters (Detective, Cinderella, Cynthia II, Alf, Lorin, Firtho, Argos) |
Story progress | Main quest through Act II, Scene IV (Chapter 1 "Burnt to Cinders" plus follow-up beats) |
Combat challenge | Deep Cognito up to Tier 7, plus a second combat-challenge mode that ran alongside it |
Traversal | Full access to the Silverium Pegasus (ground and air); grappling hook; ascender devices |
Economy | Property and Estate System active; Crystal Exchange available for Cynthia II redemption |
Platform | PC only (Round 1) |
Studio And Publishing Context
Silver Palace is developed by Silver Studio (Shanghai) and published globally by Elementa (Singapore). Both organizations operate under the broader Happy Elements corporate structure; this is Silver Studio's first publicly announced title and represents the parent group's most ambitious push into the action RPG and open-world genre on Unreal Engine 5.
2026: The Dichotomy Beta Test
Recruitment for a second closed beta, the Dichotomy Beta, opened on 26 June 2026 and closed on 16 July. Access went out on 20 July, and the test itself ran from 23 July to 13 August 2026, roughly six months after the first test and considerably longer than it: three weeks against the first test's five days.
Billed as the largest playable update so far, the second test added a playable male protagonist, expanded the playable roster, opened areas of Silvernia that had been closed off in the first test, rebuilt combat around parries and executions, added a multiple-ending case format, and layered city progression systems on top of the story. The publisher put the build at over 40 hours of playable content and the roster at 15 characters, 8 of them new to this test, and added horse racing through the city streets. The published storage requirement rose from 60 GB to 65 GB, and a minimum specification tier was published for the first time.
The studio also committed to a 2026 global game and animation exhibition tour, with stops including Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Japan Expo in Paris, Bilibili World in Shanghai, Firefly ACG EXPO in Guangzhou, Anime NYC, Gamescom in Cologne, and Gamescom Asia in Bangkok, each featuring build demonstrations and new-content reveals. The New York and Cologne stops fell in the second half of August 2026, after the test's close.
The official media gallery dates the videos produced around the test:
Video | Date |
|---|---|
Dichotomy Beta Test Trailer, "Black Knights' Tango" | June 26, 2026 |
Dichotomy Beta Test Gameplay Showcase, "The Raven and the Rose" | July 2, 2026 |
Monotype Beta Test Trailer | December 19, 2025 |
Reveal trailer, "The Golden Age of Detectives" | May 13, 2025 |
"Black Knights' Tango" was released alongside the opening of Dichotomy recruitment on June 26, 2026, and "The Raven and the Rose" followed a week later. Between the two, official character title pages introduced Gratia, Bentham, Grimm, Captain Kaboom and Gucia, alongside Rex and the playable Red Rose.
Three further character title pages followed once the test was under way: Lorin on 2 August, Argos on 6 August and Cynthia II on 9 August 2026.
An official world feature published on July 14, 2026 documented Morgue Street as an enclave of the High Peers district, naming three landmarks and three hostile factions found there.
In the run-up to the test the team published a short series of explanatory posts covering combat, the new case format, and the Morgue Street district, which is the most detailed public description of the game's systems to date.
The test closed on 13 August 2026. On 26 August the team opened an eligibility inquiry for the next test, using the Elementa Passport account registered for Dichotomy. Its recruitment details were still to follow at that point. No release date or release window had been announced. Pre-registrations passed 10 million across PC, console and mobile in August 2026.
August 2026: Ten Million Pre-Registrations and the Convention Push
Five days after the second test closed, the publisher announced that pre-registrations had passed ten million across PC, console and mobile, and set out the game's convention plans for the rest of the month. Two figures circulate for the same milestone and they are not in conflict: the ten million total counts every platform, while the counter on the game's own site tracks website sign-ups only and therefore reads lower.
The New York showing ran from 20 to 23 August 2026 at the Javits Convention Center, at booth 2011, with a playable demo and themed giveaways. The Cologne showing followed on 26 to 30 August at booth C021 in hall 6, the largest booth of the tour: a playable demo area, a stage running four themed performances a day with live music and dance, a photo spot built around a recreation of the pumpkin carriage from the Cinderella boss fight, and a merchandise zone. Professional cosplayers appeared as the Detective, Cinderella, Alf, Red Rose, Lorin and Argos.
The Cologne appearance also brought the game's first awards recognition. It was nominated for the show's best mobile game award in a five-game field, alongside Arknights: Endfield, Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero and Where Winds Meet, and it was the only unreleased title on that list. The winners were presented on 28 August 2026 across nineteen categories. Silver Palace did not win; Where Winds Meet took best mobile game.
The Opening Night Trailer and the Multiplayer Teaser
A new promotional trailer premiered at the show's opening night showcase on 25 August 2026. It opens in a dimly lit operating room where the forensic doctor Firtho examines a corpse formed from Silverium, cuts to the female Detective working a neighbourhood full of unknown dangers, and cycles between the two registers, with Ashley, Gratia and Red Rose appearing alongside combat sequences and finishing moves. Highlights from two boss encounters are woven through it: Vita et Mors and Cinderella. The trailer returns to the operating room at the end, where the Silverium corpse fractures and the liquid metal spreads across the room.
After a freeze-frame the trailer runs a fifteen-second post-credit sequence showing something the game had never demonstrated before: several characters exploring separate rooms at the same time and fighting creatures that emerge from the shadows. It closes on the words House of Greed in deep crimson. No rules, player count or release timing were given.
Announced at the same time: the game supports DLSS 4.5 and ray tracing at launch, and a PlayStation 5 version was confirmed alongside the PC, iOS and Android versions already announced. That is the first time specific console hardware has been named rather than referred to generically.
August 2026: The Post-Test Report
Nine days after the second test closed, on 22 August 2026, the team published a post-mortem setting out what the feedback had changed. It is organised under four headings, and it is the most specific public statement of development direction the project has made.
Area | What the team committed to |
|---|---|
Combat | Refining enemy placement and camera rules so groups, flying enemies and fast movers stay readable; polishing animation, effects, sound and hit reactions, and sharpening the visual identity of individual characters and weapons; overhauling the combat interface and tutorials, because support-character buffs and the effects of Reactors, Catalysts and buff states were too easy to miss mid-fight. |
Narrative | Adding a Dialogue History feature so conversations can be reviewed at any time; improving the staging, sound and animation of the main story; retuning the controls, camera and audio of stealth and assassination sequences; and using detective mechanics such as the Revealer Light more often through the story. |
Open world | Building more distinct area identities through lighting and environmental detail, expanding the number of accessible interior spaces, refining NPC appearance and behaviour so they read as their professions, improving the riding and flying feel of the mount, and adding more collectible resources, interactive elements and map and exploration guidance. |
Performance | Continued performance and device-compatibility work, and the introduction of a mobile version in a future test. |
Two items in that list are new information rather than restatements. A mobile version is committed to a future test, which confirms both closed betas were PC-only by design. And the Revealer Light is named for the first time as a detective mechanic the team intends to use more heavily, alongside a commitment to keep producing branching Curious Deductions cases.
Late August 2026: Pre-Registration Opens on Four Storefronts
On 31 August 2026 pre-registration opened on four storefronts at once: the App Store, Google Play, the PlayStation Store and the Epic Games Store, joining the sign-up form on the game's own website. The Google Play page had already been updated on 14 August, more than two weeks earlier, so the listings were staged before they were announced.
The PC storefront listing is the first retail surface to describe a finished product rather than a test build. It carries an ESRB Teen rating with content descriptors, an interactive-elements line disclosing randomised in-game purchases, a system-requirements table with operating-system rows the beta sheets never had, and a language split of four audio languages against five text languages. The PlayStation Store concept page anchors the PlayStation 5 version directly, and its compatibility notices state that online play is required, that in-game purchases are optional, and that the game is PS5 Pro Enhanced.
On 1 September the official channel posted a 79-second highlights video from the Cologne booth, its second upload in a week. The storefront announcement had gone out through a press wire. A later official news post, dated 23 September, announced recruitment for Dichotomy: Retrace.
The Third Test
Interviews given at the Cologne show produced the first description of what follows the second beta. In those late-August interviews, the team described a planned final test with a larger content scale. The marketing director said the team was aiming to run it within the year while adding that a definitive date was still hard to give. Release timing and price were both described as undecided.
The tests are named after terms from logic. The first was 同一律, the Law of Identity, which is where the Identity Test name comes from and which shipped as the Monotype Beta; the second was 二分法, dichotomy, which shipped as the Dichotomy Beta. The next technical test was named Dichotomy: Retrace on 23 September 2026.
Optimisation continued after the second test. The supported hardware range came down by about two tiers, which is why a GTX 1060 sits at the bottom of the minimum specification published on the retail storefront listing at the end of August.
September 2026: Retrace Recruitment
The Dichotomy: Retrace Technical Test recruitment FAQ was published on 23 September. Applications close on 10 October at 18:00 UTC+8. The confidential, limited test has no in-game purchases and will wipe all data after its servers close. Android and iOS are supported, with PC available simultaneously and cross-save between PC and mobile.
The FAQ describes a performance-optimised build whose content is largely consistent with the Dichotomy Beta. It also requires players who earned access through the earlier survey event to complete a new recruitment survey. Test start and end dates, the eligibility-announcement date and the full release date remain unannounced.