One of the more striking Soulslikes on the horizon just gave players a date to circle. The Relic: First Guardian, the dark fantasy action RPG from South Korean studio Project Cloud Games, will launch on July 31, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and PC, with publisher Perp Games confirming Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch 2 versions are following later this summer.
After a stretch of delays that pushed the game out of its original window, the release-date trailer finally pins things down, and it arrives alongside a fresh story-and-exploration showcase that gives a better sense of the moody, ruin-strewn world players will be carving through.
Seventy bosses and a stamina system with a twist
The headline number is daunting: The Relic: First Guardian is built around more than 70 tough boss encounters the developers call “brutals.” To take them on, players choose from five weapon types and shape their build across twelve separate skill trees, leaning into the kind of deep customization that the genre's fans live for.
The most interesting wrinkle is how it handles stamina. Rather than draining a shared meter with every swing, stamina in The Relic is reserved purely for dodging and blocking. Attacks aren't gated by it at all; instead, your offensive options are paced by skill cooldowns. The result, on paper, is a combat loop that encourages aggression while still demanding careful defensive timing, a tuning choice that sets it apart from the more conservative stamina economies of its inspirations.
Where and when
The PS5 and PC (Steam) versions arrive first on July 31. Xbox Series and Switch 2 editions are slated for later in the summer, with dates still to be confirmed. Collectors aren't left out either: a physical PS5 edition is set for September 4.
For a smaller-studio release, The Relic: First Guardian is swinging big, and a packed July suddenly has one more reason for Soulslike diehards to clear their schedules.
