In most autobattlers, you fight the other players. In Talk of the Tavern, you can lose your best mercenary to a rival’s hidden bid before the fighting even starts. Chalktray Studios’ competitive co-op autobattler roguelike now has a free demo live on Steam — with the full game targeting a Q4 2026 launch.
Want the Knight? Outbid Them.
The setup: rival guilds journey toward the King’s castle, and the road runs through taverns — where recruitment happens by anonymous auction. The moment you set your heart on the Knight, someone else can outbid you and take him. Recruited mercenaries shape your build, and the traveling Consortium of Scrolls sells new powers between days on the road to strengthen your guild before the king’s tournament.
The journey itself is a gauntlet of hostile biomes. The tundra brings undead and wolves; the ashlands throw demons and fire at you. Waves get nastier as you go — keep the roster sharp, or the road eats you. And if the King’s Tournament isn’t your pace, Endless mode offers the same biomes with no finish line, measuring only how far your guild can push.
Demo Now, Tournament Later
The demo is downloadable now from the game’s Steam page, with the full release listed as “Coming soon.” The store page promises single-player and Online PvP (auction drama needs rivals), Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud support, and localization in English and four more languages. The game’s key art — all cross-hatched tavern intrigue in a woodcut style — signals a game that takes its scheming seriously.
Talk of the Tavern came to us through GamerMenu’s indie submissions program. It’s exactly the kind of small-team design hook the program exists to surface: an autobattler where the most dangerous battles happen at the bar.