Banquet of Fools has quietly been one of the most promising CRPGs in Steam Early Access for over a year, and I'm happy to report that it's finally coming out in full and is just as gorgeous as ever.
"Thank you everyone for the support the last year and a half in early access," developer Hannah and Joseph Games writes on its blog post celebrating the game's 1.0 release on March 5, 2026. "The game improved so much with your feedback and we were able to have some wonderful artists contribute to the raffles."
"For those of you about to finish the game, we're excited to bring you new game modes soon, something we'll be doing throughout the year, and any additions or content updates will be free and part of the base game," it continues. "These will be accessible in the new game + menu 'Treasury', which you can preview after completing the game... We have a lot of post-game updates planned already, and would love the opportunity to work on more weird games in this world."
Banquet of Fools is essentially an open-world, party-based, isometric CRPG by way of Baldur's Gate 3, but this time there's also a beat 'em up twist to the combat which the developers call "brawl-style," where you swap between your four-person team and set up combo attacks.
At the time of writing, its has 91% positive reviews on Steam which gush that it's "simply stunning" and "the CRPG I didn't know I needed." One player says it's "a creative masterpiece. A fantastical journey through the towns & wilderness of a Faery kingdom. Gameplay is intuitive yet granular. Combat is smooth and cinematic. Dialogue is natural and fits the theme perfectly. Character creation and gameplay choices are very meaningful."
"And the Art. Wow," they continue. Banquet of Fools has a style that's halfway between traditional high fantasy ripped from Tolkien and Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal puppetry, especially in its cutscenes.
Banquet of Fools is available on GOG and Steam, and it has a free demo up to try too.
To keep up, check out the upcoming indie games of 2026 and beyond.
