Heiligenroth, Germany, 6 November 2026
Runecraft Studios has announced NOSTRA: Crystalbound, a standalone action roguelite set in the world of its dark fantasy RPG NOSTRA, which is still in development. Crystalbound is planned for PC via Steam in the first quarter of 2027; its Steam page opens soon. Solo developer Gökhan Cirag revealed the game at the end of "State of NOSTRA", a 19-minute developer video about NOSTRA and its biggest update so far.
Crystalbound is set in the year 860 of the Charter, long after the events of NOSTRA. In the old wars, the kingdoms of Nostra burned crystal as if there would always be more. Then the portals appeared. Now crystal grows everywhere, it lights the lamps and fires the forges, and no kingdom guards the roads anymore. The merchants pay any blade that will clear them, and those who fall are dragged back by the carters, for a fee.
Announcement trailer: https://youtu.be/VVCOIMAwzG4
About NOSTRA and update 0.30
NOSTRA runs on RPG Maker MZ, but very little of it is still stock. Around 140 plugins written in house, collected under the name NeoEngine, carry the rendering, combat, tools and systems. With DEV 0.30 every frame goes through a new render pipeline with high dynamic range, bloom, color grading in seven layers and depth of field. Shadows come from a height map, water reflects the sky, rain falls in three depth layers, fog gathers in valleys, and one wind moves trees, grass, shadows and water alike. Combat got stages with their own light and weather and a reworked parry. New systems include homestead building, the conquest mode Conquer, the card game Brask and rifts.
NOSTRA can be wishlisted on Steam and has a playable alpha demo there. The goal is to have NOSTRA feature ready by the end of 2026 and to release it in November 2027.
Developer video: https://youtu.be/Csu2heedDTA
Quote, Gökhan Cirag, founder of Runecraft Studios:
"Crystalbound grew out of the NeoEngine. Everything I build for NOSTRA, the light, the weather, the tools, made a second game in the same world possible, and it is already far along."
Fact sheet
Titles: NOSTRA: Crystalbound / NOSTRA
Developer: Runecraft Studios (Gökhan Cirag, solo developer, Germany)
Genre: action roguelite / dark fantasy RPG
Platform: PC (Steam)
Release: Q1 2027 / November 2027
Engine: NeoEngine on RPG Maker MZ
NOSTRA on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4743190/NOSTRA/