Alabaster Dawn enters Steam Early Access tomorrow, May 7, and that date carries more weight than a typical PC indie calendar note. This is the next action RPG from Radical Fish Games, the small studio whose CrossCode became one of the modern PC scene's great word-of-mouth RPGs.
Radical Fish announced the May 7 Early Access date during April's Triple-i Showcase, while the game's Steam page lists it as a PC release with Windows and SteamOS/Linux support. It is developed and published by Radical Fish Games.
The headline for returning fans is simple: Alabaster Dawn is not CrossCode 2, but it is clearly made by a studio that knows what people still love about CrossCode. It keeps the fast action, RPG progression, puzzle-dungeon appetite and dense exploration mindset, then moves those ideas into a brighter 2.5D world about rebuilding civilization after a divine collapse.
The first playable slice is meaningful, but not the whole RPG
Alabaster Dawn launches as a work in progress, and Radical Fish is being unusually clear about the shape of that first build. On Steam, the studio says the initial Early Access version includes the story up to roughly the middle of chapter 2, around 10 hours of play, plus an optional roguelite side story for extra replayability.
That is enough to judge the feel of the combat, exploration and puzzle structure, but players should not mistake tomorrow for the full game. Radical Fish says the finished version is planned to include seven chapters and about 40 hours of play, with Early Access expected to continue for at least two years.
The studio also says it plans to raise the price during later Early Access versions or at full launch as more content is added. Anyone jumping in tomorrow is buying into the first public stretch of a long RPG, not a short pre-release demo with a quick 1.0 around the corner.
Why CrossCode changes the expectations
CrossCode is the context that makes Alabaster Dawn worth watching tomorrow. Radical Fish's previous game did not become a cult favorite through one easily clipped gimmick. It won people over through feel: snappy real-time combat, readable enemy patterns, elaborate puzzle spaces, a big-hearted sci-fi story and a willingness to make its RPG systems busy without becoming mushy.
Steam currently lists CrossCode as Very Positive across more than 17,000 user reviews, a public signal that the game kept finding new players well after its full release. Radical Fish also points to CrossCode's own Early Access run when explaining how it plans to handle feedback on Alabaster Dawn, saying it will use Steam forums, social media and Discord to track bugs, balance issues and feasible feature suggestions.
That history matters because Alabaster Dawn is ambitious in the same specific way. It is not chasing the clean, tiny scope of a weekend indie. The Steam page describes four elements, eight weapons, weapon-specific skill trees, Divine Arts, gems, cooking, settlement rebuilding, trade routes, changing environments, dungeons, platforming and world-map tools for marking reminders. Those are exciting promises, but they are also exactly the kind of promises that need time, iteration and a community willing to tolerate seams during development.
What Alabaster Dawn actually is
Alabaster Dawn follows Juno, the Outcast Chosen, after the shadow of Nyx has turned the world of Tiran Sol into a wasteland and caused the gods and their people to vanish. The quest is not just to defeat a monster at the end of a map. Radical Fish frames it as a rebuilding story: wake humanity, reconnect settlements, push back the curse and watch the world change as communities return.
The studio's press kit describes a 2.5D art style that mixes pixel art with a subtle 3D perspective, which is a smart evolution from CrossCode's top-down language. Combat pulls from Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts and CrossCode, according to the Steam page, with players switching setups during fights and using elements, weapons and Combat Arts to break through different enemy demands.
That mix gives Alabaster Dawn a clear audience. CrossCode fans are the obvious first wave, especially those who enjoyed difficult puzzles as much as boss fights. It should also appeal to players who like action RPGs with authored worlds and systems that ask for execution, not just menu optimization. If your ideal RPG sits somewhere between dungeon puzzling, character action and long-form PC Early Access curiosity, tomorrow is the first real test.
A sharper PC release in a quiet week
Alabaster Dawn also benefits from timing. This week's release slate has personality, as our new games worth watching preview covered, but it is not dominated by one giant commercial release. That gives a PC-first Early Access RPG from a trusted indie team room to breathe.
The sensible caveat is the same one Radical Fish is already making: wait if you only want complete games. The May 7 build is for players comfortable with an unfinished RPG that should expand over years. For everyone else, Alabaster Dawn is the rare Early Access launch where the pitch is not just potential. It is a studio returning to the kind of demanding, handcrafted action RPG design that already earned it a loyal audience once.