Steam Auto Battler RPG Fest 2026: Dates and 8 Games

Our short answer: Super Auto Pets costs nothing and Backpack Battles is the best-reviewed paid game on our list, so those two come first. Everything else below has a reason to wait, from a $19.99 price to a Mixed month of reviews. All prices and reviews were read on November 8, eight days before the fest opens, and we can't see Valve's participant list yet.

When does Steam Auto Battler RPG Fest 2026 start and end?

Valve's Steamworks page for the event says it "runs 16 November @ 10:00am PST to 23 November @ 10:00am PST". Both ends fall after US clocks changed on November 1 and after the UK and Central Europe changed on October 25, so the start and the end sit at the same UTC hour. This is the converted table for readers outside the US:

What	Your time (UTC)	UTC	US Eastern	US Pacific	UK
Fest opens (Valve: 16 November, 10:00 AM PST)	Mon, Nov 16 6:00 PM	Mon, Nov 16 18:00	Mon, Nov 16 1:00 PM	Mon, Nov 16 10:00 AM	Mon, Nov 16 6:00 PM
Fest closes (Valve: 23 November, 10:00 AM PST)	Mon, Nov 23 6:00 PM	Mon, Nov 23 18:00	Mon, Nov 23 1:00 PM	Mon, Nov 23 10:00 AM	Mon, Nov 23 6:00 PM

That makes the fest exactly 168 hours, one hour shorter than Steam Scream V, which ran 169 because US clocks fell back in the middle of it. Two other dates from the same Valve page matter for planning. The official event trailer is due on 12 November, four days before the fest opens, and 16 November at 10:00 AM PST is also the deadline for developers to enter a discount or drop out, so discounts are locked in when it opens. Our Steam sale calendar for 2026 lists the Winter Sale that follows on December 17.

What does Valve count as an auto battler?

Valve wrote a stricter definition than the Steam tag. On the same Steamworks page: "Eligible games' primary gameplay loop will involve automatic combat with your characters or your units." Once a fight starts, the player can generally remove their hands from the keyboard and the fight finishes on its own. Auto-chess games are in ("Auto-Chess titles are eligible!"), and deckbuilders count only if "combat must be automatic, so the deck must 'play itself'".

Then come the exclusions, and they decide who might be missing. "Tower Defense titles will generally not be allowed." Because eligible units should be on even ground, "horde games (1 vs. many) are likely to not be eligible". And "RTS games are generally not eligible, as you have to 'trigger' battles". Valve's themed-sale page adds that eligibility rests on "the tags applied to your game's store page, as well as the gameplay that is evident from how you describe and represent your game". That puts three games on our list under a question mark: Skull Horde and Legionbound both describe hordes on their store pages, and Mechabellum carries a Wargame tag. We can't say whether any of them joined. The event page shows that on opening day, and we will update this page then.

Valve's page also says the fest will have "sections for discounted titles, unreleased titles in Coming Soon mode, games with demos, and more", so a game can show up without a discount. If demos are your thing, our October Next Fest demo picks cover the last big demo event.

Screenshot: Mechabellum, Steam store page

The 8 auto-battlers we'd check first

Here is the whole list at a glance. "English reviews" is the English-language score on each Steam page, and "30 days" is Steam's own recent-review figure. The last column is our call at today's price.

None of the eight showed a discount on November 8, and all eight carry Steam's "Auto Battler" tag. Per-game notes follow, best call first.

1. Backpack Battles: the first one we'd buy

PlayWithFurcifer's game is where the genre meets inventory Tetris: Steam calls it "a PvP inventory management auto battler" where you buy and craft items, then arrange them in your backpack. It has the best score of any paid game here, 92% of 5,624 English reviews, and the developer posted Patch 1.1.9 on September 15. The "PvP" tag scares some people off, and a player with 38.5 hours at review time (1,294.9 on record now) wrote on December 3, 2024 that it is "asynchronous", so "your opponent isn't really there" and you play against a snapshot of someone else's build.

Screenshot: Backpack Battles, Steam store page

The key-store price is the number to beat. On November 8 Eneba (sponsored) listed the Global Steam key at $9.53 against $14.99 on Steam, so a fest discount would have to reach 37% before Steam wins. Key prices move with sellers, so read the price on the page before you pay.

Update, November 10: Steam now lists Backpack Battles at $11.99, 20% off, in a promotion that ends November 23, the day the fest closes. Our reading: with Valve's 30-day cooldown, that is probably the best Steam price you will see during the fest. Eneba's Global key read $9.72 the same day.

2. Super Auto Pets: free, so there is nothing to wait for

Team Wood Games' game is free to play and sits at 91% of 25,105 English reviews, and Steam's 30-day window shows 81 reviews at 90% positive. Steam's news feed shows Update 48 on May 21 and a Daily Mode on April 8. A player review from April 2022 sums up the loop better than a store page: "Buy Sloth. Life good. Lose rounds. Start new game. Sloth gone. Think about Sloth. Regret." If a game on this list is a gateway, it is this one, and it needs no fest.

3. Mechabellum: buy the key, not the fest

Game River's mech game is the one most at risk of missing the event: Valve says RTS games are "generally not eligible", and Mechabellum's Steam tags include Wargame and RTS next to Auto Battler. It is also the widest gap between Steam and a key store: the Global key was $5.07 on Eneba (sponsored) against $14.99 on Steam, so Steam would need about two-thirds off to match. Reviews are strong overall (84% of 10,038) but cooler lately, 71% of 146 in the past 30 days. A player wrote in October 2024 what it feels like: "All you do is place your units, upgrade them and enjoy the view."

4. Legionbound: wait for a cut

Spicy Garlic Games' pixel RPG launched on April 27 at $9.99 and Steam describes it as a retro RPG autobattler where you "recruit heroes, discover class synergies, forge powerful Ascensions". The all-time score is 82% of 700, and all 13 reviews from the past 30 days are positive. The sharpest criticism came from a player with 10.7 hours, who wrote on July 2 that "this is an idle game through and through". A 27 April review says the opposite: "you're still actively making decisions during fights". The 10.7-hour player and the 3.3-hour player (hours at review time) disagree about how much you do after the first hour, and our Legionbound tips guide covers where the choices are. At $9.99 it's fair; at a fest discount it's an easy yes. Our complete Legionbound guide and class tier list are the place to start.

GODEEPER: Already own Legionbound? Synergy list for all 42 classes →

5. Skull Horde: wait for a cut, for the right reader

8BitSkull's necromancer game came out April 10 at $12.99 and sits at 81% of 1,122, and Steam's 30-day window holds 31 reviews at 90% positive. Patch v1.039 landed October 19, after the October 8 Unholy Banquet update. One player, with 3.8 hours at review time, wrote that it's "like playing a summon necromancer in Diablo 2" on April 10; another, with 28.2 hours on record, wrote on May 9 that "the skill trees are way too small and way too grindy". Our Skull Horde review lands the same way: buy it if building a skeleton army is the draw. It is also a "horde" game by its own page ("Summon a horde of skeletons"), so Valve's 1-vs-many warning may apply.

Screenshot: Skull Horde, Steam store page

6. Despot's Game: the priciest of the cheap ones

Konfa Games' roguelike auto-battler (Steam tags: RPG, Roguelike, Turn-Based Tactics) costs $19.99 and has 82% of 1,310 English reviews. The developer posted King of the Hill Season 61 on November 5 and a spin-off, Hull Rupture, on November 4. One recurring complaint is competitive play: a player wrote in May 2023 that "The focus on PVP nearly ruined this game for me." It's the one to wait a week on, to see whether the fest cuts the price.

7. The Bazaar: wait, and watch the reviews

Tempo's card auto-battler costs $19.99 and reads Mostly Positive overall (78% of 6,332) but Mixed, 62% of 324, for the past 30 days, with Patch 20.0 posted on November 4. Complaints are about the studio more than the cards. One 800-hour player wrote on June 22 that "Problematic builds dominate for weeks", and a buyer wrote in November 2025 that they would "have to spend an additional $78 to access all the characters". That quote is one player's claim, dated, and the same review quotes Canadian prices, so check the store page before you pay. If the fest cuts the price but the recent score stays Mixed, we'd still wait.

8. Dota Underlords: free, but quiet since 2020

Valve's own auto-chess game is free and still reviewed: 84% of 33,532, with 76% of 64 in the past 30 days. The catch is the news feed. Valve's newest Steam announcement for the game is dated November 19, 2020. A February 2024 review simply begged: "please save dota underlords!" Play it if you want the Dota flavour, but pick Super Auto Pets if you want a game that still gets updates.

Two games that look close but aren't on the list

Slayblade and Everything is Crab both turn up next to auto-battlers, and neither fits Valve's rule, because you play the fights. Slayblade's Steam page promises "SUPREMELY SATISFYING controls" for your battle-top, and its all-reviews score is Mixed, 65% of 367. Complaints centre on power cubes: a player wrote on August 22 that "The problem appears when you introduce, and then heavily rely on power cubes." Our Slayblade launch report has the details. Everything is Crab is an action roguelite with 125+ evolutions; see our Everything is Crab guide. Neither is an auto-battler by Valve's definition.

Will anything be cheaper during the fest?

Valve's discounting rules decide who can be discounted: "A product cannot be discounted for 30 days following its release" and "A product cannot be discounted within 30 days of another discount". Only the four seasonal sales (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) are exempt, and this fest is a themed event, not one of them. None of our eight came out in the last 30 days, but a game that took a non-seasonal discount in the past month can still be on the event page, but it can't open a new discount until the cooldown ends, because a discount is not required to take part. Any discount of 20% or more "will automatically trigger email notifications" to people who wishlisted the game, so wishlist what you want now and Steam will tell you.

For deeper sales in a game with no fest discount, a key store is the fallback. Of the six paid games here, Eneba listed only Backpack Battles and Mechabellum on November 8; it had nothing for Legionbound, Skull Horde, Despot's Game or The Bazaar. If you're more of a roguelike person, our best roguelike games of 2026 and best indie games under $20 sit next to this list.

GODEEPER: Weighing demos against full games? Do Steam Next Fest demos expire? →

How we checked this

On November 8, 2026 we read Valve's Steamworks pages for the fest, themed sale events and discounting, pulled each price from Steam's US store data, read the English review score, the 30-day figure and tags from each Steam page, read each game's latest announcement from Steam's news feed, and opened each Steam review quoted above. We looked up Eneba prices through the VPS. We haven't played these games for this article; the calls come from Steam data, player reviews and our earlier coverage. Valve's participant list isn't public yet, so every "might be left out" is Valve's rule applied to a Steam page, not a confirmed result.

References

• Steamworks: Steam Auto Battler RPG Fest 2026
• Steamworks: Steam Themed Sale Events
• Steamworks: Discounting
• Steamworks: Upcoming Steam Events
• Backpack Battles on Steam
• Super Auto Pets on Steam
• Mechabellum on Steam
• Legionbound on Steam
• Skull Horde on Steam
• Despot's Game on Steam
• The Bazaar on Steam
• Dota Underlords on Steam
• Slayblade on Steam
• Everything is Crab on Steam