Lightbulb Crew and their in-house publishing label Firesquid have announced that Ex Sanguis, their dark fantasy turn-based tactics roguelite, will enter Early Access on PC via Steam on May 21, 2026.

Lightbulb Crew is a Franco-Swedish indie studio based in Paris, founded in 2013. The team is best known for Othercide, a brutal tactical RPG released in 2020 by Focus Home Interactive, with the same striking black, white, and red art style. In 2018, the studio launched Firesquid as their own publishing label, which has since taken on outside projects alongside their own, including City Tales: Medieval Era, covered here.

The world of Ex Sanguis has been devastated by an event called the Purge. What little blood remains is a resource, the only color left in a setting otherwise rendered in black and white. Players take command of the Stillae, an order of warriors carrying what remains of a dying divinity’s power, raised to push back against the forces of Stasis threatening to drain the world of everything left alive.

Combat runs on a grid that operates with Timeline Effects, a mechanic that lets players manipulate when any unit on the field takes their turn, impacting turn order. The mechanic is designed to reward sequencing as much as positioning. Players can chain battlefield interactions through explosive objects, forced movement, flanking bonuses, and line-of-sight manipulation, building sequences where the order of events determines the outcome as much as any individual action does.

The game takes a roguelite structure. Players navigate a map with branching routes, choosing their own risk level on the way to boss encounters, and adapt to whatever skills surface during a run, building combinations that shift with each attempt. Procedurally generated levels keep the path varied across runs, and Lightbulb Crew has outlined plans to use the Early Access window to deepen the game’s content, sharpen its balance, develop new systems, and potentially open up new ways to play.

Ex Sanguis will come to Early Access on May 21st!

The call for blood is near, the Stillae await your commands pic.twitter.com/cXQW1cTnoN

— Lightbulb Crew (@LightbulbCrew) April 2, 2026

The version launching on May 21 is described as a complete, playable experience covering the core loop, though there are notes that certain elements are still being worked through. Lightbulb Crew has stated the game will remain in Early Access for at least six months, with that window expected to flex depending on how development and community response unfold. One more playtest is scheduled before the game goes live, opening April 16 and running through April 23. A console release is planned for after Early Access concludes.

Ex Sanguis is available to wishlist now on Steam.