Vaultbreakers has released a free Steam demo, offering up to seven hours of solo or co-op play ahead of an Alpha PvPvE Playtest beginning on 15 October 2026. BetaDwarf and Square Enix Collective announced the demo alongside a new trailer during the Triple-i Initiative showcase.
The top-down extraction action RPG centres on recovering relics from a world that responds to players’ actions, with brawler combat and boss encounters standing between its Champions and their escape. While the full game will support both PvE and PvPvE modes, the demo focuses on PvE, with two difficulty settings and support for groups of up to three players. Players can choose between two Vaultbreakers with different combat approaches. Nymera is an elf ranger who specialises in ranged attacks, while Bjornir is a durable warrior whose abilities focus on frozen attacks.
The demo opens up a section of the first map and follows a questline leading to the player’s first Vault. These Vaults have fallen from the Dragonvault, an ominous floating island, and contain legendary Artefacts that the Champions have been tasked with retrieving. Recovering them is the key to opening a portal into the island itself. Reaching a Vault is only part of the task: the demo’s quests culminate in a boss fight to break it open. The full game will feature five playable heroes, with the three characters absent from the demo available during the upcoming Alpha PvPvE Playtest.
The announcement also confirms BetaDwarf’s partnership with the re-established Square Enix Collective, which will publish Vaultbreakers. The division provides funding, investment and publishing support for independent developers, and is accepting pitches across genres from studios of all sizes. Square Enix says its approach centres on long-term partnerships that allow developers to retain creative control.
