Skills & Raids Gets Open Playtest on Steam

Skills & Raids, an upcoming self-published project by solo developer Eddie Hinestroza, currently has an open beta playtest available on Steam ahead of its upcoming launch. Hinestroza has also released a new trailer for Skills & Raids on YouTube to coincide with the open beta playtest. As per a press release, Skills & Raids is a “party-based extraction RPG with real-time, ability-driven combat” in which you’ll “manage cooldowns and react to enemy mechanics, loot resources to complete quests and craft powerful gear, combine skills & create unique builds. The world has fallen into the grasp of a creature that erases everything, even thoughts.”

Thus, it falls to you and your party to combine your respective skills and work to fend off that thought-erasing beast. Personally, I’m not sure I see the harm in letting that creature do its thing. I really wouldn’t mind having a few (i.e., the vast majority) of my thoughts erased, but I guess that’s neither here nor there. In any case, the core gameplay loop of Skills & Raids purportedly offers “party-based RPG combat with real-time, ability-driven encounters” in which you’ll have to “extract resources, manage character positioning in combat,” and “craft powerful equipment and skills” as you complete quests.

Those quests will bring you to “multiple combat areas with unique skill mechanics” where you might encounter gear with an easily understandable rarity system. Items you can loot and equip can be of varying qualities, including “common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary.” If you’re interested, you can join the Skills & Raids open beta playtest on Steam now, as well as wishlist the full game. There’s no pricing information available at the time of writing, and the “Q3 2026” release date listed on Steam is slightly vague. Though per the press release, developer Eddie Hinestroza plans to launch Skills & Raids in “July 2026.”