With Karl Marx and Harambe: Wild autobattler from Dota 2 veterans launches free on Steam

Relic Arena is the debut game from Double Edge Games, a studio founded by none other than Dota 2 veterans SUNSfan and Jenkins. The title is a wildly absurd autobattler that appears to be going down well with players so far. At the time of writing, one day after release, the free-to-play game already had around 150 reviews with an 87% positive average.

Instead of buying units as in traditional autobattlers, Relic Arena puts the focus entirely on relics, abilities and completely over-the-top combos. The units themselves are free, while gold is spent exclusively on historical artifacts that give characters new abilities, effects and upgrade paths. The twist: every relic can be placed on every unit. This creates absurd builds that sometimes feel as if they came straight out of a meme forum. A bowling ball can knock over entire rows of enemies, a Tesla radio can summon natural disasters such as tornadoes or blizzards and a Kevlar suit can suddenly move one of your units into a bulletproof bunker.

Relic Arena does not hold back on absurdity when it comes to its leaders either. Instead of generic fantasy heroes, historical figures and internet memes fight side by side. Karl Marx manipulates the game’s economy, Vlad the Impaler turns units into vampires, Leonardo da Vinci unlocks additional upgrade tiers and Harambe apparently just loves bananas. The upgrade system is one of the game’s most distinctive features. Buying the same relic multiple times makes it increasingly powerful. First, so-called “Super Upgrades” are unlocked, followed later by extremely powerful “Juicy Upgrades”, which the developers say can decide entire matches on their own.

Despite all the absurdity, Relic Arena remains a classic autobattler at its core: battles play out automatically, while the important decisions are made between rounds. Anyone who likes bizarre game ideas and is looking for something new for short sessions could find plenty to enjoy here. Steam Deck compatibility is currently still listed as “Unknown”.