Roller skating and turn-based tactics do not immediately sound like the most natural pairing.
One is built around momentum, movement and looking considerably cooler than most of us ever will. The other normally gives you unlimited time to stare at a grid while quietly reconsidering every decision you have made.
Canvas City is attempting to make them work together.
New Zealand independent studio Disc 2 Games will release a free Steam demo for its upcoming tactical RPG on 24 August, giving players more than two hours to get acquainted with the Fire Starters and their rebellion against an oppressive city regime.
The demo goes live at 21:00 BST and covers the first half of Canvas City’s opening act, including its tutorial and first four levels.
Tactical combat, but make it stylish
Canvas City takes the fundamentals of a turn-based tactical RPG and builds its battlefields around skating.
Players plot movement across ramps, rails and other parts of the environment, chaining tricks together with character abilities rather than simply walking between squares and attacking whoever happens to be standing nearby.
Disc 2 Games says movement is intended to become part of the strategy itself, with the city effectively serving as both battlefield and skate park.
That extends to the Tag Spots dotted around each arena.
Claiming one generates Style Points for the entire crew, but rival skaters can take the territory back, forcing players to think about controlling the map rather than simply removing every opponent from it.
It gives Canvas City a slightly different tactical question.
Not just: “Who can I hit this turn?”
More: “Can I grind that rail, tag that wall, power up the crew and make everyone watching think I absolutely meant to do all of it?”
Six Fire Starters are included in the demo
The public demo introduces six playable members of the Fire Starters across all three of Canvas City’s character classes.
Disc 2 Games has moved away from familiar fantasy archetypes like tanks, healers and rogues, instead creating Dancers, Musicians and Artists to better match the game’s world and focus on movement and creative rebellion.
Players can raise their Crew Level to eight during the demo and unlock up to four abilities for each character.
Magazines recovered from the four available battles also expand the crew’s collection of aerial and rail tricks, giving players more ways to move across environments and approach later turns.
Completed stages can then be replayed for bonus objectives and better rankings, with additional Followers available for players willing to refine their strategy rather than simply scraping through each encounter.
This is a rebellion fought with paint, not swords
The wider premise helps separate Canvas City from the fantasy kingdoms and military campaigns that tend to dominate turn-based tactics.
Players lead a group of skaters and street artists fighting back against a regime that has cracked down on cultural expression across the city. Different districts are controlled by rival crews, ranging from corporate-backed groups to influencers and performance artists, each bringing their own approach to encounters.
There are no knights here.
No archers.
No suspiciously fragile wizard standing several squares behind everyone else.
Instead, characters fight for control through movement, abilities, tricks and street art.
The full game is expected to feature 12 recruitable characters, while the Garage acts as the crew’s hub for adjusting loadouts, learning more about characters and preparing for upcoming missions.
PC first, with Nintendo Switch also planned
The full version of Canvas City remains in development for PC and Nintendo Switch, with no final launch date currently confirmed.
Steam lists Disc 2 Games as both developer and publisher and currently supports English, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese interfaces and subtitles.
The Christchurch-based studio is making Canvas City as its debut title, with the team describing itself as a group of industry veterans interested in reimagining familiar genres through different settings and mechanics.
And Canvas City certainly qualifies as different.
There are not too many tactical RPGs where improving your position involves grinding down a handrail.
Our take on Canvas City
Canvas City has one of those ideas that immediately makes you wonder why nobody has tried it more often.
Turn-based tactics is fundamentally about movement and positioning. Skateboarding games are fundamentally about finding creative ways to move through an environment.
Put like that, combining the two suddenly sounds considerably less strange.
The important part will be whether skating genuinely changes how battles are approached rather than simply providing a stylish animation between tactical positions. The emphasis on rails, ramps, tricks and contested Tag Spots suggests Disc 2 Games understands that distinction.
Giving players four levels and more than two hours is also a fairly generous demo, particularly when stages can be replayed for bonus objectives and improved rankings.
Canvas City’s free demo launches through Steam on 24 August at 21:00 BST.
The full game is currently in development for PC and Nintendo Switch.
Turns out overthrowing an oppressive regime might be easier with a decent pair of skates.
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