Shearline

Fractured time shapes the battlefield.

Shearline is a turn-based tactical RPG where every battle is a positioning puzzle. Maps are split into fast-time, slow-time, and unstable ground, and terrain changes who fights well, who moves cleanly, and who gets punished for crossing the board at the wrong moment.

• Small tactical maps built around combat, defense, and escape objectives

• Full combat forecast and enemy intent display before you commit

• Temporal terrain that changes proficiency, movement, and route planning

• Character abilities create openings, protect allies, and punish bad positioning

• Limited-charge relics shift the tide of battle at the exact moment you need

The World Runs on Stolen Years

Workers go into the time mines for three calendar years and come out having aged thirty. The drift stakes that keep frontier towns alive are leased, not owned. Zev and her squad start by maintaining the line around Threshold and end up following evidence of something they were never meant to see.

Your Squad

Zev is a Shear-Touched scout who carries Threshold's only portable field anchor and reads the line better than anyone in town. The tool is very much on loan.

Kir is a Vel striker who is at her best on haste shear. Her father survived a 10x time claim; she understands the toll of the haste.

Bryn is a Meridian medic from a family that profits from frontier supply contracts. He knows exactly how the mine economy works, and he came out here anyway.

They are the first three caught in something much larger.

Terrain

Fast-time, slow-time, and unstable ground do more than change the map's color. They change who is effective, how cleanly a squad can move, and how dangerous it is to cross the line at the wrong moment.

Vel fighters thrive on haste shear. Other units may lose footing, waste movement, or cross into battle already compromised. Some fights are won by raw damage. Others are won by putting the right person on the right ground one turn earlier.

Relics

Rare and powerful relics can break the normal rules of combat. Zev's anchor turns a 3x3 patch of hostile terrain into normal ground for two turns allowing safe passage, or clears Disoriented from an adjacent ally. You get three charges per battle, will you break an enemy terrain advantage or carve a safe route through a tough spot?

Bonds

After multiple shared battles, bonds unlock combined actions that reward repeated deployment and strong positioning.

Cover and Move lets Zev and Kir reposition under pressure. Rally Point rewards planned positioning. Press and Hold lets Kir and Bryn break through a threatened line together. Bond levels deepen through continued deployment and unlock stronger combined actions.

The Demo

The planned Steam Next Fest: October 2026 Edition demo is built around five handcrafted battles, full-information tactics, and a frontier mystery that opens into something larger.

• 5 story battles with escalating terrain and objective complexity

• 4 units each with two unique starting classes

• Party progression up to level 5

• Early-game bonds, with combo abilities and bond progression

• Threshold, a frontier town you can explore between missions

• World map travel, shops, camp, and full save/load

• Temporal terrain, drifting eddies, and limited anchor charges that make every map a route-planning puzzle

• Around 3-5 hours for a focused run, longer if you do the side content

About the Developer

Shearline is a solo project by Hasteward.

Walk the Shearline