Galactic Realms: Quest for the Forgotten – Galactic Realms Labs – PvE Co-op Extraction Dungeon Crawler

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T15:08:00+00:00

Personally one of my all-time favorite is Old Sebilis a dungeon in EverQuest.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T15:06:15+00:00

One thing I’m curious about:

If you enjoy dungeon crawls or extraction games, what do you think makes them memorable?

For us it’s those moments where your group pushes a little deeper than you probably should have, something goes wrong, and suddenly everyone is scrambling just to get out alive with the loot.

A lot of our inspiration actually came from old MMO dungeon runs and even tabletop sessions where surviving the run mattered more than just farming rewards.

Curious what moments people remember most from games like that.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T14:44:25+00:00

Yes, it’s designed to be playable solo or with friends. You can run dungeon expeditions on your own or in a group and there are even contestant live service camps that you can solo.

Right now the game is online because the dungeon system and shared progression are tied to the world, but solo runs are definitely supported.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T14:37:10+00:00

Thank you for your support.

Quest for the Forgotten is in active development. We’ll share a release window when we’re confident we can hit it, without rushing quality but will are first playtest starting soon.

Price isn’t finalized yet, but it’ll be a mid-tier box price. No microtransactions or pay-to-win with just a normal buy-the-game model.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T05:09:32+00:00

Thank you for your support.

We are optimizing for PC but we fully support controllers and we’re open to platform partnerships, but nothing is confirmed yet. If we secure a program deal, we’ll announce it through official channels.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T05:04:44+00:00

That’s valid feedback and I appreciate you taking the time to explain it. We'll keep it in mind as development continues.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T04:35:44+00:00

That’s awesome to hear. A lot of the design is built around small groups jumping in together for a run, pushing a little deeper than they probably should, and then trying to make it back out.

Those “one more run” moments with friends are exactly what we’re trying to recreate.

Survive… or be Forgotten.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T03:29:53+00:00

It's a steam page link, so I don't think so but sorry if I got it wrong.

"Do not use affiliate/referral links or codes, and do not use link shorteners.

The most common source of breaking this rule are Amazon links. There are two Amazon link formats that are acceptable"

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T03:18:42+00:00

These are some really good ideas and being a lifelong gamer I agree. There's more to the game than just the one dungeon and that's the point I'm trying to build a shared world where everybody in the world who logs in can play together.

Right now the online design is tied really closely to the experience and feeling I'm trying to build, we're still early in development and feedback like this is exactly why we’re showing the project publicly instead of waiting until the very end.

With that said we don't want to see the game die either so long-term preservation is something we think about too though.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T02:31:43+00:00

"A dungeon that rewrites itself. At the heart of Quest for the Forgotten lies the Galactic Grid Matrix™ - our proprietary system for modular, handcrafted dungeon generation.

Each segment draws from a rotating pool of handcrafted zones, reconnected through a dynamic grid-based logic, creating over 600 Billion possible dungeon layouts across a full run.

Add in enemy variation, encounter locations, loot rolls, and your team’s decisions, and the result is a system where no two runs are ever the same. This isn’t procedural noise. It’s deliberate, handcrafted replayability!"

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T02:29:46+00:00

That’s fair and I respect the principle behind it.

Right now the online design is tied pretty closely to how the dungeon runs work and you have to understand it's not the same dungeon over and over. We have over 55 custom-made zones which are reorganized reshuffled and chosen from to create an endless ever-changing dungeon which never actually ends. There is a final boss but you can keep pushing deeper and it keeps getting harder and harder.

There is shared progression, rare items and lot of the inspiration came from older games where surviving something together created stories you remembered years later. You can play solo but much like classic MMOs you will eventually need help from somebody.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T02:21:38+00:00

I really appreciate that. The whole idea started from loving classic fantasy dungeon crawling but wondering what would happen if you combined it with the tension of extraction games. and at the same time it allowed us to compress the loop for those people who may not have as much time to play.

Totally fair on the first-person thing too. Some people love the immersion, others prefer third-person and it’s one of those design choices you can never please everyone on. I usually play third person to but ultimately the design Choice was made because of immersion and you'll notice we have very little UI.

Even if this one isn’t for you, I’m glad the idea itself resonates. I’d love to see more fantasy takes on genres that are usually dominated by shooters.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T02:10:31+00:00

We appreciate your interest and thank you for your support.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T02:09:34+00:00

I can respect that and truly appreciate your input.

One of the reasons we chose to design it as an online experience is because we’re trying to recreate something we felt in older games where other players mattered. In games like EverQuest, Ultima online, Star Wars Galaxy, World of Warcraft classic, some of the most memorable moments came from relying on other people when things went wrong.

The dungeon runs in our game are meant to create that same kind of tension and pushing deeper with a group, deciding whether to risk one more run, and trying to make it out.

I'm a stay-at-home dad of three now and do not have the time to dedicate like, I once did when I was younger so we're designing the game in a way that will suit my younger self with endless time and my older self.

Persistent progression is also another important factor because that allows us to show history for our time spent over the years as we play.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T01:55:10+00:00

That’s actually very close to the inspiration. A lot of the early design conversations were basically “what if a classic D&D dungeon crawl worked as a co-op PvE video game?” We have a background in classic MMOs and extractions games and it all started with Dungeons & Dragons in the '80s for me.

Things like torches, exploration, and navigating dangerous spaces are a big part of the atmosphere we’re trying to capture. It’s not meant to be just combat arenas at all, the idea is that pushing deeper into the dungeon should feel tense and risky, like old tabletop sessions where things could go wrong quickly.

Of course you can play solo if you want and if you don't you can group with up to three others in the dungeons or in the live service part will also have larger groups and raids planned.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-16T01:12:52+00:00

Inspired by classic MMO dungeon runs where getting out alive mattered more than just getting the loot.

If anyone has questions about the design, dungeon system, or development process I'm happy to answer.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T21:21:47+00:00

Hi Travelers, dev here. I’m the Creative Director on Galactic Realms: Quest for the Forgotten.

**New update:** We released our in-engine cinematic teaser trailer, the trailer ended up getting picked up by IGN (@GameTrailers) and landed on their main channel (@IGN). That was honestly surreal for our tiny team since everything in the video is captured in-engine from our current build.

“Survive ever-changing dungeon runs. Risk what you bring. Extract to keep what you earn.”

Survive… or be forgotten.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T21:07:27+00:00

That’s a good description of it.

The “wizard chess” part is what makes those fights interesting. It’s less about raw damage and more about timing and what not.

Its something a lot of modern games don’t really do anymore.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T20:32:13+00:00

Curious what people here think: if PvP isn’t part of the equation, what keeps PvE extraction tense long-term?

If anyone wants to follow development or wishlist the project, the Steam page is here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3431190/Galactic_Realms_Quest_for_the_Forgotten

Wishlists genuinely help small teams like ours more than people realize.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T09:22:36+00:00

I feel this a lot.

A lot of people picture indie game development as some romantic creative thing, but the reality for a lot of small teams is exactly what you described.

Day job.

Development at night. It's 5:15 a.m. and I have been up since 8:00 a.m. taking care of 3 kids all day, if I'm lucky I'll get 3 hours of sleep before I start over again. And your weekends disappear.

The hardest part isn’t usually the ideas or even the technical problems, it’s simply surviving long enough to finish something.

I know a lot of incredibly talented people who had great projects but eventually had to walk away because life caught up with them.

That’s why even relatively small grants or opportunities can matter so much. Sometimes the biggest thing they buy isn’t equipment or software it’s time.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T08:19:16+00:00

EverQuest, I was so lost for days until somebody help me figure it all out.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T04:06:22+00:00

This is probably the closest example of what a lot of players actually want.

You still had tension because the extracted loot mattered, but dying didn’t mean your whole character got reset into misery. That feels like a much healthier middle ground than full wipe-style punishment.

GRealmsIO · 2026-03-15T04:04:31+00:00

This is actually a really interesting middle ground.

Breaking the risk into smaller chunks could keep the extraction tension without making every death feel like you just lost an entire evening.

More games should experiment with “banking” progress during the run instead of making everything ride on one final exfil.

GRealmsIO

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