Silver Palace's excellent and eccentric Gamescom 2026 demo made me believe the hype

• Silver Palace took centre stage with a major new trailer at Gamescom 2026's ONL
• And I managed to get hands-on with its latest demo!
• So, does it live up to the hype? Well, yes.

With Gamescom in full flow, it’s been a truly hectic week so far for yours truly. But that hasn’t stopped me from hopping onto my laptop to write about one of the more exciting games I got the chance to try here at Gamescom 2026! None other than the upcoming ARPG Silver Palace! I was able to get a hands-on demo of Elementa Games’ highly anticipated new release the day after their much-hyped trailer at Gamescom Opening Night Live.

Now, there is one small caveat, which is that the build I played was on PC. But as I was told, every effort is being made to achieve the same parity with every platform, and no doubt the core gameplay will remain the same. So consider this something of a sneak preview, a glimpse into what you can expect from Silver Palace when it does hit mobile!

What’s it all about?

To be honest, a lot of the story flew over my head. The demo essentially drops you right into the world of Silver Palace, setting the stage for a world undergoing a technological renaissance thanks to the exploitation of a substance called Silverium, with all the disruption and intrigue that implies. You play as a servant of the royal family, and your award ceremony quickly goes awry - before you know it, you’re fighting two bickering giant statues trying to crush you (and kill each other in the process).

But really, the story is second to the world, combat and exploration (and yes, I am drifting on a horse in the above image). Or at least for many of you I’m sure it is, so let’s get into how Silver Palace holds up in the metaphorical meat-and-potatoes department.

How does it play?

In a word? Fantastically. I found Silver Palace’s fast-paced mixture of hack-’n-slash action, alongside careful dodges and parries, to flow very well. In comparison to other games of the same genre, which tend to devolve into ‘my number is bigger than yours’, your individual skill in fights plays a major role in success or failure. You have a relatively simple control scheme, with both your regular and special attacks, as well as an ultimate. And quite welcomely, the ultimate is not something you’ll find yourself spamming often, and it functions very much as a game-changer in boss fights.

Meanwhile, in between battles you’ll have the chance to explore the enormous Victorian fairypunk fantasy city of Silvernia. You can either navigate it on foot and enjoy the sights, or hop aboard your mount, which can also take to the skies if you use some of the launchpads scattered around, or just jump off a high place and mount up as I did.

What’s it look like?

Visually speaking, Silver Palace looks absolutely stunning (even if that aforementioned city can seem a bit empty of pedestrians), and if the mobile version has even a fraction of its fidelity, then it’ll be one of the best-looking releases in recent memory, especially with the traversal options allowing you to explore every nook and cranny of the city at your leisure.

At a time when miHoYo has basically set the standard template for fantasy worlds in mobile games, it’s always welcome to see a developer do something different. And while Silver Palace still has that anime-style look about it, it’s accompanied by some quite intricate world and costume designs that manage to be visually interesting without being too fancy.

How’s it sound?

This is one subheading I felt needed to be included all on its own, simply so I can talk about the best part of the demo. The version of Silver Palace I got to play was cut into sections, with the intro accompanied by a bit of exploration and battles around Silveria. Essentially, it was more of a tech demo than anything else. But the demo did finish up with a rather exciting boss battle.

And let me tell you, if I hadn’t been sold on Silver Palace before, a boss battle against a woman called ‘Cinderella’ [sic], wielding a machine gun one-handed, riding on top of a clockwork pumpkin carriage in an enormous foundry full of glowing lakes of molten metal certainly convinced me that this is one to watch! All of this set to a heavy, pulse-pounding remix of Le Quattro Stagioni by Vivaldi (the one with the violins). Yes, it’s that kind of game.

Final thoughts?

Well, I admit I’m not the biggest fan of either gacha or ARPGs. So it should tell you a lot that I’m willing to endorse Silver Palace, at least from what I’ve played so far. I have heard rumblings from my non-mobile-playing friends, dismissing it because it’s a gacha. And truth be told, I did ask about the topic, although I was assured the implementation of that mechanic was in a fluid state, and player feedback was being taken into account.

But if you want my opinion, Silver Palace is one to watch. And whether you’re playing on mobile, PC or elsewhere, I think you’ll find it quite entertaining.

In the meantime, if you want to see what other great releases that have already launched this year we think are worth playing, then you need to check out our list of the best mobile games of 2026 (so far)!