Steam Next Fest & Devblog - January 2026

A lot has happened lately, and the game is starting to feel like a proper “manager sim” instead of just a match loop. This update is all about depth and clarity: better progression, stronger identity for gladiators, more meaningful downtime choices, and a ton of polish across UI + combat.

1) Steam Next Fest – February 2026

The game will be part of Steam Next Fest (February 2026), running from 23 Feb – 2 Mar. As you will see most of the things below were purely added due to feedback, so with Steam Next Fest it’s a huge opportunity to gather feedback and hopefully some momentum as well before release. And hopefully also an opportunity for you all to get to enjoy the game :)

2) Traits – More personality to your Gladiators

Until now there were only the cultural traits as well as the "Talent" trait in the game. But feedback from early testers was that they would like to see more of these, but negative, positive & neutral ones alike. So lets start with the most unique ones which are reserved for a few designated Legendary Gladiators at the start of the game.

Legendary

• +30% damage

• +30% max HP

• +50% fame gain

• Cannot wear helmets

Demigod

• +50% damage

• +50% max HP

• +50% fame gain

• Cannot wear helmets

And then lets move on to the new regular traits (the main system) Here are the new core traits and exactly what they do:

Talent

• Gains stats 50% faster

• A long-term investment trait. Your “training monster”.

Slow

• Gains stats 25% slower

• The opposite of Talent. Still usable, but takes longer to develop.

Strong

• +10% damage

• +10% max HP

• Straight up power. Always good.

Weak

• −10% damage

• −10% max HP

• A real drawback — and one of the main negatives Heavy Training can potentially remove.

Weapon Master

• +10% damage with all weapon types

• Great on anyone, but especially strong once you start swapping weapons around and building “loadouts”.

Lucky

• +15% crit chance

• One of the most fun traits because it creates highlight moments. Big swings, clutch kills.

Athletic

• +20% dodge chance

• Makes a gladiator noticeably harder to hit, especially when combined with the improved dodge system.

Unathletic

• −20% dodge chance

• Makes a gladiator feel heavier / slower in combat, a clear downside.

Reckless

• +10% damage dealt

• +10% damage taken

• Very “high volatility”: amazing if you’re trying to snowball fights quickly, dangerous if you’re already fragile.

Big Game Player

• +15% damage

• +15% dodge chance

• +50% post-match energy loss

• This is your “star performer” trait: insane match impact, but it costs you more downtime.

Showman

• +25% fame gain

• Cannot wear helmets

• Pure economy trait with a visual tradeoff, more money, but you don’t get to fully armor-tank with a helmet.

Brawler

• If wearing Tier 1–3 gear: +10% damage and +10% Defence

• If wearing Tier 4–5 gear: −10% damage and −10% Defence

• This one is intentionally “early game bully”. Great while you’re poor, but fades (and even turns negative) once you’re geared.

Fragile

• +25% post-match energy loss

• It doesn’t necessarily make you weak in the fight, but it makes scheduling harder. You’ll feel it across a season.

So that's it for the traits for now! The Cultural ones have also been redesigned to match the same artstyle and have the same border so it all feels consistent.

3) Heavy Training

So it was long a requested feature to introduce "training", however it never really appealled to me as I was concern players would be able to send 5 cannon fodder each week while their "real" best 5 would just be training forever with no risk nor action. But I think I managed to find a good compromise. So let me introduce to you "Heavy Training".

Core rules

• Only 1 gladiator at a time for the player club (AI clubs also use it).

• Duration: 21 days

• The gladiator is locked out of matches (energy is forced to 0).

• Daily training gives flat stat XP, not random tiny boosts.

• Training speed is affected by traits like Talent and Slow.

Drillmaster scaling (this is the big part) Your Drillmaster level determines the stat cap Heavy Training can reach:

• L1 → 40

• L2 → 45

• L3 → 50

• L4 → 55

• L5 → 60

So it’s not just “train forever”, it’s controlled progression, and you upgrade your Ludus to train higher.

Daily Drillmaster “breakthrough” roll Every day there’s a chance to improve traits (remove negatives first, then add positives at higher levels):

• L1: 1% daily chance to remove Weak / Unathletic

• L2: 2% daily chance to remove Weak / Unathletic

• L3: 3% daily chance to remove Weak / Unathletic / Fragile OR gain Athletic

• L4: 4% daily chance to remove Weak / Unathletic / Fragile OR gain Strong / Athletic

• L5: 5% daily chance to remove Weak / Unathletic / Fragile OR gain Strong / Weapon Master / Athletic

So Heavy Training isn’t just stat gains, it’s also a way to fix gladiators that rolled badly… or turn a decent one into a monster.

4) New Armours (and more meaningful gear decisions)

The armour catalogue has been expanded with more armour pieces to add more flavour to the game, as well as a new Tier 5 Armour set.

You can see a more or less fully equipped Tier 5 Armour set in the screenshot below.

5) New Home Screen + League Panel

The Home flow has been upgraded to feel more like a proper club-management hub:

• Cleaner navigation

• League overview has been given it's own panel

• Less “spam” and more meaningful info

The League Panel now gives a clearer view of your tier + league position, and it’s easier to keep track of how your season is actually going.

So this is the new homescreen, and yes the scroll will close and open when you click on messages to the left ;)

Steam post imageAnd this is the new League Panel! I want to expand it in the future so it allows the player to click on every club and gladiator to view more details about them.

6) New Arena Backgrounds

The arena map has been given more atmosphere with a new background to make fights feel like actual events, less empty, more alive, more “gladiator spectacle”.

This also helps the game visually: it feels more like a world, not just a combat test scene. Steam post image

7) Dodge + Block animation improvements (plus better logic)

Dodge and block have been tightened up and feel more readable in combat.

A few key improvements behind the scenes:

• Block and dodge chance are now calculated consistently based on weapon type, shield rules, and traits.

• No weapon = no block (so you can’t magically block while unarmed).

• Spears reduce block, dual wield improves dodge, two-handed reduces dodge, so weapons feel mechanically different, not just visually different.

• Crit bonuses (like Lucky) are properly applied as part of the gladiator’s combat identity.

Result is that fights look better and make more sense.

8) QOL improvements + lots of fixes

A bunch of smaller upgrades that make the game feel more polished day-to-day:

• Player team is always shown as blue in matches (no confusion, consistent readability).

• Stats show different colour when maxed out (instant clarity: “this stat is capped”).

• Doctores renamed to Medicus (purely cosmetic, but fits the current system way better).

• Save/load reliability improvements, fewer edge cases, fewer “weird states”.

• Tons of small bug fixes and stability work across UI, equipment, season flow, and training.

• Probably tons of other small things I have forgotten I fixed myself.

Basically: fewer annoyances, more smoothness.

At least half of the stuff you just read above was suggestions / feedback from players that has now been added to the game. So If you get the chance during Next Fest: please play the demo and send feedback. Every suggestion helps me polish the game and make sure it delivers the full Gladiator Manager experience that we all hope to see and experience.