Open now · Join instantly
Tales of the Southern Seas playtest
by Lazycat Interactive
Build trade routes, recruit companions and refit your fleet in a single-player sailing adventure set in the late-Ming Southern Seas. Navigate wind, waves and strange encounters. Will you turn the sea into a ledger—or learn to live alongside it?
Anyone with a Steam account can join, and it's free.
- Access
- Instant
- On playtest since
- Nov 10, 2026
- Planned release
- Q2 2027
- Developer
- Lazycat Interactive
- Platforms
- Windows
- Players
- Single-player
- Languages
- English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
How to join the Tales of the Southern Seas playtest
- Open the game's Steam page with the Join playtest button. Sign in to Steam if it asks.
- Use the Tales of the Southern Seas playtest signup there. You're in straight away, with nothing to pay.
- The playtest shows up in your Steam library, ready to install and play.
New to playtests? How Steam playtests work
How AI is used
This game uses generative AI for some of its assets. Character portraits and promotional illustrations were created with AI image tools (ChatGPT), 3D landmark models with Tripo3D, sound effects with ElevenLabs, and the background music and theme song with Suno. The English and Simplified Chinese localization was drafted with AI assistance. All AI-generated content was reviewed, edited and selected by the developer before shipping. Nothing is generated live during gameplay.
The developer's own words, from Steam.
About Tales of the Southern Seas
What does the sea make of you?
A cargo can have a price. What a voyage brings home cannot always fit in a ledger.
Tales of the Southern Seas is a single-player sailing adventure where maritime trade meets tales of the strange in the late Ming era. Seek opportunities between ports, prepare your fleet and supplies, and chart a course through shifting winds, competing interests and unfamiliar waters.
Turn voyages into trade routes
Watch prices and supply at each port. Choose what to carry, how much room to reserve for provisions, and where to sell. Manage port warehouses and invest in local infrastructure, building a foothold along the coasts you come to know.
Make every ship your own
Refit hulls, sails and artillery, balancing cargo space against equipment. Carry another shipment, bring more firepower, or prepare for a longer passage: the choices you make in port travel with you.
No one makes the voyage alone
Recruit companions in taverns, assign officers and assemble your fleet. Read the wind and watch your provisions at sea. In battle, maneuver for position and bring your broadsides to bear. A voyage is not over until your ships and people return home.
There is more to these waters than prey
Great claws break the waves, but not every strange encounter fits neatly into friend or foe. Watch for unfamiliar shapes and disturbances on the water. Decide when to approach, when to sail on, and when to open fire.
From misty harbors to moonlight caught between sails and reflections, discover a sea rendered in a restrained, print-inspired palette—a place where the unfamiliar still belongs.
When you return with a full hold, what have you gained?
Will you turn the sea into a ledger, or learn to live alongside it?
From the game's Steam page.
