The Pixel Hunt Announces Ithaca, a Narrative RPG About Climate Crisis

French independent developer The Pixel Hunt has announced Ithaca, a narrative road-trip RPG that explores environmental destruction, political powerlessness, and the increasingly difficult choices created by an ecological crisis. The game is targeting a Q4 2027 release on PC, with an open beta demo now available on Steam.

Ithaca was revealed on June 5, 2026, during the Day of the Devs: Summer Game Fest Edition. The announcement was accompanied by a reveal trailer, the launch of the game’s Steam page, an open beta demo, and a Kickstarter campaign intended to help fund further development.

The game follows Penelope, a 30-something environmental rights lawyer who has spent years attempting to challenge environmental destruction through legal channels. After repeatedly failing to create meaningful change, she begins a road trip toward a location called Ithaca. There is, however, a disturbing complication: Penelope has a hostage tied up in the trunk of her car.

That premise sets up a journey focused less on traditional combat and more on character development, investigation, and difficult decisions. As Penelope travels across the country, players will encounter procedurally generated landscapes while uncovering clues both inside the vehicle and along the road.

RPG mechanics will shape Penelope’s personality throughout the journey, allowing players to influence how she responds to the situations she encounters. Relationships also play a role, with phone calls and text messages providing opportunities to interact with other characters and develop connections while on the road.

The game’s central question revolves around how far Penelope, and by extension the player, is willing to go when conventional methods appear incapable of addressing the scale of the ecological crisis. Rather than presenting a straightforward hero’s journey, Ithaca appears designed around moral uncertainty and the consequences of increasingly extreme choices.

The developer is currently running a playtest for the game through its official Steam page, which will give interested players a chance to try it out before its full launch. Ithaca is currently in development for PC via Steam and is scheduled to launch around Q4 2027. Although the game’s main Kickstarter campaign was completed with 129.80% funding on July 5, 2026, people can still Late Pledge for available rewards.