Silver Palace: Anime Expo 2026 Impression

Silver Palace offers a regal, ornate world, rich in detail and firm in its Victorian aesthetic, all with some solid, engaging, and flashy combat.

If one had to sum up Silver Palace in a word, it would be grand. As an open-world fantasy action RPG, it takes place in a Victorian-inspired setting with elaborate, picturesque architecture abounding and characters outfitted in classical, intricately crafted, and fashionable regalia. If I didn’t already have a preset appointment at Anime Expo 2026 for Silver Palace, the booth itself would likely have drawn me in, with its lustrous silver horse statue and fancily dressed cosplayers. Fortunately for the game, it’s just as alluring as its event booth, with strong gameplay, environmental and character design, and promising lore.

Silver Palace takes place in the prosperous metropolis of Silvernia, a city boasting extraordinary wealth and technological prowess fueled by the power of an element known as Silverium. From the demo’s opening, it’s apparent just how thorough Silvernia’s influence is, with behemoth, fantastical whale-like airships coasting across the city’s elaborate, fanciful skyline. The setting looks fantastic, with plenty of detail and Victorian influence lending an extravagant charm as the city’s wealthy, well-dressed residents parade about its streets. The game’s soundtrack does a nice job of establishing atmosphere as well, with some lovely accordions giving the city a lively, sprightly atmosphere. The game wastes no time, immediately immersing players in its setting, with plenty of interesting allusions to groups of knights and mining technology, hinting at deeper, richer worldbuilding.

The kinder, more beautiful half of the demo’s first boss, Vita et Mors.

After giving a glimpse of its grander world, the demo shifts to the player character, Detective Munin, as she is being knighted by the queen of Silvernia, but, surprise, a sudden assassination attempt on Her Majesty’s life ensues. Munin’s arm suddenly transforms into an elaborate, shimmering weapon, allowing her to intercept the assassin, but as she does, a shimmering trail of silver leaves his body and ascends upwards, swirling up to a portal-like silver flower above the throne. To the tune of a harrowing classical piece reminiscent of Mozart’s Requiem, a gorgeous, statuesque woman erupts from the portal, partially covered in an azure substance and dripping with Silverium. Immediately thereafter, another statuesque, demonlike being erupts as well, choking the woman and fighting with her. It’s an absolutely gorgeous, breathtaking entrance for the demo’s first boss, and firmly establishes the game’s atmosphere and stakes before segueing into combat.

Combat involves executing basic attacks, which build up Activation Energy, allowing the use of ranged skills, namely guns, which do quite a lot of damage and more quickly stun the enemy. Once enemies are stunned, they can be executed, which increases Reactor Energy by up to four levels. Each level allows players to switch to one of four characters and execute a powerful Tactical Assault for heavy damage. Continuing to inflict damage allows each character to build up and unleash an Ultimate Attack. Players may also dodge and parry, with incoming parriable attacks indicated by a yellow circle and more dangerous attacks by a red circle, meaning they need to be dodged. All in all, combat felt engaging and responsive, if a bit easy because Ultimate Attacks charged so quickly, though this early demo segment seemed to take place later in the game. Aside from its feel, the Ultimate Attacks and the characters’ general acrobatics were quite entertaining, with well-choreographed spectacle and plenty of color and excitement.

Between dodges, the fiery Cinderella unleashes her Gatling gun on the boss.

Once the initial boss was defeated, the game jumped to Silvernia, allowing players to explore on foot or on a mounted Pegasus. The demo guided players towards several waypoints, each with several battles against regular enemies and some mini-bosses. The world seemed expansive and richly detailed, though the prevalence of side quests or other content couldn’t be gauged from the demo. That said, there were grappling points and some neat ways to explore and interact with the world. Combat felt slightly more difficult yet remained engaging, and after a few combat encounters, the demo finally switched gears once more to another boss battle, seemingly earlier in the game, where players can only play as Munin. This boss fight pitted players against the fiery Cinderella, one of the four playable characters from earlier in the demo. Here, the combat shone significantly more, forcing the player to make much better use of parrying and dodging and satisfactorily upping the difficulty. Once she was defeated, the demo concluded.

On the whole, Silver Palace offers a regal, ornate world, rich in detail and firm in its Victorian aesthetic, all with some solid, engaging, and flashy combat. While the fights in the demo leaned on the easier side, if the game demands that players engage more heavily with its combat elements, which are quite mechanically sound, Silver Palace could emerge as a really interesting open-world action RPG. When considering the strength of its presentational elements and the gorgeous environmental design, which shine with undeniable luster and attention to detail, the only question is how thoroughly and effectively the game fleshes out its lore and builds a convincingly engrossing world.