Hope in the City, a narrative mystery adventure from Lofty Sky Games and NAGA Games, launches on November 11, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Steam, and it is included on day one with Xbox Game Pass. The Xbox Wire page lists the game at $19.99.

You play Hope Song, a 17-year-old aspiring artist in Shenyang, Northeast China. She is about to leave for art school overseas when she comes home to a ransacked apartment and missing parents. Xbox Wire’s story, written by creative director Judith Cheung, explains why the game gives her a sketchbook instead of a detective’s badge.

How does the investigation work?

You solve the case by combining thoughts, not by showing credentials. Hope has no authority, and the people around her are not willing to talk, so her notebook is where she can question anything.

  • Clues, conversations and observations are recorded in the notebook as sketches
  • You can combine any two thoughts to see what connection they make
  • Successful combinations become insights and breakthroughs that unlock new dialogue, locations and leads
  • You can take what you learned to other characters and choose what to ask them

According to the studio, the idea came from a question about choice. Hope’s actions are limited, but her thoughts are not, so that is where players get the most freedom.

What did the developers change after testing?

Early prototypes had a problem: combining unrelated observations produced the same generic reply every time, and it got dull fast. The writers answered by creating an individual response for every combination, even those that do not advance the case. Hope might joke, show a bit of her personality or drift toward a subtle hint.

Playtesting also showed that some links the team thought were obvious were hard for players. The notebook interface and the clues were refined several times, with the aim of keeping the moment when two ideas click while making wrong answers more fun to try.

Who drew the sketchbook?

Artist Calista Antonio made more than 100 hand drawn sketches for the game. Each page is meant as a quick visual impression of what Hope notices and feels, not a polished illustration. Because she is also a 3D animator, she used the game’s own models and assets to block out perspectives and poses, then developed the drawings with linework and digital watercolour.

Antonio shares some of Hope’s background: she has Chinese heritage and left Asia at 17 to study art in Canada. Some of her own paintings hang on the walls of Hope’s bedroom in the game.

Which platforms and what about the demo?

Hope in the City is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Steam, and Game Pass members can play it at launch. Pre-orders and pre-installs are open on Xbox, according to the studio’s press release. An updated demo on Steam was part of Steam Next Fest, which began on October 19, 2026, and offers a casual Story Mode and a harder Detective Mode.

The demo is fully voiced in English and also supports Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Prices

The Xbox Wire page shows $19.99 for the game with a pre-order button, without naming a country or currency beyond the dollar sign. The studio’s press release lists no price, and no other price for Steam or other countries has been confirmed by the pages we read. Check the Xbox store and the Steam page for your own region before you buy.

Who it suits

Mystery and detective fans. The case can be pursued in any order, and leads are unlocked by your own deductions rather than by a marker on the map.

Game Pass subscribers. The game is available at launch with Xbox Game Pass, so members can try it without buying it separately.

Players who like story and art. The game uses a bold, stylized look and more than 100 drawings, and the studio describes Shenyang as a character of its own.

Who should wait. Anyone who prefers action or fast reflexes may find a note taking mystery slow. Those unsure can try the Steam demo first.

What is still unknown?

The pages do not say how long the game runs, whether the console version has the same options as the Steam demo, or what Steam and other regions will charge. The studio team also made Sky of Tides, the 2026 GDC Best in Play Winner, and Eternal Spring, a 2024 Peabody Award nominee, which gives a hint of its storytelling ambitions.

Next step: open the Xbox Wire story for the full behind the scenes look and the Steam page to try the demo before November 11.