Sources

Every guide names its sources at the top of the file that builds the page. This page is the map of those names, so a reader can see what "the store says" and "press reports" mean. Dates below were checked against the live pages on November 15, 2026.

Primary sources

Steam app details and the store page for app 4128840 supply the title, the developer and publisher fields, the Windows-only platform flags, the four feature categories, the 2027 coming-soon date, the empty price, the ten-language table, the age ratings, the unfinished OS line, the controller flag, and the long description of the run structure. The community announcement titled CLUCK INTELLIGENCE, posted November 10, 2026, supplies the field notes on the coop, the bosses, the town, and hats with stats, and it points at the wishlist. Valve's Steamworks page for the Auto Battler RPG Fest 2026 supplies the fest window of November 16 to November 23, 2026, 10:00am PST to 10:00am PST. Devolver's YouTube film is the reveal trailer. Devolver's creator page repeats Windows and the language list for press. The publisher support site is the support link on the store page.

Store screenshots are primary for text that is legible on them: Warcluck's tooltip, Rifle Chick's field bonus, Merchant Hat's income line, the two Boss Curse cards, the shop-effect lines, and the base labels Base Plan, Soul Lab, Treasure Shop, and Set Out. A digit we could not read is omitted rather than guessed. The Crystal Drop Rate percent is one of those omissions.

Press reports

Gematsu, MonsterVine, Output Lag, TheSixthAxis, Checkpoint Daily, PowerUp, GamingOnLinux, ukiyo, and 4Gamer reported the reveal between November 10 and November 12, 2026. They are the source for the demo contents that the store page does not repeat: Prologue, Arid Wastes, six difficulties, three characters, 60 unit types, 25 enhancements, 40 treasures, 70-plus cards, and a demo-only Treasure Shop. Those figures are labeled as press reports on the demo page. Japanese coverage that prints November 17 to 24 is the same fest window in Japan Standard Time, not a second schedule.

PowerUp and an MKAU Gaming hands-on both describe merging three identical unit cards. The merge is labeled unconfirmed because the store text does not say it. MKAU and a 4Gamer play report map the post-wave choice to pushing on or turning back, and they say a failed push costs gold and hearts. The store page states the sacrifice-or-preserve rule and does not print that penalty. PowerUp, Output Lag, and MonsterVine call hats cosmetic. The briefing, Checkpoint Daily, and the Merchant Hat screenshot say at least one hat has a stat.

Disagreements we keep visible

Kotaku's release listing includes a December 30, 2027 date. Steam says 2027 with no day. The release-date page says the sources disagree and plans around the year. Several writeups mention challenging friends. Steam's feature list is single-player, and the hands-on does not describe a match. The multiplayer page says the sources disagree. TheSixthAxis calls the "first AAA" line a joke or a pun, MonsterVine says it plays on the initials, and GamingOnLinux calls the tease a troll. Output Lag repeats it as a publisher claim. The site does not treat it as a budget.

SteamDB's public summary is the source for an October 22, 2025 first-seen date and for the note that Family Sharing is excluded until release. The store itself lists Family Sharing as a category. Both can be true. A direct fetch of SteamDB was refused, so that pair is cited from the indexed public summary, not from a logged-in session.

What we will not use

We do not use unsourced tier lists, comment-section card names, or another game's achievement table. We do not use an email address from a press kit. We do not count a vision-only UI label as confirmed when the text recognition does not support it. If a new primary source closes a gap, the update log and the page that owns the fact change together.