Variance, the First Live-Service Anime Roguelike RPG is Coming to Somnia

June 11, 2025 — Somnia, the high-performance blockchain for gaming and entertainment, is excited to welcome Variance to its growing ecosystem through the Dream Catalyst accelerator. Developed by Web3 gaming veterans at Realm Studios, Variance is a genre-defining anime roguelike RPG that combines high-skill combat, gacha-style progression, and live-service gameplay.

Variance has already attracted strong early traction, with over 8,800 organic alpha playtesters, $60,000+ in early NFT sales, and 31 percent D30 retention during alpha testing.

Led by Jonathan and Paulie, Realm Studios brings proven experience from titles like Realm (which generated over $15 million in market volume), Pokémon GO, and Axie Infinity.

“Variance is a creative, fun and visually stunning game that we’re excited to be welcoming into our ecosystem,” Somnia founder Paul Thomas said. “The live service elements are incredibly innovative for this genre, and with Somnia’s infrastructure the team will really be able to push their imaginations to the limit.”

We’re thrilled to join the Somnia ecosystem. After speaking with Paul about his vision for the chain, it became clear that Somnia aligns perfectly with our plans for Variance,” Jonathan of Realm Studios said. “Their decades of gaming expertise assures us they will drive success for gaming on Somnia, Variance, and the wider ecosystem.”

By building on Somnia, Variance benefits from an infrastructure that can support over 1 million transactions per second, sub-second finality, and sub-cent transaction fees, enabling real-time interactions, seamless progression, and in-game assets at scale.

Variance is the latest title to enter the Somnia ecosystem through Dream Catalyst, an accelerator program with Uprising Labs that offers funding, mentorship and go-to-market support for promising games building in web3. In the past few months, Somnia and Uprising have already announced a wide range of diverse titles through this program, including Dark Table CCG, Mullet Cop: Mall Sim, QRusader, and Netherak Demons.

Variance is scheduled to launch with full PC and mobile versions in 2025, but the team is welcoming roguelike fans to join the community. Follow Variance on X and join the official Discord server to stay updated on all the latest news and playtest opportunities.

About Somnia

Somnia is the fastest, most cost-effective EVM Layer-1 blockchain, capable of processing over 1 million transactions per second with sub-second finality and sub-cent fees. With this performance, Somnia enables real-time, fully on-chain experiences that go beyond financial applications. It’s the ideal foundation for building large-scale games, social platforms, metaverse economies, and AI-powered applications.

About Uprising Labs

Uprising Labs is a Web3 game publisher dedicated to delivering engaging and immersive gaming experiences in the blockchain space. Focused on mid-to-hardcore games for PC and console, Uprising Labs collaborates with Indie to AAA game developers to help them transition seamlessly into Web3.