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As Overhype Studios is nearing the launch of the playable alpha of its turn-based strategy RPG Battle Brothers it seems like a good idea to check it out.
It’s a game that wants to plunge you face-first into a bloodbath, apparently. It combines permadeath, challenging battles, gruesome monsters, and a medieval setting.
You lead a band of mercenaries looking for coin, fame, and legendary artifacts. But this dream gets set a aside a little as the lands that your small team wanders across is invaded by a destructive force. You become the last hope to quell this invasion at its source. From there onwards, every decision you make will affect the outcome of your efforts – whether your men and yourself end up dead, or you fight on to come out victorious.
What’ll keep you on your toes in Battle Brothers is the procedural generation. Everything from the world map and combat maps, to characters and the nature of the invasion is procedurally generated meaning that little is predictable. Inside this world, you’re given full freedom to explore as you might, but as said, it comes at high risk.
You’re able to command up to 12 brothers, levelling them up, and improving the individual skills – these are determined by the weapon and equipment you give them rather than a class system. You invest a lot in your brothers, and so you want to ensure you use effective tactics during battle, otherwise you’ll see them torn to bits with the game’s dynamic damage display.
Should a brother die then you’ll lose them forever along with the skills and experience they brought to your team. This is why you’ll want to make use of the terrain to get higher ground, or to send archers to flank your enemy by using a forest as cover for movement.
So if you’re into high-risk, challenging battles then Battle Brothers may be worth a look when it arrives on Steam Early Access for Windows, Mac, and Linux soon. Until then, there is a combat demo you can check out for free.
