Game News Wartales now available on Early Access

[Infinitron]

Tags: Shiro Games; Wartales

As promised last month, Shiro Games' mercenary band tactical RPG Wartales was released into Early Access today. Since the game was announced back in June, there have been eleven development updates plus the Steam Next Fest demo which has now been taken down. But there's not much to say about it other than it's clearly a take on the Battle Brothers formula with a more conventional visual style. The Early Access release trailer appears to be an extended version of last month's release date trailer:

​

Shiro seem to have made an effort to promote Wartales before its release. A number of websites have published previews of the Early Access build, including Rock Paper Shotgun who also had free copies of the game for their subscribers this week. The general impression seems to be that it's a bit raw but promising. Here's the list of previews:

Cultured Vultures
Gamereactor
Rock Paper Shotgun
TechRaptor
WhatIfGaming 8/10
​

Wartales is available on Steam for $35 with a 10% launch discount until next week, a price some may call excessive for an Early Access title. Gotta pay a premium for the legs, I guess. According to the Early Access FAQ, Shiro are aiming for a final launch about a year from now.

 

[Bastardchops]

I'll give it a shot.

 

[Dyspaire]

"I need a theme song that's just different enough from the Game of Thrones theme song so as to not get sued."

Looks interesting though. Is it fantasy, or is it real-life?

Caught in a landslide...

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Caught in a landslide...

Against an inescapable reality.

 

[Catacombs]

Caught in a landslide...

Against an inescapable reality.

Open your eyes.

 

[Zariusz]

What is this, Battle Brothers with legs? And women?!

 

[SenisterDenister]

Needs more spooky monsters of folklore like the Witcher wandering around the woods. Hunting monsters like that in Battle Brothers was fun.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Caught in a landslide...

Against an inescapable reality.

Open your eyes.

Its easier to open my mind...




....... er.... ok EYES it is!

 

[LizardWizard]

Decent game, shame they cursed it with a bunch of pop-a-mole mini-game shit.

 

[lukaszek]

What is this, Battle Brothers with legs? And women?!

women with legs

 

[Curratum]

Best of luck playing the finished game in 2025, everyone!

 

[Tyranicon]

User reviews are looking good, maybe I'll pick this up and see if it's anything like Battle Brothers.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

User reviews are looking good, maybe I'll pick this up and see if it's anything like Battle Brothers.

Please report back with differences and similarities.

 

[Tyranicon]

Bought it. I'll report back once I have some hours in.

 

[Tyranicon]

Here are my first impressions and also final impressions until the game is further into development.

TL;DR: If you're looking for Battle Brothers in 3D, prepare to be disappointed. Otherwise, it's promising.

Overall Wartales seems like a decent 3D RPG in the same vein as Battle Brothers (or a turn-based Mount and Blade), although I'm hard-pressed to list anything it does better than BB, outside of the 3d preference.

Technical

Firstly, the game is very light on graphical settings, but that can be semi-forgiven as it is in Early Access. Resolution seems locked to 1920x1080, and there's no option for text size, which is absurdly small (or maybe I'm just old). The zoom is horrendous. Using the mouse wheel to zoom in only does so by the barest amount (why even bother?), so expect to squint at your characters both on the campaign map and battle maps.

The game itself seems to run fine, save for some microfreezing when loading into a battle.


Character creation

There is no character creation, outside of choosing what starting group of mercenaries you have, and what bonuses are applied.


Party management/Classes

Seems pretty robust if somewhat standard. Companions are separated into classes, depending on what weapon they wield (haven't played enough of the game to do a deep dive into class balance). You can rest via a campfire, which is also when you feed and pay your mercs (which isn't automatic, you have to do this manually). Unfortunately, companions have no real relationship mechanics or anything to set them apart from being meatbags for combat.

Items also locked to classes, or non-combat "professions" that your mercs can get. Very little character customization at all outside of equipment.


Combat

Ooooof. Here is where the gripes come in. Keep in mind that I love Battle Brothers and I develop systems similar to BB (in a weird hybrid dnd 5e + FF tactics way).

Combat is distressingly gamey, as opposed to simulationist. The set up phase is barely there. You get a small number of arbitrary spots where your companions can load in, and that's it. Put all your melee in the front, ranged in the back, and that's all the flexibility you get, regardless of how you meet/ambush the enemy.

The turn order is also different. Wartales uses an Open Turn Order, where you can choose any unit that hasn't taken their turn yet. I don't like this system because it's just... too easy.

Engaging an enemy in close quarters "locks" you into melee combat, sort of like DnD. However, "disengaging" will trigger an opportunity attack. This is bound to be confusing for some based on the wording.

A lot of weapons are AOE, and they also do friendly fire. You can normally aim the attack cone, except when you're locked in melee combat, then the cone is fixed. There is NO option for non-AOE attacks with weapons such as two handed swords or axes (lol wut?).

Spears and polearms push enemies back with the "impale" attack (lol wut? x2).

So just with these basics, you can see how a typical combat encounter could be gamey and cheesed, rather than somewhat simulationist/realistic like BB.

Combat overall is extremely easy to anybody with experience in these types of games. Enemy AI is sufficient, but I haven't seen anything too spectacular or challenging. Most early games mobs are just the standard bandits.

Action economy is also similar to DnD. You get movement, one attack action, and some bonuses. Some of the "bonus actions" for the lack of a better word, are very strong and this is balanced by [resource name that I forgot].


Crafting

Lol, I didn't do any of this. Or the minigames, as they seemed tedious.


Campaign

Similar to BB. You can go to towns (which have buildings with interiors) to pick up missions and talk to NPCs, etc. After picking up a mission, your map is marked. Random mobs and be interacted with (usually just attack, steal or leave). Doesn't seem to have much in the way of faction systems at this point, outside of Reputation.

There does seem to be more depth in some areas, but I haven't played enough to find out.

Wartales in it's current state is the definition of what's wrong with Recommended/Not Recommended review systems. It's a 6/10, but according to Steam, it's 87% positive. Tbf, the devs did put their work in and it's very promising. While it doesn't rival Battle Brothers at it's current stage, it may one day.

 

[newageofpower]

0TL;DR:
Wartales in it's current state is the definition of what's wrong with Recommended/Not Recommended review systems. It's a 6/10, but according to Steam, it's 87% positive. Tbf, the devs did put their work in and it's very promising. While it doesn't rival Battle Brothers at it's current stage, it may one day.

Thanks for the review! Guess I'll stick Wartales on my watchlist until it's gotten more fleshed out.

 

[ArchAngel]

Here are my first impressions and also final impressions until the game is further into development.

TL;DR: If you're looking for Battle Brothers in 3D, prepare to be disappointed. Otherwise, it's promising.

Overall Wartales seems like a decent 3D RPG in the same vein as Battle Brothers (or a turn-based Mount and Blade), although I'm hard-pressed to list anything it does better than BB, outside of the 3d preference.

Technical

Firstly, the game is very light on graphical settings, but that can be semi-forgiven as it is in Early Access. Resolution seems locked to 1920x1080, and there's no option for text size, which is absurdly small (or maybe I'm just old). The zoom is horrendous. Using the mouse wheel to zoom in only does so by the barest amount (why even bother?), so expect to squint at your characters both on the campaign map and battle maps.

The game itself seems to run fine, save for some microfreezing when loading into a battle.


Character creation

There is no character creation, outside of choosing what starting group of mercenaries you have, and what bonuses are applied.


Party management/Classes

Seems pretty robust if somewhat standard. Companions are separated into classes, depending on what weapon they wield (haven't played enough of the game to do a deep dive into class balance). You can rest via a campfire, which is also when you feed and pay your mercs (which isn't automatic, you have to do this manually). Unfortunately, companions have no real relationship mechanics or anything to set them apart from being meatbags for combat.

Items also locked to classes, or non-combat "professions" that your mercs can get. Very little character customization at all outside of equipment.


Combat

Ooooof. Here is where the gripes come in. Keep in mind that I love Battle Brothers and I develop systems similar to BB (in a weird hybrid dnd 5e + FF tactics way).

Combat is distressingly gamey, as opposed to simulationist. The set up phase is barely there. You get a small number of arbitrary spots where your companions can load in, and that's it. Put all your melee in the front, ranged in the back, and that's all the flexibility you get, regardless of how you meet/ambush the enemy.

The turn order is also different. Wartales uses an Open Turn Order, where you can choose any unit that hasn't taken their turn yet. I don't like this system because it's just... too easy.

Engaging an enemy in close quarters "locks" you into melee combat, sort of like DnD. However, "disengaging" will trigger an opportunity attack. This is bound to be confusing for some based on the wording.

A lot of weapons are AOE, and they also do friendly fire. You can normally aim the attack cone, except when you're locked in melee combat, then the cone is fixed. There is NO option for non-AOE attacks with weapons such as two handed swords or axes (lol wut?).

Spears and polearms push enemies back with the "impale" attack (lol wut? x2).

So just with these basics, you can see how a typical combat encounter could be gamey and cheesed, rather than somewhat simulationist/realistic like BB.

Combat overall is extremely easy to anybody with experience in these types of games. Enemy AI is sufficient, but I haven't seen anything too spectacular or challenging. Most early games mobs are just the standard bandits.

Action economy is also similar to DnD. You get movement, one attack action, and some bonuses. Some of the "bonus actions" for the lack of a better word, are very strong and this is balanced by [resource name that I forgot].


Crafting

Lol, I didn't do any of this. Or the minigames, as they seemed tedious.


Campaign

Similar to BB. You can go to towns (which have buildings with interiors) to pick up missions and talk to NPCs, etc. After picking up a mission, your map is marked. Random mobs and be interacted with (usually just attack, steal or leave). Doesn't seem to have much in the way of faction systems at this point, outside of Reputation.

There does seem to be more depth in some areas, but I haven't played enough to find out.

Wartales in it's current state is the definition of what's wrong with Recommended/Not Recommended review systems. It's a 6/10, but according to Steam, it's 87% positive. Tbf, the devs did put their work in and it's very promising. While it doesn't rival Battle Brothers at it's current stage, it may one day.

Lots of comparison to BB. As a guy that didn't play BB, Wartales seems like a medieval Xcom I always wanted.

 

[Tyranicon]

Lots of comparison to BB. As a guy that didn't play BB, Wartales seems like a medieval Xcom I always wanted.

It's worth a try if you don't mind shelling out around 30 USD for it. It's not very similar to nu-Xcom/old Xcom at all though, beside being a 3d turn-based grid game.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Fuck level scaling... that's all i have to say about this game.

 

[jackofshadows]

So if we add the info by a guy from the main thread, this is a pseudo-open-world cRPG with bland visuals, bland soundtrack, bland writing, bland progression system, weak-ass combat, shitty mini-games, fucking level-scaling, which advertise itself as BB for retards? Man, I'm sold.

 

[ArchAngel]

I like the visuals and it has a lot of cool stuff like finishing moves and enemies that are locked in melee doing animations where they test each other defense. Also there are low visual maps with fogs or caves and it all looks cool. Progression also looks cool, not to complicated, not too simple. You got abilities that you can plan your tactics around and your got profession. And you got armor and weapons you can craft. Rest is managing your resources and exploring. Writing does not seem to be great but for a merc company simulator it does not need to be.

I can agree that this is definitely a game more for fans of modern Xcom than old ones. But I like both types of games and this seems like a lof of fun. Seems like Expedition games but without all the extra RPG stuff that just slows down the main stuff: combat and managing of your group.

 

[Kev Inkline]

What is this, Battle Brothers with legs? And women?!

women with legs

JarlFrank

 

[elverkongen]

What is this, Battle Brothers with legs? And women?!

women with legs

JarlFrank

Battle Sisters, ASSEMBLE