Wartales

Wartales takes you on an immersive adventure in a medieval world plagued by destitution, greed, and lawlessness. In Wartales, you will assume the role of a cunning and unscrupulous leader, guiding a group of mercenaries through a vast open world. With combat, death, and a thirst for riches shaping your day-to-day life, survival becomes your primary objective.

A Post-Apocalyptic World

Set a century after the fall of the Edoran Empire due to a devastating plague, the land of Wartales is a shadow of its former glory. Honor has all but vanished, replaced by a ruthless pursuit of wealth and power. The world is teeming with mercenary work, banditry, and thievery. In this grim reality, you are not the destined hero but rather a survivor seeking to thrive in this harsh and hostile environment.

Building Your Mercenary Band

To navigate the treacherous world of Wartales, you must assemble a formidable group of mercenaries. Each character possesses unique specializations, skill sets, weapon preferences, and personalities. As you recruit new companions, you'll have the opportunity to customize their skills, equipment, and appearance, shaping them into a well-rounded team capable of facing any challenge.

RPG Progression and Crafting System

Wartales offers an intuitive RPG progression system that allows you to enhance your group's capabilities over time. As you explore the open world, complete quests, and defeat enemies, you'll earn experience points, unlock new abilities, and acquire powerful gear. Additionally, the crafting system empowers you to create specialized equipment tailored to your mercenaries' needs, ensuring they are always well-equipped for the battles ahead.

A Vast Open World to Explore

Immerse yourself in the richly detailed world of Wartales as you embark on a quest for notoriety, wealth, and recognition. The open world is teeming with life, from bustling villages to remnants of a bygone era. Uncover the secrets of abandoned mines, delve into ancient tombs, and stumble upon hidden camps, all of which hold fragments of the world's history. Prepare to be captivated by the sheer scope and beauty of the game's environments.

Contracts and Bounties

In Wartales, every opportunity to earn a profit is worth pursuing. From protecting the innocent from petty thieves to taking down notorious figures, the game presents a wide array of bounties and contracts to fulfill. No job is too small when it comes to accumulating wealth and establishing your reputation. As you accept these assignments, you will face a variety of challenges, both in combat and through intricate decision-making.

Tactical Turn-Based Combat

Combat in Wartales is a careful dance of strategy and tactical planning. Engage in turn-based battles that reward thoughtful decision-making. Your success hinges on selecting the right combination of characters, equipment, and tactics for each unique encounter. With an assortment of enemies and unpredictable scenarios, every battle presents a new puzzle to solve, making each victory immensely satisfying.

Cooperative Gameplay

For those seeking a shared adventure, Wartales offers cooperative gameplay for up to four players. Coordinate your tactics, devise strategies, and venture forth as a united team. Overcoming the hostile inhabitants and challenges of the open world becomes an even more thrilling experience when shared with friends. Share resources, loot, and celebrate your victories around a campfire, strengthening the bonds between your companions.

Personal Rating 9/10

Wartales presents an enthralling and immersive experience for players looking to embark on a treacherous journey through a medieval world ravaged by greed and destitution. With its captivating storytelling, strategic combat, and expansive open world, the game offers countless hours of adventure. This game is perfect for fans of Valheim, Ark: Survival, and Medieval Dynasty!

Pros:

• Immersive and atmospheric medieval world
• Engaging and strategic turn-based combat system
• Customization options for characters' skills, equipment, and appearance
• Vast open world with a variety of locations to explore
• Captivating storytelling and questlines
• Cooperative gameplay for up to four players

Cons:

• Occasional technical glitches or performance issues
• Lack of fast travel options, leading to potentially long travel times
• Minimal voice acting or fully animated cutscenes
• Some players may find the game's pace slow or leisurely
• Limited replayability once main story and side quests are completed

Sometimes you just want to play games, not for a noble cause - but to work for yourself. Wartales is presenting one of those RPGs where instead of slaying the threat of darkness. You're a mercenary in search of wealth. All it's doing is taking real-world ambitions into a medieval fantasy world. And that is just fine!

Wartales plays like a gritty turn-based strategy RPG that by no means glorifies anything about a fantasy world. Instead, you'll play as characters only trying to survive a kingdom recovering from war. We've been cast into a land that seems to suffer from real-world problems - but it the antithesis of fantasy gaming sure seems like an intriguing prospect.

What Do I Have To Do To Survive?

Wartales is yet to have an official release. Still, a demo remains in early access - but the game is already shaping up to be quite the exciting offering. You'll initiate a character that takes charge of a mercenary company that only looks to survive the harsh realities of their fallen kingdom. To do that, you will have to loot, steal, eat, avoid the plague, and stave off competitors.

The game plays like a top-down isometric much in the vein of some other classic open-world RPGs. There's nothing fantastical about Wartales, though. It's grim to the core, displays visuals of run-down villages, harsh Northern climates, and stone properties run by greedy clergymen. The environmental design sets the scene very well and is one of the best traits of Wartales.

When it comes to combat, you'll be engaged in an intense turn-based battle. It's no laughing matter - players will have to take strategic approaches and use their party's best traits to combine and neutralize enemies. Wartales is tricky - but given its theme, it has to be. Like all good RPG's there are ways to overcome the challenges ahead.

Character customization, including skill development, equipment crafting, and garnering experience through exploration. You'll grind your way through the land, searching for wealth, reputation, and power. At the moment, Wartales does what it sets out to do pretty well - but as it's condensed in early access, we have yet to see it at its best.

Cold, Stiff, and Harsh

Wartales already has that sense of fluidity. The ambitions are clear, the objectives are set, and the world resonates beautifully with players. The problem at the moment is that the game feels rather stiff. The turn-based combat system doesn't excite or engage as it should - but let's not forget that there's still room for improvement.

Pros:

• Beautifully designed world tailored to a dark medieval fantasy
• RPG development mechanics are excellent
• Deep progression structure that will serve the game well for narrative

Cons:

• The combat system is unengaging
• Movement in the world feels a bit stiff