Urtuk The Desolation

An entertaining turn-based combat game for those who have played Battle Brothers, X-Com, Gloomhaven and Divinity to death.

Your party of 3-6 characters travels around a map, fighting battles, levelling up, getting loot and acquiring mutators which give added skills or bonuses.

On each map you’re searching for the boss that you will have to defeat to move on to the next level. There’s no time pressure though, you can spend as long as you want on each level taking on fight after fight.

There’s not much story to the game and only a few random events that influence combat. For the most part the entire game is about tactical combat on a grid of hexes.
This is highly entertaining, with several neat tactical twists. For example if you have characters on both sides of an enemy your attacks are automatically critical hits. If you have ranged characters close by they’ll support your melee attacks with bonus attacks. You can also stun enemies by shoving them off high places or kill them outright by pushing them into pits.

There’s a huge number of recruitable characters and scope for different builds, but each class is quite restricted in the gear they can carry. Your Bloodknight can only ever use a greatsword. If you find a cool axe or billhook, then you’ll need to recruit a berserker or footman to use it.

The learning curve is steep and it’s not that friendly initially. I didn’t find the tutorial all that helpful past the basics of combat – there were a lot of ‘oh, that’s how that works’ moments when I was playing.
Enemies have many different skills, even right from the start. Most enemies have 5 to 10 different skills so a lot of reading is required to be aware of what is happening. Still I can’t be the only one who lost missions after having my guys unexpectedly rammed off a cliff, pulled into a death pit or have a carefully planned shove fail because the enemy is immovable.
It’s not that the game is being unfair, all the information is there, but there’s just a mental overload when faced with all the different enemy types with tonnes of skills, often with one crucial skill that you need to know about hidden among a dozen inconsequential ones.

By the end of the game you’ve learned which enemies are which, which skills to fear, and which abilities are most dangerous, but there’s a rough learning curve.

The first map of the game is pretty easy, but the difficulty spikes hard when you hit the second map. My unarmoured team of skirmishers was crushing everything and got ripped apart by the poisonous swampers. You tend to learn by dying in this game.

There are enough positives to make this fun, but it isn’t up to the standard of the best games of this type. I can’t see myself playing run after run now I’ve finished it.

The game does indeed feel pretty basic at first. It is heavily (maybe solely) focused around combat and squad management. Buuuut, I played for 200+ hours and it still feels fun.
I usually list pros and cons for any game I review. Here I feel that it is not needed. Urtuk: The Desolation delivers admirably at what it has to offer. Content and mechanics at which it can possibly fail are just not included in the game.
There are tons of unique character classes that exist in the game. Almost any enemy you can encounter can be a hero in your party too. That is why combat feel fair. AI tries to focus-fire your weakest character, to surround your guys and to exploit crits. You can fool it, but if you make a mistake - it punishes gladly. Most combat maps are random-generated so fights feel different. Mission nodes respawn (and are random too), so you can farm stuff you need as long as it takes. Global "timer" can be ignored. Battlefield is dynamic and can change during the fight by character abilities and special events. RNG can make even easy missions brutally hard so chosing Ironman mode for hardest difficulty is probably not a good idea.
Tactical combat in Urtuk is very well made. Most traits characters have can be extracted and put into other guys. There is limit to this and active abilities can not be extracted. Equipment range available to each class can not be changed. So, it is hardly possible to turn different characters into carbon copies of each other, but it it allows huge variation within every class (and there are tons of classes available). Player characters can have more traits than enemies and better equipment, but your party can only have up to 6 members present on a battlefield. Enemy has numerical superiority (20+ guys with reinforcements? easy).
Ah, I forgot: there is a drawback, kind of. First (strategic level) map has more content, more unique missions and bosses than all others. As global goal is to form your dream-team and defeat bosses, strategic maps do not feel like chapters. Thus, uneven content distribution hardly feels like a drawback.
Conclusion: Excellent fights, nice squad management, art style is superb. No unecessary features.

A game that is somewhat of a cross between Battle Brothers and Darkest Dungeon but with really litlle RNG.
A distinct visual look, a great deal of charm and a huge amount of depth to the tactical combat & lots of customisation in the way to play it.
Soundtrack is great.
May be missing a wee bit of polish & quality of life stuff.
But at that price & considering it's a new game company, I am really impress.
A must try for turn base lover imo.

Let me admire the creator of this game. For me it became a pearl in the indie gaming. Game mechanics are nice, spicy and engaging. Visual style is my favourite.
Another thanks for capability to play this game on Linux.

Concise Game Reviews: "Urtuk: The Desolation"
(Scroll down for the longer version)
Game Value:
✅ Recommended for fans of tactical RPGs with deep combat systems and grim, low-fantasy settings. Offers unique mechanics and a challenging experience for strategy enthusiasts.
Game Tags:
✔Tactical RPG ✔Turn-Based Strategy ✔Survival ✔Dark Fantasy ✔Procedural Generation ✔Low-Fantasy ✔Open World
Genre Classification:
A tactical RPG with survival and strategy elements, set in a dark, low-fantasy world with a heavy focus on turn-based combat and exploration.
Game Length:
Approximately 20~50 hours, depending on your strategy, exploration, and difficulty level.
Challenge Level:
High; strategic positioning, resource management, and team composition are essential for survival.
Graphics:
Grotesque, hand-drawn art style reminiscent of *Darkest Dungeon*, with highly detailed environments and character designs.
Technical Stability:
Runs smoothly on most systems; occasional AI quirks but no major technical issues.
Replay Value:
High; procedural maps, diverse mutator combinations, and unlockable factions ensure varied playthroughs.
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Detailed review:
What It Is:
🌟 Tactical RPG Excellence: Urtuk combines strategic, turn-based combat with a bleak survival narrative in a procedurally generated world.
🔥 Dynamic Combat Mechanics: Engage in battles with environmental hazards, mutator-driven abilities, and tactical depth.
🎯 Survival Adventure: Manage resources, recruit new team members, and extract enemy abilities to enhance your squad.
🎨 Striking Visual Design: Grotesque, hand-drawn visuals and a grim tone create an immersive dark-fantasy experience.
⚙️ Endless Replayability: Procedural map generation, varied character builds, and unlockable content provide a fresh experience every run.
🌟Overview:
"Urtuk: The Desolation" is a tactical RPG set in a grim, low-fantasy world. Players guide Urtuk and his companions as they explore a procedurally generated map, battling foes, scavenging resources, and seeking a cure for Urtuk’s mutation. The game emphasizes strategic combat, featuring environmental hazards, class synergies, and powerful mutators extracted from enemies. While light on story, Urtuk excels in creating a deep and rewarding combat experience. Its grotesque art style and dark tone immerse players in its bleak world, making it a standout title for fans of turn-based tactics.
🎮Gameplay:
Manage a team of adventurers in a brutal, unforgiving world. Engage in tactical battles, optimize team compositions, and explore procedurally generated maps.
🌍 Strategic Combat: Plan your moves carefully to utilize terrain, environmental hazards, and mutator abilities.
🔧 Team Development: Equip your squad with extracted mutators to customize abilities and build synergies.
🛡️ Survival Mechanics: Resource management and recruitment are key to enduring the desolate world.
💥 Procedural Generation: Explore dynamically created maps for a unique experience in every playthrough.
📖Story and Depth:
"Urtuk: The Desolation" delivers a light narrative focused on survival, with world-building rooted in its grotesque, low-fantasy setting. The story centers on Urtuk, a mutated fugitive seeking a cure. While the narrative takes a backseat to the gameplay, the game’s depth lies in its complex combat mechanics and procedural systems. The ability to extract powers from enemies and tailor your squad’s abilities offers immense strategic variety, ensuring engaging gameplay despite the sparse storytelling. For players drawn to tactical challenges over narrative-driven experiences, Urtuk offers a richly detailed and rewarding adventure.
🏆Verdict:
"Urtuk: The Desolation" is a must-play for fans of tactical RPGs who enjoy deep combat mechanics and a grim aesthetic. Its procedural generation, unique mutator system, and challenging battles offer high replayability. While lacking a strong narrative, the game compensates with its immersive world-building and engaging strategic gameplay. Urtuk’s grotesque art style and bleak tone set it apart from other tactical games, making it a compelling choice for genre enthusiasts.
✅Good:
👍 Engaging Combat: Deep, tactical mechanics with environmental interactions.
👍 Unique Art Style: Striking hand-drawn visuals enhance immersion.
👍 Replayability: Procedural maps and unlockable content ensure varied playthroughs.
👍 Customization: Mutator system allows for diverse character builds.
👍 Challenging Gameplay: High difficulty provides rewarding tactical depth.
🛠️Ways of Improvement:
👎 Minimal Storytelling: Limited narrative depth may not appeal to players seeking a strong story.
👎 Repetitive Maps: Procedural generation can lead to visual and tactical monotony over time.

Mixed feelings on this game. I like the art. I like the concept. The price for it is good (exceptional when on sale). I just don't have fun playing it, it just doesn't have something to hook me. Harder fights feel more like a chore and don't feel rewarding.
I'm giving this a thumbs up because I recognize the potential, and it's just not for me.

This is a great little game. Turn Based Strategy battles on a hex-grid, with tons of options, upgrades and characters. Its quick, a battle is usually 5-10 minutes, so you can dip in and out. Or sit and dive through battle after battle, I can see how some can say the loop gets repetitive, but it suits me, tweaking and managing your ever growing squad in between battles. Quite addictive. Many comparisons to Battle Brothers (which I haven’t played), and art style compared to Darkest Dungeon (which I have played). Art style, maybe a little like DD, but kinda unique in its own way, I’d say im enjoying this more than Darkest Dungeon. This game is a hidden gem. My one criticism is that sometimes the battle grid gets a little crowded and you cant see clearly who is where. But overall a solid 9/10.