This tactical open-world turn-based fantasy RPG will definitely appeal to fans of the genre. Send your adventurers to explore the ancient ruins. Hire new explorers, examine the corpses of a fallen enemy, and try to survive in harsh conditions.
Pure turn-based tactical CRACK. Combat is similar to Battle Brothers, fully animated with Darkest Dungeon's art style. Nearly every enemy encountered can eventually be recruited. Units can be infected by various monsters and slowly mutate into them. In-depth combat system with: zones of control, height advantage, line-of-site, terrain effects, environmental hazards, cover, flanks attacks, attacks-of-opportunity, engagement, push/pull attacks, guarding, auto-group-assist actions and more. Hire/save recruits from a plethora of diverse classes such as: a Warmonk/pro-wrestler who leaps around the field, stunning fools and/or suplexing them into spiked pits. A Javelinier who can build forts with the lower/raise tile ability, creating choke points or new paths of assault, and providing perches for snipers. A polearm-and-chain Necrofied ghoul, who hooks said pesky ranged units off their ivory towers, into a crowd of your buddies waiting to beat'em down with free attacks-of-opportunity! And many more. It's bug-free, and can be played from start to the finish, which unlocks new starting factions. Thought you were close to clearing out the expansive 40+ hr overworld map? There's three more zones waiting below. Even though the game already feels like a full release, development's just starting. The developer's planning to continuously improve and add content for years to come. Between the steam pre-release test and itch.io version, I already have around 120+ hrs. Most satisfying game purchase in years. A+ would suplex pesky snipers off cliffs again.
This game deserves a much longer review but I don't want to stop playing long enough to write it at the moment so for now I will say, as a long time TRPG fan, this is the kind of game I have been wanting for a very long time. Lots of variety and replayability. Very active and receptive dev who works extremely hard to push out pretty much daily updates to the beta branch. In the few weeks since I've started playing it is remarkable how many significant improvements he has been able to make and it is always fun to see things we've discussed in discord implemented a few days later. Come hang out with us in the discord if you're interested. Also, if the price is an issue for you, I'm happy to gift a few copies of the game so message me if you're interested! Edit: To be clear, I do not have free copies or discount codes for this game. I am offering to buy a few people this game at full price with my own money. Please only take me up on this offer if you would be unable to afford the game otherwise. I want to support the Dev and help this game reach a larger audience. Edit 2: I've now gifted over 10 copies of this game. I think I'm going to stop there but hopefully that's a testament to how good this game is. If you can't afford it just skip a couple meals and save up the $20 to buy it, you wont regret it.
People are calling this Battle Brothers meets Darkest Dungeon, and while you will probably like this game if you enjoyed those games, that comparison is a bit reductive. There is no in-battle RNG to this game save for a cumulative -25% chance to hit on ranged attacks when line of sight is blocked. Otherwise, everything always hits and skills always successfully go off. Critical hits only happen in certain circumstances that you create. The game has some rough edges: Missing tutorials, battle map generation can be wonky, there could be some UI and quality of life improvements, there isn't a great sense of "racial identity" in the factions, etc. Otherwise, it appears to be largely complete and I binged it almost nonstop the day I got it. What I really enjoy about this game and specifically want to highlight is the level of intentionality in the strategic decisions and the uniqueness of character development. In Darkest Dungeon, a Crusader is just a Crusader with some traits and the best trinkets you can give him; once you are in a dungeon, the tactical choices tend to be fairly obvious. In Battle Brothers, the guy wielding your two-hander is just someone with stars in the right stats and maybe a trait that synergizes; you are always equipping the best gear to him that is available. There is a homogeneity in the characters in these games. By comparison, in Urtuk, each character has a set of invisible traits that they unlock as they perform certain actions in battle. My Berzerker probably isn't anything like your Berzerker, because my Berzerker developed traits that let him stay alive at 2 HP against an onslaught of melee attacks. He is also incredibly good attacking enemies beneath him, so I always try to pair him with my javelin mercenary who can change elevation. This is a great game with a very attentive developer and you owe it to yourself to check it out and give them a bit of support. I expect this will be something I come back to years down the line.
This is an excellent game that is a cross breed between Darkest Dungeon, Battle Brothers and Faster than Light. The combat system is similar to Battle Brothers, but Urtuk does it better with more interesting strategic options and party building. The skills you have are so powerful that it really allows you to play around and think about what clever overpowered tricks you can come up with and the difficulty is so high that you really need to do that! My only concern with this game is the same as with Darkest Dungeon and Battle Brothers: It is just too long and grindy. There is only so many groups of reavers you can fight before it begins to feel repetitive. I would very much prefer a shorter game mode on a smaller map with more loot and XP per fight. Maybe this will fix itself when more content is added as it the grindiness is largely caused by repetitive fights with too little variation. Don't let that keep you from getting this game though, it is highly enjoyable and you will have a blast.
Great game that is totally worth playing even while in Early Access. If you enjoy hex-grid tactical RPG combat at all this is definitely worth it. The game is mostly battle after battle with some party management and flavor text on the side, so it can start to feel repetitive and grindy at times. But it's a fun sort of grind that you have control over and play the game at whatever pace you desire. The game has its own scaling system so as long as you aren't running around in circles with absolutely no fighting you'll be okay. But what that means is you can literally explore the entire map and node, or you can speed run through the quests and make it to the end as fast as possible. Or somewhere in between. All the different playstyles work. So if you find yourself feeling the game is repetitive, can just stop checking every corner of the map and just beeline for the villages. Or can play against some Fortresses which offer a bigger challenge than the usual standard battles as the enemies have all sorts of advantages: Height, numbers, ranged weapons fired against you from said height, etc. There are also multiple difficulties to choose from. So if you find the game too easy/hard can always reset and try a different difficulty. However, even on easy I found myself suffering losses sometimes, especially as I was still learning the game. Eventually, as you learn the game and establish proper tactics and weild all sorts of fancy equipment, you'll probably end up out gearing the enemies and be able to easily slaughter warbands larger than yours. And that is what makes the grind so fun, coming up with powerful builds to overcome challenging battles with minimal injury. As for the combat, there all sorts of fun mechanics and different abilities for each different class. There is jumping to flank an enemy or take out pesky ranged, shield bashing and ramming to shove enemies into spiked pits of brutal death and so on. There are useful support characters with area denial, blocking, and so on. You can equip accessories to characters called mutators. If the characters wears them long enough, they can absorb the mutator so that it becomes an ability, and frees up the equipment slot to place something else. It's an interesting mechanic and I love the mutant warbands. It reminds me of Wahrammer Mordheim Chaos Warbands but with a lot less frustrating RNG. Speaking of RNG, you won't find the infamous XCOM style missing a 95% chance to hit attack. All melee actions are 100% hit. Ranged are 100% unless blocked by some sort of obstacle in line of sight. This makes the game feel entirely fair and any injiry or death sustained was likely my own fault and mismanagement. Even with 100% hit rate, I never felt like I was taking too much damage. The armor/block mechanic works well, and with good placement can usually sustain little damage or eliminate the enemy first. It helps that everyone full heals after the battle so you can always reposition members to send the healthier characters to the front lines. Plus, there are some good mutators that reward health regen for killing enemies. I recommend those if you try the game (Feast, Flesh Eater). Also highly recommend the Lightfoot mutation which allows your character to swap places with an ally without ending their turn. Very useful for holding chokepoints. Also, while the game starts you off with the human faction, there are many more playable factions in the game. You can win some while on the human campaign, or get far enough can even unlock other factions as the starting party which makes for some nice replayability. Now as much as I love the game I do have some suggestions. While I love the games aesthetics, I find it odd there is no sort of visual customization of the characters other than their names. You can change their equipment, mutators, stats, etc, but I would have liked to been able to differentiate different characters of the same class through different colored skins or skins with slightly different hair or clothes or whatever to choose from. I also feel like there needs to be more to do with the massive reserves. Six characters can be fielded on the battle but I probably had 30 characters by the end of my playthrough and I never even had half of them battle. You can send characters on missions to scavenge for materials and such but it never really seemed worth it. On a future playthrough I'll probably just get rid of extra characters honestly. It is nice to have such variability and a large roster though, I do like that. Just wish it was more encouraged to rotate members rather than just stick with the winning A-Team. Having different factions to fight against does help a little in this regard as some teams may be stronger against certain factions than others. Anyways, love the game, highly recommend it. Cannot wait to see where it goes next and improves on itself. I am looking forward to playing again on the completed version when it leaves Early Access! I do hope the game finds ways to improve on some of the balance issues (some classes seem to fulfill the same roles better than others, ranged is king of DPS and so on) and the feeling of repetition and grind that sets in around the end of Area 1. Oh yeah, there's 3 Areas in the game so far -- each has different prominent factions you'll fight against so that is a nice change of pace at least.
So, you are looking for a main Turn based tactics game which you can sink hundreds of hours in rather than a time filler roguelike and you have already completed darkest dungeon and XCOM1/2? Well, then lately, your only viable choices really are Vargus, Urtuk and Battle Brothers. So, you want a polished game which you can play more than you read? Then your choice really is between Urtuk and Battle Brothers. So, you want DEEP DEEP tactical combat with incredible amounts of synergies between party members rather than just the standard melee or ranged thing? Then you only choice is Urtuk. Period. Go buy now.
Steam User 118
Pure turn-based tactical CRACK.
Combat is similar to Battle Brothers, fully animated with Darkest Dungeon's art style. Nearly every enemy encountered can eventually be recruited. Units can be infected by various monsters and slowly mutate into them.
In-depth combat system with: zones of control, height advantage, line-of-site, terrain effects, environmental hazards, cover, flanks attacks, attacks-of-opportunity, engagement, push/pull attacks, guarding, auto-group-assist actions and more.
Hire/save recruits from a plethora of diverse classes such as: a Warmonk/pro-wrestler who leaps around the field, stunning fools and/or suplexing them into spiked pits. A Javelinier who can build forts with the lower/raise tile ability, creating choke points or new paths of assault, and providing perches for snipers. A polearm-and-chain Necrofied ghoul, who hooks said pesky ranged units off their ivory towers, into a crowd of your buddies waiting to beat'em down with free attacks-of-opportunity! And many more.
It's bug-free, and can be played from start to the finish, which unlocks new starting factions. Thought you were close to clearing out the expansive 40+ hr overworld map? There's three more zones waiting below.
Even though the game already feels like a full release, development's just starting. The developer's planning to continuously improve and add content for years to come. Between the steam pre-release test and itch.io version, I already have around 120+ hrs. Most satisfying game purchase in years.
A+ would suplex pesky snipers off cliffs again.
Steam User 57
This game deserves a much longer review but I don't want to stop playing long enough to write it at the moment so for now I will say, as a long time TRPG fan, this is the kind of game I have been wanting for a very long time.
Lots of variety and replayability.
Very active and receptive dev who works extremely hard to push out pretty much daily updates to the beta branch.
In the few weeks since I've started playing it is remarkable how many significant improvements he has been able to make and it is always fun to see things we've discussed in discord implemented a few days later.
Come hang out with us in the discord if you're interested.
Also, if the price is an issue for you, I'm happy to gift a few copies of the game so message me if you're interested!
Edit: To be clear, I do not have free copies or discount codes for this game. I am offering to buy a few people this game at full price with my own money. Please only take me up on this offer if you would be unable to afford the game otherwise. I want to support the Dev and help this game reach a larger audience.
Edit 2: I've now gifted over 10 copies of this game. I think I'm going to stop there but hopefully that's a testament to how good this game is. If you can't afford it just skip a couple meals and save up the $20 to buy it, you wont regret it.
Steam User 48
People are calling this Battle Brothers meets Darkest Dungeon, and while you will probably like this game if you enjoyed those games, that comparison is a bit reductive.
There is no in-battle RNG to this game save for a cumulative -25% chance to hit on ranged attacks when line of sight is blocked. Otherwise, everything always hits and skills always successfully go off. Critical hits only happen in certain circumstances that you create.
The game has some rough edges: Missing tutorials, battle map generation can be wonky, there could be some UI and quality of life improvements, there isn't a great sense of "racial identity" in the factions, etc. Otherwise, it appears to be largely complete and I binged it almost nonstop the day I got it.
What I really enjoy about this game and specifically want to highlight is the level of intentionality in the strategic decisions and the uniqueness of character development. In Darkest Dungeon, a Crusader is just a Crusader with some traits and the best trinkets you can give him; once you are in a dungeon, the tactical choices tend to be fairly obvious. In Battle Brothers, the guy wielding your two-hander is just someone with stars in the right stats and maybe a trait that synergizes; you are always equipping the best gear to him that is available. There is a homogeneity in the characters in these games.
By comparison, in Urtuk, each character has a set of invisible traits that they unlock as they perform certain actions in battle. My Berzerker probably isn't anything like your Berzerker, because my Berzerker developed traits that let him stay alive at 2 HP against an onslaught of melee attacks. He is also incredibly good attacking enemies beneath him, so I always try to pair him with my javelin mercenary who can change elevation.
This is a great game with a very attentive developer and you owe it to yourself to check it out and give them a bit of support. I expect this will be something I come back to years down the line.
Steam User 45
This is an excellent game that is a cross breed between Darkest Dungeon, Battle Brothers and Faster than Light. The combat system is similar to Battle Brothers, but Urtuk does it better with more interesting strategic options and party building. The skills you have are so powerful that it really allows you to play around and think about what clever overpowered tricks you can come up with and the difficulty is so high that you really need to do that!
My only concern with this game is the same as with Darkest Dungeon and Battle Brothers: It is just too long and grindy. There is only so many groups of reavers you can fight before it begins to feel repetitive. I would very much prefer a shorter game mode on a smaller map with more loot and XP per fight. Maybe this will fix itself when more content is added as it the grindiness is largely caused by repetitive fights with too little variation.
Don't let that keep you from getting this game though, it is highly enjoyable and you will have a blast.
Steam User 34
Darkest Dungeon meets Battle Brothers
Steam User 31
Great game that is totally worth playing even while in Early Access. If you enjoy hex-grid tactical RPG combat at all this is definitely worth it. The game is mostly battle after battle with some party management and flavor text on the side, so it can start to feel repetitive and grindy at times. But it's a fun sort of grind that you have control over and play the game at whatever pace you desire.
The game has its own scaling system so as long as you aren't running around in circles with absolutely no fighting you'll be okay. But what that means is you can literally explore the entire map and node, or you can speed run through the quests and make it to the end as fast as possible. Or somewhere in between. All the different playstyles work. So if you find yourself feeling the game is repetitive, can just stop checking every corner of the map and just beeline for the villages. Or can play against some Fortresses which offer a bigger challenge than the usual standard battles as the enemies have all sorts of advantages: Height, numbers, ranged weapons fired against you from said height, etc.
There are also multiple difficulties to choose from. So if you find the game too easy/hard can always reset and try a different difficulty. However, even on easy I found myself suffering losses sometimes, especially as I was still learning the game. Eventually, as you learn the game and establish proper tactics and weild all sorts of fancy equipment, you'll probably end up out gearing the enemies and be able to easily slaughter warbands larger than yours. And that is what makes the grind so fun, coming up with powerful builds to overcome challenging battles with minimal injury.
As for the combat, there all sorts of fun mechanics and different abilities for each different class. There is jumping to flank an enemy or take out pesky ranged, shield bashing and ramming to shove enemies into spiked pits of brutal death and so on. There are useful support characters with area denial, blocking, and so on. You can equip accessories to characters called mutators. If the characters wears them long enough, they can absorb the mutator so that it becomes an ability, and frees up the equipment slot to place something else. It's an interesting mechanic and I love the mutant warbands. It reminds me of Wahrammer Mordheim Chaos Warbands but with a lot less frustrating RNG.
Speaking of RNG, you won't find the infamous XCOM style missing a 95% chance to hit attack. All melee actions are 100% hit. Ranged are 100% unless blocked by some sort of obstacle in line of sight. This makes the game feel entirely fair and any injiry or death sustained was likely my own fault and mismanagement. Even with 100% hit rate, I never felt like I was taking too much damage. The armor/block mechanic works well, and with good placement can usually sustain little damage or eliminate the enemy first. It helps that everyone full heals after the battle so you can always reposition members to send the healthier characters to the front lines. Plus, there are some good mutators that reward health regen for killing enemies. I recommend those if you try the game (Feast, Flesh Eater). Also highly recommend the Lightfoot mutation which allows your character to swap places with an ally without ending their turn. Very useful for holding chokepoints.
Also, while the game starts you off with the human faction, there are many more playable factions in the game. You can win some while on the human campaign, or get far enough can even unlock other factions as the starting party which makes for some nice replayability.
Now as much as I love the game I do have some suggestions. While I love the games aesthetics, I find it odd there is no sort of visual customization of the characters other than their names. You can change their equipment, mutators, stats, etc, but I would have liked to been able to differentiate different characters of the same class through different colored skins or skins with slightly different hair or clothes or whatever to choose from. I also feel like there needs to be more to do with the massive reserves. Six characters can be fielded on the battle but I probably had 30 characters by the end of my playthrough and I never even had half of them battle. You can send characters on missions to scavenge for materials and such but it never really seemed worth it. On a future playthrough I'll probably just get rid of extra characters honestly. It is nice to have such variability and a large roster though, I do like that. Just wish it was more encouraged to rotate members rather than just stick with the winning A-Team. Having different factions to fight against does help a little in this regard as some teams may be stronger against certain factions than others.
Anyways, love the game, highly recommend it. Cannot wait to see where it goes next and improves on itself. I am looking forward to playing again on the completed version when it leaves Early Access! I do hope the game finds ways to improve on some of the balance issues (some classes seem to fulfill the same roles better than others, ranged is king of DPS and so on) and the feeling of repetition and grind that sets in around the end of Area 1. Oh yeah, there's 3 Areas in the game so far -- each has different prominent factions you'll fight against so that is a nice change of pace at least.
Steam User 46
So, you are looking for a main Turn based tactics game which you can sink hundreds of hours in rather than a time filler roguelike and you have already completed darkest dungeon and XCOM1/2?
Well, then lately, your only viable choices really are Vargus, Urtuk and Battle Brothers.
So, you want a polished game which you can play more than you read?
Then your choice really is between Urtuk and Battle Brothers.
So, you want DEEP DEEP tactical combat with incredible amounts of synergies between party members rather than just the standard melee or ranged thing?
Then you only choice is Urtuk.
Period. Go buy now.