Warlord: Britannia
Warlord: Britannia is the first entry in a new series of immersive strategy games created by solo developer Darkmatter Games. Step into the shoes of a Roman General given direct command of a Legion with orders from the Emperor to conquer an entire island.
Immersive-Strategy
A unique combination of first-person strategy elements places Warlord: Britannia in a genre of its own. Immersive strategy fixes the player in the first-person perspective of their character. Lead a large army, construct bases, conquer settlements, and disrupt enemy forces in the open world—entirely from this immersive strategy perspective. Turn the tide of battle by participating directly in the action, fighting alongside your own troops in real time.
Dynamic Open World
The world of Warlord: Britannia is an island more than 45 square kilometers in size, divided by latitude into three visually distinct geographic zones. Start your occupation in the densely forested Lowlands, then march north to the rolling hills and farms of the Midlands. Finally, push further north into the imposing and desolate Highlands. All three zones flow seamlessly together, never subjecting you to a loading screen.
Travel the roads cautiously and keep your eyes on the treelines, as trading convoys and roaming warbands criss-cross the open world in real time. The local population will quickly spread word of your exploits, so choose your actions carefully. Manage the population’s unrest levels and prepare for uprisings and raids on your camp. Enemies will react aggressively to repeated attacks and transgressions by your Roman invasion force.
Massive Battles
Recruit up to 15 Roman Centuries and their officers to fully staff your Legion. Hundreds of Romans and Britons will clash and die on the battlefield. Use your legionaries to attack local strongholds and towns, pillage and loot settlements, impose draconian taxes, and send the population back to Rome in chains.
Base Building
Construct a series of marching camps as you conquer the open world. Clear the forests and put up palisade walls. Set guards to patrol the perimeter, keeping watch over the camp at night. At any time, you may pack up and relocate your camp, allowing for complex strategic maneuvers. Decide where and when to set up your fort, and how long to stay before conditions become too dangerous.
Roman History
All of the weapons, armors, structures, names, and gameplay elements are inspired directly from extant literary and material archeological remains. Solo developer Darkmatter Games has painstakingly recreated these elements from scratch and by hand to bring to life the ancient world of Britain in the first century AD like never before. Historical authenticity is the core element of the Warlord franchise.
Game Discussion
Steam User 10
If Mount & Blade Bannerlord had a lighter, simpler interface (in a good way), with the ability to more seemlessly (native) modify army composition, custom design one's own fortresses and bases, in a historical Britannic setting with detailed Roman army and subjugation tactics... in a beautiful simplified but gorgeous graphical overhaul... then you would almost have a game as awesome as this. Highly recommend!
Steam User 11
Incredible game! Unique and utterly engrossing! Scratches so many itches of mine that I'm starting to think I may have lice. Never have I had so much fun subjugating my IRL homeland. Crush those filthy tree worshipping hermits for the Senate!
Steam User 9
Very fun game even though the combat game play is repetitive its fun to play once i forgot about how janky it is.
The real fun is building up your legion and making camps for them, although the game inst exactly designed to make this process smooth (the mechanics behind transferring soldiers between centuries is literally just linked lists stepping forward or back, duct tape programming).
The bad?
Once your legion is assembled performance drops, no matter how you try to optimise it... you can mitigate by assigning centuries far away but it will still affect performance. Everything becomes a lag beyond 50% completion and saving the game takes forever, if you manage to find a moment when none of your legion is fighting anyone... which basically almost never happens, so your only option is to speed run to completion and thank the oracles if you ever manage to restore health, save the game... and reload it so the 300 000 arrows and chopped heads produced by the latest battles despawns and frees some of the load on your CPU.
30 hours of fun tinkering cannot be a thumbs down though, I enjoyed it but I wish it was better optimised.
Steam User 7
Super accessible, but a lot of meat here. It has the same sort of melee craziness as Mount and Blade 2, but a better management system, and a persistent battle world, meaning combat takes the center stage. Very cool tactical scenarios can pop up. Lots of fun.
Steam User 5
Fun, but very limited. I would not recommend getting this game for the standard price, as the gameplay loop can become quite repetitive, but for what it is, its fun.
Steam User 4
The game is a lot of fun - it's the type of game you can sit down and play for 6 hours straight (my current playtime was achieved in like 4 or 5 sittings) and its very satisfying to watch your legion grow in size & power - many have likened it to Mount & Blade, and I would agree, in that you are sat on the ground commanding your troops, selecting formations, etc. Though, to be fair, the game isnt quite as sofisticated or sandbox-y as Bannerlord.
The game also has a few flaws, small ones that just add up and make a frustrating experience. Things like how it's only got about 4 different "action" music tracks, and how they play if you walk within 20km of an enemy convoy or village. Also, I feel like the convoy spam can get a bit annoying. Sometimes after going on a conquering spree, I want to get back to camp (as you can only save if youre at camp, so if you want to stop playing you';re forced to march back to your camp) and it can be annoying to see up to six different enemy convoys standing in the way. Or how the convoys seem to magically know when you're in a battle, and like to coincidentally walk right into it, even if you're in the middle of a forest or something. Also, I don't understand how a small farm chicken can somehow completely halt the momentum of a 500kg warhorse going 50km/h but it can be rather annoying.
However, even with its flaws, its a fun yet not too challenging game which definitely shows potential. I'll probably get the developers next project, Warlord: Awaji, which seems to be similar to this but set in fuedal Japan
Steam User 3
Honestly, this game has an incredible concept, and I’ve given it my thumbs-up for the potential. It’s got that whole 'build your empire, conquer Britain' vibe that could really become something amazing. But right now, it's missing a few pieces and some engagement to truly hit that next level. I’d love to see the developers give it a bit more love because it really has the platform to become one of the best games out there. It's definitely worth a go!