Mercenary cats, rival captains, settlement building, and planetary exploration: there’s more than one way to rethink a hired sword’s life
Some games become huge successes because of an original idea or an excellent overall experience. A few leave such a mark that they become the standard others are measured against, sometimes even giving rise to a subgenre.
That kind of success naturally draws other developers, who start creating something similar while rethinking mechanics, introducing new ideas, or taking the concept in a more ambitious direction. Slay the Spire is a perfect example. Its incredible success sparked an invasion of roguelite deckbuilders, and card-based mechanics have found their way into all sorts of other games, too. And yes, I’m calling it an invasion because I’m starting to get a little tired of it. That’s just my opinion, though.
Another example of this phenomenon, and the reason I’m writing this article today, is Battle Brothers. Released in 2017 by Overhype Studios, this hardcore strategy RPG earned a devoted following despite its relatively simple visuals. Its appeal lies in a compelling sandbox experience where you manage a band of mercenaries and try to turn them into a well-equipped, influential, and powerful company. Sadly, that’s never quite happened for me; I mean becoming a powerful company, but that’s another story.
That success has encouraged more and more developers to embrace the mercenary simulator formula, and unlike the deckbuilding trend, I’m personally very happy to see this one continue. Different settings, new mechanics, and unique takes on running a hired-sword company have produced a growing selection of strategy RPGs like Battle Brothers, each with its own identity.
In an earlier article, I explored some Battle Brothers-inspired games you can play now. This time, I’ll show you the 13 most interesting projects currently in development.
8 More Lives
- Developer: Luden.io
- Release Date: Q1 2027 (Early Access)
- Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Steam Page: 8 More Lives – Playtest Access Available
I’m starting with one of the games that makes its Battle Brothers inspiration clearest, though your mercenaries have considerably more fur this time.
8 More Lives puts you in charge of a company of outcast cats trying to survive in a dangerous low-fantasy world. You’ll recruit fighters with different backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses, develop their skills through weapon training and perks, and take on increasingly dangerous contracts. Keeping your company alive means watching expenses, managing injuries, and knowing when a job simply isn’t worth the risk.
The hex-based combat has some interesting ideas. Battlefields reflect the surrounding terrain on the campaign map, while enormous creatures can occupy several hexes and smaller enemies can gather into swarms.
Combat also accounts for different layers of protection, endurance, morale, and injuries. I particularly like the idea of oversized enemies changing how much space is available on the battlefield, potentially forcing you to abandon your usual formations. Add permadeath and a procedurally generated world, and there are plenty of opportunities for things to go horribly wrong.
Tattered Banners
- Developer: CookieByte Entertainment
- Release Date: Q1 2027 (Early Access)
- Platforms: PC (Windows, Linux)
- Steam Page: Tattered Banners – Demo Available
Imagine accepting a profitable contract, completing it successfully, and discovering that your actions have created an entirely new problem for the surrounding region. That’s one of the ideas behind Tattered Banners, a strategy RPG that puts considerable emphasis on its simulated world.
This one may remind you more of another now-famous mercenary simulator, Wartales. At least, that was my immediate impression, mainly because the combat system feels very similar. That said, the overall structure still brings us back to the classic mercenary company management formula.
Destroying farms can cause food shortages, displace inhabitants, and strengthen outlaw groups, while protecting trade routes can help settlements prosper. Noble houses pursue their own interests, and your actions can influence which factions eventually gain power.
The tactical side allows you to mix character backgrounds with different specializations, creating unusual combinations of abilities and reactions. Missions range from defending caravans to sabotage operations and full-scale castle assaults, while exploration can reveal additional ways to interact with the environment and its inhabitants.
The chance to see the long-term consequences of even small decisions is something I’m very curious to see in action; that’s why Tattered Banners is one of the most promising.
Space Scum
- Developer: Sole Survivor Games
- Release Date: 2027 (Early Access)
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Space Scum – Play the Demo
If medieval mercenaries aren’t enough, how about taking your company into space? Space Scum takes the familiar formula of recruiting fighters, accepting missions, collecting equipment, and surviving tactical battles and transports it to a gritty science-fiction universe.
You’ll travel between procedurally generated planets, encountering different factions, enemies, and environments depending on where your campaign takes you. Each recruit gains experience and develops new abilities, but permadeath means losing a veteran can seriously weaken your company.
The futuristic setting opens up some interesting tactical possibilities. Alongside traditional melee and ranged specialists, you can develop support characters who use hacking, protective shields, and deployable turrets.
Equipment ranges from conventional firearms and close-combat weapons to laser rifles and energy defenses, giving you more options to build your team. An upgradeable rover also supports your travels. I’ve tried it several times through the demo, which is regularly updated, and it’s convinced me every time. So this is definitely a game worth keeping an eye on.
Belatoris
- Developer: Adrian Labudzki
- Release Date: Q4 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Belatoris – Demo Available
Belatoris potentially has a very strong core idea. It has the whole Battle Brothers-style structure: travel the world, complete quests, and get into fights, but it also asks you to develop your own settlement.
That said, I want to be clear right away, since I tried it just a few hours ago. In its current state, too much of the overall presentation seems to rely on AI-generated assets. I know this is a solo indie project, but I still think some areas of the game could use more direct work and refinement, especially because the underlying concept is genuinely promising. In any case, here are a few details about what Belatoris aims to deliver.
You begin by assembling a legion of adventurers, recruiting characters with different professions and combat abilities, and exploring a procedurally generated fantasy world.
Your travels can take you through villages, caves, and dangerous wilderness areas, where you’ll find contracts, resources, and opportunities to improve your equipment. Eventually, your relationships with settlements become increasingly important, unlocking additional management options.
The game features tactical turn-based combat, character progression, crafting, and an economy that encourages you to gather resources and prepare for lengthy expeditions. You can interact with inhabitants, trade, hunt, fish, and improve settlements through construction and production.
You can also approach some situations through dialogue or commercial agreements. I like the idea of gradually taking responsibility for more than a handful of mercenaries, especially if developing a settlement gives you more reasons to protect the surrounding region.
Company Captain: Westashes
- Developer: C&T
- Release Date: TBA (Early Access planned)
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Company Captain: Westashes – Demo Available
What if the other mercenary companies in your world behaved like actual competitors? That’s one of the more ambitious ideas behind Company Captain: Westashes, a medieval tactical RPG where rival captains pursue contracts, recruit soldiers, accumulate wealth, and develop their reputations independently of your actions.
Factions wage wars, bandits patrol dangerous roads, and other companies can claim profitable opportunities before you reach them. Characters also remember previous encounters, so sparing an enemy or creating a rivalry can influence how future meetings unfold.
Combat takes place on hex-based battlefields, with terrain, fatigue, equipment, morale, and positioning affecting the outcome. Injuries require time to heal, experienced mercenaries can die permanently, and managing the company’s finances remains essential.
Reputation is another interesting system, distinguishing how famous your company becomes from how others actually perceive it. The chance of encountering a former rival who has spent months rebuilding his forces especially appeals to me. If these systems work together convincingly, every campaign could produce some memorable stories.
Hired Blade
- Developer: Longsword Games
- Release Date: November 30, 2026 (Early Access)
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Hired Blade – Play the Demo
Hired Blade feels like a more traditional take on the Battle Brothers formula. You lead a small mercenary band through a harsh medieval fantasy world, traveling between settlements, recruiting soldiers, taking contracts, and fighting bandits, monsters, and rival companies.
Battles unfold on procedurally generated hex-based maps, where positioning and equipment can determine whether your mercenaries survive. Looting defeated enemies yields valuable gear, while experience lets individual fighters improve their abilities and gain new perks.
Managing the company also involves keeping everyone reasonably happy between assignments. Visiting taverns, taking downtime, and playing dice games can help restore morale before the next expedition.
One important detail: the initial Early Access version focuses on melee combat, with ranged weapons, mounts, magic, and sieges planned for later development. If you enjoy the early stages of Battle Brothers, when even a basic weapon upgrade feels significant, this looks like a promising alternative.
Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades
- Developer: 6 Eyes Studio
- Release Date: 2027
- Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Steam Page: Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades
From the developers of Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark comes Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades, a tactical RPG that lets you approach the mercenary lifestyle in several different ways.
Set on the procedurally generated Stormtossed Isle, it lets you earn a living through combat contracts, trading, or exploration, with three separate reputation systems that reflect those activities. Your company can field up to eight combatants, selected from a collection of starting classes that branch into advanced specializations. Background traits further differentiate recruits, leaving plenty of room to experiment with party composition.
The game also emphasizes dungeon exploration. These expeditions require smaller groups and add resource management through limited oil supplies, so preparation matters before venturing underground.
You’ll encounter traps, hidden passages, enemies, and treasures, while story events and contracts can have multiple outcomes. I’m particularly interested in the class system, considering the studio’s previous experience with tactical RPGs. Having several ways to develop your company beyond fighting should also provide some welcome variety between battles.
Sand Nomads
- Developer: Tortuga Team
- Release Date: TBA
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Sand Nomads
Sand Nomads takes you to Eldo, a distant desert planet where advanced technology meets ancient traditions and superstition. Here, you lead a traveling company of nomads, choosing which contracts to accept, which companions to recruit, and where to travel.
The open world contains settlements, dangerous creatures, bandits, abandoned mines, and mysterious alien ruins. Each recruit has distinct abilities, traits, and equipment preferences, and battles can leave lasting injuries, scars, or permanent death.
The science-fiction setting introduces several unusual equipment options, including energy shields, stealth devices, jumping backpacks, and other technological upgrades that grant specific combat abilities. Finding new equipment could therefore change how you approach encounters or develop individual characters.
Regional questlines and exploration let you interact with factions and uncover the planet’s history. The desert setting probably grabbed my attention first, but I’m even more curious about how that futuristic equipment will shape tactical combat.
Free Company
- Developer: Refx7 Games
- Release Date: December 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Free Company – Demo Available
Free Company has an interesting feature that sets it apart from most games on this list: cooperative campaign play. Set in 997, during a period of growing fear about the approaching millennium, you lead a mercenary company traveling across medieval Europe and North Africa.
You can accept contracts from rulers and religious authorities, fight for money and reputation, or try to establish your own holdings. You can play the campaign alone or cooperatively, with friends joining and leaving the same persistent company.
Another distinction concerns how combat units are represented. Instead of controlling individual soldiers, you command warbands led by named captains, each with their own followers.
Battles use turn-based mechanics involving action points, reactions, weapon reach, cover, and defensive formations. Losing soldiers gradually weakens a unit, while losing its captain has more permanent consequences. I find the cooperative aspect particularly intriguing, especially the idea of sharing responsibility for a company whose victories, financial troubles, and terrible decisions become part of everyone’s campaign.
Fangs & Forges
- Developer: Alpenwolf Studio
- Release Date: TBA (Early Access planned)
- Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS)
- Steam Page: Fangs & Forges – Play the Demo
Unlike the other games here, Fangs & Forges takes the concept of recruiting adventurers and completing dangerous assignments in a more colorful, high-fantasy direction. Its tactical battles are designed to be relatively short, generally lasting five to ten minutes, emphasizing efficient combat, character development, and better equipment.
You’ll assemble squads from a large selection of recruitable characters, explore the handcrafted world of Lyboria, and complete missions involving monster hunts, raids, and dungeon expeditions.
The developers plan more than 100 characters, with their races, attributes, abilities, and equipment shaping how they perform in battle. Successful missions reward loot, resources, and reputation, encouraging you to experiment with different fighter combinations.
For me, this is one of the looser comparisons with Battle Brothers, particularly because of its faster encounters and stronger emphasis on character collection. Still, recruiting a squad, improving its equipment, and tackling increasingly difficult assignments should appeal to anyone who enjoys the progression side of mercenary RPGs.
Band of Crusaders
- Developer: Virtual Alchemy, Ironward
- Release Date: TBA
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Band of Crusaders – Play the Demo
A small exception I make from time to time when a game is simply too interesting to leave outside TBL. That’s exactly the case with Band of Crusaders because its combat takes place in real time, with slow-motion mechanics to help you make tactical decisions. However, its sandbox campaign and company management systems share enough with Battle Brothers to earn it a place here.
You command a knightly order fighting a demonic invasion of medieval Europe, recruiting crusaders, managing resources, and building a camp that supports training, healing, repairs, and other essential activities. Your roster can include up to 20 knights, each with their own background and strengths.
Character development avoids rigid classes, allowing you to experiment with different combinations of attributes, equipment, and weapon-related abilities. Battles require coordinating your crusaders against human opponents and demonic creatures, while the invasion progresses across a simulated world that reacts to changing conditions.
Seasons, the day-night cycle, and other factions’ actions can influence the campaign. I particularly like the darker medieval atmosphere and the idea of leading an organized knightly order. One of my favorites here for sure.
War of Banners
- Developer: Jackto Studios
- Release Date: Q4 2026
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: War of Banners – Demo Available
I like the idea of starting out worrying about equipment for a handful of soldiers, then eventually deciding which neighboring ruler to challenge and which lands to protect. That shift in responsibility could give your company’s growth an interesting direction, and that’s what War of Banners aims to do.
In this promising strategy RPG, running a mercenary company can be the first step toward a much more ambitious career. You recruit, train, and equip soldiers, then travel across a continent contested by kingdoms, religious orders, and merchant guilds, deciding which conflicts to join and when to stay neutral.
Your soldiers can rise through the ranks, but they can also die or betray you. Turn-based battles emphasize terrain and formations, with flanking attacks, elevated positions, and encirclement among the tactical options the developers announced.
What interests me most is the chance to move from life on the road to managing conquered territory. You develop your holdings by constructing buildings and managing resources, deciding whether to prioritize production or strengthen defenses. Capturing cities, collecting taxes, forming alliances, and declaring war on other lords adds a political dimension to the campaign.
Mercenary Brotherhood
- Developer: SC Strategy Games
- Release Date: Q4 2026 (Early Access)
- Platforms: PC (Windows)
- Steam Page: Mercenary Brotherhood – Demo Available
I’m closing out this showcase of upcoming strategy games with Mercenary Brotherhood, a fantasy tactical RPG that emphasizes building a company of unusual characters. Its roster includes more than 20 playable races, from familiar fantasy peoples to exotic creatures, each with unique traits and abilities.
Character progression features over 40 skills, individual skill trees, and magical equipment that can introduce disadvantages alongside its benefits. Procedural events, competing factions, and a simulated world set the stage for your company’s adventures, with plenty of opportunities for unexpected situations.
One particularly interesting feature is the way characters accumulate memories throughout their careers. Important events, such as their first kills, narrow escapes, and major victories, become part of their personal histories.
When a mercenary dies, the game can generate an obituary recounting their journey. I think that’s a nice idea for a genre where losing a veteran can be genuinely painful. Combined with tactical battles that consider terrain, positioning, morale, and character abilities, it could give players plenty of reasons to become attached to their most successful recruits.
