Here You will Find Some very good alternatives to OverHype Studios’ RPG masterpiece
Battle Brothers is a truly distinctive, dark, low-fantasy sandbox RPG with exemplary progression and variety, with granular combat and management systems that help to ground the entire experience; because of this, Battle Brothers manages to be a deeply tactical sandbox game in which every decision matters and its low-fantasy setting and mercenary theme make it easy to get immersed in its world.
The tight and tactical combat of Battle Brothers is arguably what makes it so great, with an extra level of strategy added by the RPG progression. This list aims to provide a broad variety of turn-based games with more of the same tactile, strategic combat, often combined with low-fantasy settings and RPG mechanics.
Veterum
Although Veterum has yet to be released, the demo currently available on Steam is enough to show this strategy-RPG’s promise; Veterum features turn-based combat on hexagonal maps that’s reminiscent of Battle Brothers in more ways than one, but features a distinctly old-school aesthetic that fans of older PC games will be familiar with.
Veterum features a perk/trait system that helps each unit feel distinct, as well as a morale system that players have to strategize around during battle. Players can expect to spend a lot of time travelling across an open world, completing quests, and fighting challenging turn-based battles. For those that don’t want to wait for Veterum’s full release, the studio’s 2017 title, Warbanners, is worth a look.
REMORE: INFESTED KINGDOM
This RPG is distinctive for its dark, crunchy pixel-art visuals and post-apocalyptic fantasy setting; the game takes place during what is essentially a fantasy version of a zombie apocalypse, and while the narrative is light, it’s an effective and evocative setting for the turn-based combat.
Remore’s combat allows players to sneak around and set their units up in tactical positions before combat, providing they can avoid being caught by any surrounding enemies. Players can also cook gathered food and smith new weapons, or upgrade existing ones, at a hub world / base camp, which provides a welcome reprieve between combats.
Remore tells a loose, dark narrative with its character interactions, and combines it with survival gameplay and extraction missions that often have players searching for supplies; this gameplay loop, while simple, is both satisfying and addictive, even in the game’s early access state. However, those that are looking for a game with high replay value may want to look elsewhere, as although it shows promise, Remore is still a fairly bare bones experience at the time of writing.
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale
This dark-fantasy, Arthurian strategy RPG features a rich world represented in a grim-dark, 3D visual style. The game features some cinematic camera movements and talented voice acting that helps to make the game more immersive.
Although players explore the game’s environments in real-time, similarly to games such as Baldur’s Gate 3, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale features deeply tactical turn-based combat. Unlike Battle Brothers, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is bereft of an initiative system, instead having each side take all their actions at once. Unlike Battle Brothers, King Arthur: Knight’s Tale isn’t a sandbox game, instead following a more linear narrative, but fans of Battle Brothers are likely to find enjoyment in King Arthur’s strong RPG elements and tactical combat.
Dead Monarchy
This open-world, turn-based RPG takes place in a world that is somewhat lower fantasy than fans of Battle Brothers will be used to, and takes major inspiration from older Mount & Blade titles in both its presentation and town interactions.
Dead Monarchy, similarly to Battle Brothers, tasks players with building up and managing a company of mercenaries, journeying across the world and taking on contracts. Dead Monarchy’scombat can be deadly, but the game’s difficulty is extremely customizable from the beginning. Although Dead Monarchy may not be much to look at, fans of Battle Brothers and Mount & Blade alike will likely find fun in this title.
Mordheim: City Of The Damned
For fans of the Warhammer Fantasy universe, Mordheim: City Of The Damned is a fantastic video game adaptation with solid turn-based combat and RPG mechanics. Similarly to Battle Brothers, Mordheim has players building and managing a warband made up of characters that can permanently die.
Mordheim, like Battle Brothers, features an abundance of RNG that may be frustrating for some players, but helps to keep things intense, forcing players to be adaptable in order to thrive. Mordheim isn’t a sandbox, instead focusing more on its deadly skirmishes, and its multitude of playable races gives the game a great deal of variety. Managing a warband and building a versatile and well-balanced party of soldiers is both strategic and satisfying, which fans of Battle Brothers are sure to enjoy.
Urtuk: The Desolation
Urtuk takes place in a post-apocalyptic, dark-fantasy setting, visualized by a unique, hand-drawn art style. Urtuk is a brutal game, featuring survival elements that make decisions made in the over-world truly consequential.
Urtuk’s turn-based combat takes place on a hexagonal grid in which the environment matters; positional awareness and being aware of surrounding traps and hazards, as well as taking advantage of them with the game’s “ram” mechanic, is highly important to success. Urtuk isn’t a sandbox like Battle Brothers, instead following a more combat-focused approach that sees players spending most of their time fighting. However, the game’s party-based combat and RPG elements can often scratch that Battle Brothers itch.
BATTLETECH
Although Battletech takes place in a science fiction setting that revolves entirely around mech combat, there’s plenty here to like for fans of Battle Brothers; the game tasks players with managing a mercenary company, battling it out in turn-based combat with customizable squads.
Battletech tasks players with developing the background and visuals of their mercenary company before taking them into a world ravaged by Civil War. Despite combat being dramatically different to Battle Brothers, with a heavier focus on ranged combat and detailed damage simulation, the gameplay loop of taking on jobs, fighting turn-based battles, managing funds, and progressing by purchasing new equipment and levelling up mech pilots is highly reminiscent of Battle Brothers.
The Monster Breeder
What The Monster Breeder lacks in visual style, it more than makes up for in mechanical and strategic depth; this game tasks players with breeding and managing fantastical creatures while building up and improving their base, as well as managing their finances. The game sees players levelling up their creatures and optimizing the conditions of their habitats, creating specialized squads of units to take into gladiatorial combats and tournaments.
Like Battle Brothers, The Monster Breeder features permanent death, meaning players can potentially lose high level units in combat. However, The Monster Breeder features non-lethal tournaments that pay less, but allow players to get some combat experience. The Monster Breeder’s combat is relatively distinct, with a hex-based movement system and attacks of opportunity that will be familiar to fans of Battle Brothers.
The game’s combination of unit management and tactical turn-based combat is sure to please those looking for a game like Battle Brothers, and the base-building and monster breeding provide a unique angle that allows it to stand on its own as a turn-based RPG. Furthermore, for those that are unsure about the game, The Monster Breeder currently has a free demo available on Steam.
The Iron Oath
This high-fantasy, tactical RPG features a wonderful pixel art aesthetic and dungeon-crawling gameplay with elements of push-your-luck. Unlike Battle Brothers, The Iron Oath features an abundance of fantastical elements in both its setting and mechanics, which it leans on rather heavily.
The Iron Oath features a great deal of character variety through its abundance of classes, abilities, and customization options; this helps to make each member of the party feel both unique and useful, and also adds strategy to building a roster. Similarly to Battle Brothers, The Iron Oath has players exploring an open world through an over-world map, managing their party’s finances and well-being, taking on contracts, and being aware of their reputation with the towns across the land.
Wartales
This visually-pleasing, 3D sandbox RPG features deeply tactical, turn-based combat, strong RPG progression systems, and a detailed open world. Like Battle Brothers, Wartales tasks players with leading a party of mercenaries in an open-world sandbox, allowing players to take different jobs as they see fit.
While Wartales does feature a sandbox gameplay loop similar to Battle Brothers, it also features some innovations; in Wartales, players can build and upgrade their mercenary company’s base camp in a variety of ways, and the game also features a strong crafting system that helps to add some depth to the game outside of combat.
Conclusion
The genre of strategy RPGs may be a saturated one, and many games that attempt to reach for Battle Brothers’ heights never quite make it, but hopefully, this list introduces fans to a great tactical RPG to scratch that Battle Brothers itch.
If there’s a great turn-based game in the style of Battle Brothers that didn’t make it to this list, be sure to let us know on Discord, Twitter, and on our YouTube channel.
