You lead a small company of hired fighters who work for pay in Wartales, a mercenary RPG set in an open world. A century ago, a plague brought down the Edoran Empire, and now banditry and mercenary work fill the land. Your crew isn't a band of heroes. Their goal is to survive and get rich, by any means they can.
A session is mostly spent traveling the open map, where you explore villages, abandoned mines, tombs, and camps. Travel wears your company down, so you stop to camp, rest, and cook, and you need enough food to keep your mercenaries from deserting. Along the way you take contracts and bounties, since your company needs steady money for wages, food, and repairs. When enemies get close, the game switches to a turn-based battle where you and the enemy take turns, and where you place your fighters can decide the outcome.
Your company grows by recruiting companions, each with their own specialization, weapon preference, and personality. Recruits can leave when unhappy or die in battle, so it helps to keep a spare or two on hand. Over time you customize skills and gear, assign companions to professions like fishing and forging, and build your reputation. The aim is a company strong enough to take on the region's most dangerous figures, and each region has its own story to follow along the way.
- Developer
- Shiro Games
- Publisher
- Shiro Games
- Release
- PC Early Access: 2021-12-01 · PC full release: 2023-04-12 · Xbox Series X|S: 2023-10-31 · Nintendo Switch (UK/EU): 2023-09-14
- Platforms
- PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S
Game data
Classes
Classes decide what each mercenary in your band is built for, from the weapons they use to the skills and role they bring to battle. The original classes come with the base game, and the Pugilist, Crossbowman and Thaumaturge came in free updates released alongside expansions, so none of them needs a paid add-on. Each class branches into specializations as it grows, and most also have a hidden one, unlocked by beating a region's arena champion and then talking to a character in that region. A party that mixes front-line fighters with ranged, flanking and support classes covers the most situations.
Specializations
Specializations are the paths that take a companion beyond their starting class in Wartales. Companions choose a standard path at class level 2 or 3, Master Classes open at class level 15, and hidden paths come from defeating a region's arena champion. Each specialization adds skills and passive bonuses and sets the armor weight a companion can wear.
Legendary Items
Named and legendary weapons and gear are unique items in Wartales, each with its own name and a special skill or passive effect. They include weapons, shields, off-hands, helmets, belts, backpacks and animal accessories. Legendary weapons level up with the character who wields them. Many come from tombs, bosses, arenas and expansions such as The Beast Hunt, and purple antiquities can be researched at a Lectern to earn some.
Regions
Wartales is split into regions, and each one has its own enemies, towns, and storyline. The base game runs from Tiltren County to Drombach County, while paid DLC adds a sea region, a hunt for a monster, a shadowy forest, an occupied county, and a city in unrest. Regions connect through border crossings that often ask for Krowns, Influence, or a Border Pass, and you choose region locked or adaptive exploration when you start a new campaign.
Wartales gameplay tips
- Stock up on food before a long trip. Travel wears your company down, and mercenaries who go unfed at camp may desert, so a small reserve keeps your group together.
- Assign a Tinkerer to the Workshop early. The Tinkerer makes Raw Materials each time you rest at camp, and you need those for repairs and camp upgrades.
- Recruit a couple of spare companions early. Recruits can get sick from rats, leave when unhappy, or die in battle, and without spares you could end up with an empty party.
- Pick each companion's profession and stick with it. Fishing keeps the group fed and forging makes gear, but switching a companion to a new profession resets their progress in the old one.
- Decide skill routes before you spend skill points. Some skills lock a mercenary into specific armor or skill sets, so pick a path for each one ahead of time.
- Attack from behind before you spend Valour Points. Hitting a target from the rear halves its Guard and raises your critical-hit chance, so good positioning can do more than a costly skill.