WARDOGS
WARDOGS
Game
Game2017
Battle Brothers
Developer Overhype Studios
Battle Brothers is a tactical role-playing game developed by Overhype Studios. It was released by Overhype on the PC in 2017, and console versions were released in 2021 and 2022. In 2025, Hooded Horse acquired the publishing rights for the Windows version of the game. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
431 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
255 positive · 64 negative
95% range 75–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 255 | 64 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 27 | 5 | 69 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
15,356 of 17,212 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
81% recommend · 213 yes, 51 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 264 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (25,537 of 29,001 positive).
Players praise Battle Brothers as a brutally difficult and rewarding tactical game. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the heavy reliance on RNG, calling it frustrating. [4][5][6] Many note the steep learning curve and lack of hand-holding. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
A lot of the negative reviews came from the game's RNG system. Many people described it as broken, unfair and unbalanced, while there are a lot of others claimed the system was fair, balanced and had been tested to death. You don't need to believe both sides, from my point of view both of them are correct, and you can buy the game and test it by yourself. The most important thing is that you need to feel FUN when …
- [1]
People think this is a Strategy RPG. They are wrong. This is a Crisis Management Simulator. You start with hope and gold. Five days later, you are managing PMC 'The Bums' - a corporate entity where a hired peasant costs less than the bandage used to save him. This game taught me that heroism is a liability. I developed a doctrine: "Lucrum ex Nihilo" (Profit from Nothing). Don't buy armor. Loot it from dead enemies. …
- [2]
Best game ever made. I have over 1000 hours in Battle Brothers, and I still keep coming back. Very few games manage to stay interesting for that long, but Battle Brothers does it effortlessly. No matter how many campaigns I start, there is always another company to build, another disaster to survive, and another story to create. What makes it so special is how perfectly all of its systems come together. The combat …
- [7]
One of the best turn-based tactics games of all time, and the best Middle Ages/Low Fantasy tactics game full stop. Learning curve like a roguelike, expect to die -> restart -> die a little further in as you learn how to win. Fantastic, buy it and try it.
- [4]
I love this game but after 171 hours the truth is its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RNG nightmare and the few moments of fun I've had are dwarfed by the amount of BS that gets swept under the rug and called "challenge". Breaking a brick wall with my fists would be challenging, it would also be a slow and painful like every hour of my time with this. TLDR great combat system ruined by ♥♥♥♥ you RNG so they can call it HARD.
Summarised from 34 of the 347 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Battle Brothers sits at 80% positive across 319 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Although he criticized the game's lack of a useful tutorial and poor inventory management, Ian Birnbaum wrote in this review for PC Gamer, "Battle Brothers takes a formula I love and twists it to fit a wide-open medieval setting." RPGFan reviewer Bob Richardson wrote that the PC version "demands your time, but grants rewards with a thrilling and earthy experience". PCGamesN included it in their list of best turn-based strategy games for the PC. Commenting on the game's punishing difficulty, Joel A. DeWitte of Nintendo World Report said, "It's a world I want to dive into again and again, even if I know this incarnation will be just as taxing." Jon Jansen of RPGamer praised the game's combat…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 431 · most liked first[Battle Brothers fancomic] Cant touch this(?) Context : In this game, your hit chance is basically -> your melee skill vs their melee defense. And champion swordmasters are basically untouchable in melee but just die when someone uses a ranged weapon against them lol. Its kind of hilarious.
positive · AI labelView post →A lot of the negative reviews came from the game's RNG system. Many people described it as broken, unfair and unbalanced, while there are a lot of others claimed the system was fair, balanced and had been tested to death. You don't need to believe both sides, from my point of view both of them are correct, and you can buy the game and test it by yourself. The most important thing is that you need to feel FUN when you play a game. (I quitted after playing ~100 hours, just because it's not fun…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playing a bit of Menace (turn based tactics game from the Battle Brothers devs), and I'm kind of fascinated by the use of turn order as a mechanic to really give you the sense that your troops are an elite force, but also vulnerable. Played right, it delivers the 'knife-through-butter' fantasy.
neutral · AI labelView post →I want to love this game. Genuinely. There are some absolutely brilliant choices in game design here. The emergent storytelling is amazing. The customization of your soldiers is amazing. The setting and grim feel of the world is amazing. Watching a ragtag group of nobodies slowly become hardened veterans with names, scars and histories is genuinely compelling in a way very few games manage. The economy and combat however, are...not great. The RNG Problem This game leans heavily into RNG. If…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →People think this is a Strategy RPG. They are wrong. This is a Crisis Management Simulator. You start with hope and gold. Five days later, you are managing PMC 'The Bums' - a corporate entity where a hired peasant costs less than the bandage used to save him. This game taught me that heroism is a liability. I developed a doctrine: "Lucrum ex Nihilo" (Profit from Nothing). Don't buy armor. Loot it from dead enemies. Don't save soldiers. Amortize them. If a recruit survives three battles, he…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved Menace. Thought I would like this. I respect how complicated they made the game, but - honestly? It is damn near obtuse. There's no hand-holding, no explanations, and no way to learn about the mechanics of the game without going online to read guides and watch videos. Respect. I like a game that wants me to figure things out, too. To a point. After sinking hours in to my first run, reaching day 120, and then realizing I couldn't survive or DPS my way through zombie hords in a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →4) Battle Brothers. The second greatest squad level tactics game of all time, after X-Com 2. You lead a merry band of scum around a randomly generated map, fighting intense battles against everything from peasants to giant wyrms. Ideally played Ironman, like all such games, once you’re good.
positive · AI labelView post →This game is for a very particular type of person, someone who enjoys difficult games that require time and a lot of failure to learn and master. I thought I would be that type of person, but i feel this game loses something along the way, it stops becoming about learning or overcoming a challenge. For the first dozen hours I thought it was about that, but its not. I personally feel battle brothers is about failure, its about losing brothers, getting your face kicked in over and over again and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →We’ve loved working with Overhype Studios to publish MENACE. It's been such a privilege to work with the creators of Battle Brothers, a game that our team loves dearly. Now we're doubly honored, because they're giving us a chance to serve as the publisher for Battle Brothers as well!
neutral · AI labelView post →I mentioned playing Battle Brothers a couple days ago and getting my entire little group of checkerboard guys super murdered but that’s sort of the game. Getting the best outcome in everything is depriving myself of the horrific miserable slog of medieval peasant carnage & that’s what I’m there for
positive · AI labelView post →Game has a good idea going behind it, but unfortunately way too many systems of this game are gambling for me to recommend it. Almost everything is tied to RNG, which can lead to a more frustrating experience than necessary. The first layer of gambling the player is introduced to is the actual map seed. Unlike in other games, where seeds are somewhat comparable and mostly serve to streamline consistency for speedruns or allow players to have similar playthroughs "side by side" with content…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →“My god, this game is ugly” was my first thought when I opened this game. This rimworld/newgrounds aesthetic was so unappealing, I did not play this game for years. However, on one of my long trips, I was left alone with a steam deck and a desire to play a deep tactics game. My friend recommended this one. So, I pushed past my hatred and gave it a shot. The game does not hold back, the battles are immediately challenging and units die often. My first company is poor enough that oftentimes I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Brothers is once of the best games I have ever played. I always find myself coming back and playing for hours on end, enjoying every part of the game's progression, the story you build for yourself and the complete freedom you have around the game. To start, this is game is the epitome of Sandbox. You spawn in and then you're given freedom to do whatever you want to do that the game offers. This mainly begins with contracts, recruiting more 'brothers' and building your mercenary company…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best game ever made. I have over 1000 hours in Battle Brothers, and I still keep coming back. Very few games manage to stay interesting for that long, but Battle Brothers does it effortlessly. No matter how many campaigns I start, there is always another company to build, another disaster to survive, and another story to create. What makes it so special is how perfectly all of its systems come together. The combat is brutal, tactical, and incredibly rewarding. Every battle matters, every…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game but its not balanced. The more men you have the more enemies there are. The more you level up. The harder your enemies get. The game is a grind and just when you think your getting a kick ass crew the game levels up and wipes you out.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a fan of turn-based tactical games, I'd been meaning to play Battle Brothers for years. In 2026, I finally sat down for a 40-hour campaign -- though, strictly speaking, a run never really ends. I can certainly see why the game has such a dedicated following. However, despite its strengths, I can't wholeheartedly recommend it. Its shortcomings stand out even more when compared to similar games released in recent years that offer a more memorable and engaging experience. The first thing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a thing TTRPG designers can learn from MENACE: If players aren't "playing the game right", change the mechanics so that the players now play the game correctly! So, let me explain MENACE is the second game by the guys who made Battle Brothers.
neutral · AI labelView post →Smashing A Peasant's Head In With A Big Hammer Because A Guy Will Give You Five Bucks is a great game with other features I have not yet paid attention to
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is about 90% of the way there, but there is nonsense that makes the already difficult gameplay needlessly unfair. You're hunting down a group of enemies, and you know they are their on the map, but somehow your company is caught off guard at the start of the battle? And your in a swamp, so you start out in the swamp itself and not on the solid ground merely 10 feet away? Also your way out of formation with the backliners infront of the frontliners? Presumably if I had any amount of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game I have the most hours in. It is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorites.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Liking this game is like learning to like a cat. It doesn't want to be interacted with and it will hurt you if you get too close. Once you begin to understand it however and change the way you approach it; a whole new world gets opened to you. A world where your best merc will be one shotted by a 10% because you remember its still a cat at the end of the day. That's Battle Brothers BABY!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've not had a chance to put in quite as many hours as others pre-release, but I can confirm that this one is legit. Gritty sci-fi tactics from the Battle Brothers team. Onboarding could be a bit better in early access (get a B-team ASAP, there's fatigue), but there's a lot of game here to chew on.
neutral · AI labelView post →This is a wonderfully difficult and brutally consequence-filled game that will keep you loving it for years. It has strategy, the ability for your characters to improve (and die ignomiously), and never gets old from a challenge standpoint. Every game really is different, even though there are, of course, always similarities between them. Further, the developers are STILL improving it, with a new beta coming out just this week! I cannot recommend Battle Brothers highly enough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't enjoy this game. Sporadically fun but also infuriatingly abrupt in how it decides to end you because the dice roll is god. I get the appeal of Battle Brothers in that you build up a band of ragtag dopey medieval dudes who go around taking morally questionable contracts and beating people in the name of the good ol' dark age dollar, and its combat system and mechanics are all very much sound. It all makes sense and yeah, it's truly RNG in your rolls. That's pretty much the issue with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Highly recommend this game. This game is like Wartales, if Wartales had 10x times the replayability and actual good tactical fights.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Essentially this is M&B Lite with turn based combat. Honestly, my problem with this (base) game is completely different from other people that left negative reviews. IMO the gameplay mechanics are great and understandable, I find the battles fun, the only exception being you can't see the % chance of your enemies hitting their attacks, only yours, so sometimes you might feel a bit cheated because of this, since you can't see enemy levels. The mechanics are great. The real problem is the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: Game is an acquired taste and not for casual gamers. I completed first playthrough after watching copious number of guides and testing and retesting myself several times and my biggest gripe is: 1/ It's a roguelite essentially with extremely unbalanced experience. 2/ RNG seed sucks, and several years of complaint about rigged feeling of RNG is nothing new. 3/ The Stat check, esp how common it is, where enemies have significantly higher stats than you more numbers AND gimmick mechanics…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →...does anyone have that picture of a handgonne I did with traditional media back in 2016 as fanart for Battle Brothers ? I always liked it because it ended up looking exactly like the one they added in the game years later but I realise now I have no idea where to find it again.
neutral · AI labelView post →Is so difficult and frustrating it makes my own life easier to deal with
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To save time on animation as we build a playable game, @ag-radley.bsky.social suggested going for the Battle Brothers route: customizable busts and gear. In the future I'd love to have them fully bodied/animated but this is a perfect way to prototype the game. I love the look of these little guys.
neutral · AI labelView post →cool game but occasional autosave file becomes corrupted and if you didn't manually save or are on ironman mode you will lose save completely. cant reccommend when a crash corruption bug exsists in the game and has partially ruined the game for me
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Brothers is one of my favorite games. I've always been a big fan of turn based tactical games and so Final Fantasy Tactics and XCom are what I use in my head for basing games on how fun or challenging they are but I'm pretty sure I have to add a third pillar now in my pantheon for Battle Brothers. It's a very challenging game that at first feels like it's been quite unfair but has a lot of systems and mechanics that you can use to your advantage or disadvantage (because the computer…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Brothers is one of the most fun games I've played, it's nearly a 10/10. Offering fun and deep combat with meaningful skills that alter the tides of battle, abilities for brothers that completely change the way they function on the battlefield, an Oregon trail style trek across a kingdom. It does so many things right, but a few mechanics are holding this game back. I regrettably have to give it a thumbs down because the truth is thumbs down get more attention and with Overhypes next game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best turn-based tactics games of all time, and the best Middle Ages/Low Fantasy tactics game full stop. Learning curve like a roguelike, expect to die -> restart -> die a little further in as you learn how to win. Fantastic, buy it and try it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super addictive if you are the right kind of player. What kind of player do you need to be? You need to enjoy turn-based combat. You need to be okay with simple graphics and little to no animation. You need to enjoy setting your own goals instead of following a story. You need to enjoy character-building and party-optimization. You need to enjoy the challenge of a steep learning curve. I think if you are this kind player you can potentially get a lot out of this game and its DLCs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Brothers: The Board Game is coming to Kickstarter on October 7. This card-based tactical board game will let you go to battle as a mercenary company or an orc warband. More details on the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bbboardgame/battle-brothers-the-board-game
neutral · AI labelView post →This is probably the best tactical game that I've ever played. I've had a whole ton of runs and I keep coming back to it. Tons of variety each run and it really gets you invested in your company. Definitely recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game but after 171 hours the truth is its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RNG nightmare and the few moments of fun I've had are dwarfed by the amount of BS that gets swept under the rug and called "challenge". Breaking a brick wall with my fists would be challenging, it would also be a slow and painful like every hour of my time with this. TLDR great combat system ruined by ♥♥♥♥ you RNG so they can call it HARD.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well my friend posted a negative review because he doesn't understand the game, so my hand is forced to post a positive review to offset his review. This is a great game - there's a lot of valid builds for your bros and a lot of great synergies to discover between perks, equipment, and the stats of each bro. Enemies are varied and you will, painfully, learn the best approach for each enemy. But eventually things will start to click and you'll understand the capabilities of your bros and what…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You will like my indie game if you played these games: -Battle Brothers -Darkest Dungeon -Wildermyth -XCOM -Any sandbox RPG ^_~ Wishlist: store.steampowered.com/app/2586000 #GameDev #IndieDev
neutral · AI labelView post →Rough start, but once you're a bit into the game and know the mechanics better, it's so addicting and so much fun. Battle Brothers is overall just a very well-rounded game and definitely worth checking out. Although the base game can get dull reasonably quickly. The DLCs are definitely a must-have here and add much more depth to the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wartales is great. If you haven't, also consider Battle Brothers. Similar game, similarly well made, somewhat different approach.
positive · AI labelView post →Personally i feel like the game is very empty if you were to believe the tags RPG / sandbox. Outside of battles there isnt really much of "RPGing" to do aside from contracts which usually lead to even more battles or a very barebones trading. Meta knowledge is also a very real thing and your enjoyment in game will rely on it to an obnoxious amount of degree. Good luck trying to figure out half of the things in the game without save scumming or pouring dozens of hours into new runs if you are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really want to like the game, when it's going in your favor it's great but everything seems to be trying to punish you, even on the easiest difficulty. I went with a "No" but it's more of a "Try, at your own risk." Food is expensive and last only a couple days, you also have to pay your "brothers". If you want to keep them alive you need enough gold to pay them but also buy supplies. You can loot and repair armor/weapons but the best ones are rare and expensive. Then you finally have some…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don’t worry about the negatives. People are angry because the game doesn’t protect them from themselves.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have almost 90 hours in this game and while i can say that in the beginning i was having a blast with it despite not liking turn based combat, after a good amount of play time i cant stand the way the game handles your party leveling and getting better. From the start with 3 lvl 1 men to the end game with a group of 12 with no one under level 10, the fights never got any easier whatsoever. If your on any difficulty higher than beginner you will constantly lose your best men to what seems like…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Started a new game yesterday unaware Update v1.5.2.2 had dropped. Saw some new items in shops and questioned myself if i'd ever seen them before or simply forgot them. Then while on a convoy escort mission that seemed like it would be a milk run i get ambushed by Brigand Marauders for the first time. I was not prepared for how tanky they were and was caught off guard losing two brothers and nearly a third.Was able to farm some heavy armour off them that will help at the current stage of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the hardest game, ever. Playing on Beginner difficulty is like your parents teaching you how life works, living with them rent-free, playing around all the time, etc. Switching to Veteran is like getting hit with responsibilities, living alone, raising a family, studying at university, etc. And then you get fired, your wife leaves you, takes your kids, and you are homeless. I don't even want to talk about Expert, because I can't even survive a few days in Veteran difficulty. My first…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Brothers Game: Grim Dark Future: Firefight Printer: @elegoo.bsky.social Saturn 4 Ultra Layer Height: 0.04mm STL Source: @TitanForgeMinis #boardgames #tabletop #minipainting #hobby
neutral · AI labelView post →I discovered this game abut 5 years ago. I have been addicted ever since. The game itself takes the approach that reminds me of Skyrim. There is no set way to being or play the game itself. You succeed and you find yourself leading a company that can make you filthy rich. You fail and you could potentially lose someone you have spent literal days crafting into a killing machine. Very few games I take the time to research so I can understand it better. The mechanics are fun and simple. Once you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(This joke is cause the creators of MENACE made Battle Brothers, a game with no women, and they fixed THAT oversight and then some, holy shit)
neutral · AI labelView post →This is the game I wish Wartales should have been. Also, no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bears.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While the core concept of the game (creating a mercenary company, traveling the land and taking on (or running away) from insormountable odds) is great, once you get deeper into it, the game sabotages itself on many occastions. For example: - early game, before your brothers gain stats and talents, the run is hugely dependant on rng. You can play well, but eventually it boils down to wheather or not your guy will hit that 40-60% shot, or if enemy will cripple your best fighter in the first…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There will still be times where I, as a player, will reload the game. But they're MUCH LESS OFTEN than I would in Battle Brothers - because, at the end of the day, the game is designed to not completely ruin my day when i lose people. It does still hurt, emotionally, because...humans are empathic!
neutral · AI labelView post →The devs who made this game previously made Battle Brothers, which is a great game except its all dudes so in MENACE they unlocked "women" in their skill tree and HO MAN they made so many amazing women
neutral · AI labelView post →♥♥♥♥ ahh game hate this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game i clicked dislike bztton with 90% of hitting it and i missed
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good gameplay? - Check Developers supporting their game years after release? - Check Mod community? - Check Runs on a potato? - Check DLCs that are actually good but optional? - Check I mean... go buy it unless you have it already! If you do - gift it to a friend :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of those games that creates plenty of memories of devastating tragedies, tight comebacks and epic triumphs. Don't let the simpistic visuals fool you because this game is amazing! It's very punishing and difficult at first but it also rewards experimentation and exploration. Do not go into it thinking you'll kick ass from the get go or that you'll be kitted out in your first adventure. Your companies will have very humble beginnings, you'll be barely able to get by and you'll have…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They should rename this game to Blind Brothers or Challenged Brothers or something. No attacks could hit. You can surround a goblin and no attacks would hit. None. You'd think that having someone attack it from behind TWICE would net in at least one hit. But nope. I know I'm hiring the medieval equivalent of crackheads, but you'd expect them to hit something once they have the positional advantage, but it seems that the game doesn't have that. No tactics. Pure RNG that you can't work…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What makes this game so precious is it's realistic challenge. I was a level 9 hedge knight facing off against a barbarian king. All previous foes fell before my blade like wheat before the scythe. My first strike against the noble barbarian greatly damaged his armor. His first strike with a monstrous axe sundered mine and wounded me greatly. Before I had a chance to flee, his second strike ended me. That was on Beginner. I usually play on Veteran and the bonuses of beginner were apparent -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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