Grim and gritty tactics RPG Wartales will be playable next month

During this weekend's MIX Next digital showcase for upcoming indie games, a release date for mercenary company simulator Wartales was announced. This gritty epic from the makers of Northgard will arrive in Early Access on Wednesday, December 1.

Wartales is a tactics game about managing a band of mercenaries in a low-fantasy setting called Edoran. Players navigate a land ravaged by plague, building a warband and finding lords to fight for in turn-based battles that stress the importance of positioning. Then at the end of the working week, they settle down around the campfire to hand out wages, manage morale, and make sure everyone is fed. It's more about the mundane and practical than the mythic.

"The reception to Wartales' reveal during this Summer’s PC Gaming Show was better than we could have imagined," said game director Nicolas Cannasse. "We are eager to open the gates to Edoran with the launch of Wartales on Steam Early Access Wednesday, December 1. Sharpen your blades, equip your best armor, and prepare for an open-world dark fantasy adventure!"

According to Cannasse, Wartales will stay in Early Access "about one year, one and a half", and during that time more explorable regions will be added once each is complete. Wartales will be available on Steam, and has a demo you can download there now.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.