Sordid, flesh-eating medieval tactics RPG Wartales is getting a new Fires in the Capital DLC expansion in April. It adds a wartorn metropolis to the game – Isandrin, crown jewel of Edoran and home of the Legion. As such, it’s a departure from the mucky outland gigwork you may be accustomed to, offering what Shiro game director Quentin Lapeyre calls “a dense, reactive capital, where the Chaos system ensures that every decision can impact the entire city”.
As the boss murderer of a troupe of thugs, you are under no obligation to save Isandrin from escalating factional tensions. You can work to restore order, or you can hasten the proud burg’s demise, with dastardly methods ranging from the shanking of bandits to outbreaks of public singing. How horrible!
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“Isandrin offers a new kind of experience compared to the frontier regions Wartales mercenaries typically explore,” explains a press release. “Combat is only one way to act. Hunting down brigands, dismantling propaganda, supporting civic institutions, and performing as a bard to influence public opinion all contribute to the balance of the city. Players’ actions affect everything from trade conditions to the stability of the districts.”
You can also expect “objective-based urban battle scenarios shaped by the state of the capital”. For example, you might have to knife a few ne’er-do-wells to stave off a riot, escort convoys of supplies, or rescue people from burning houses.
Former RPS merc-herder Nic Reuben reviewed both the initial early access version of Wartales in 2021 and the 1.0 release in 2023. He was pretty keen, and not just because he’s partial to stabbing boars. “To say that these tactically interesting, tense, and wonderfully animated fights aren’t the game’s main event is more of a compliment than it sounds, since one of Wartales’ main strengths is how each of its many systems, from party management to economy tweaking, can be gripping in their own right,” Nic wrote. Though he did yearn for a proper campaign to wash down the game’s player-generated anecdotes – “some central, driving mystery at the heart of this evocatively grimy low fantasy world”.
I’m not sure if any of the other post-release DLCs answered Nic’s wish – I’ve overheard a few withering remarks down the seamy alleyways of Steam about the DLC at large being too piecemeal – but Fires in the Capital does seem rather climactic, kind of like getting to Baldur’s Gate in Baldur’s Gate 3. You won’t need to start a new save for the pleasure: it’ll integrate with your existing playthrough.
Favourite merc-based tactics sim, everybody? There are a few of them now. Battle Brothers and Menace are the obvious alternatives.
