WARTALES

Wander a land filled with danger and unpleasant wildlife

- Ian Evenden

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE Q2 2023 (Early Access)

DEVELOPER Shiro Games

PUBLISHER Shiro Unlimited

LINK wartales.net

Rats. They’re a staple of early RPG levels, and while some games have fun with them, like giving them psychic powers or hiding a single huge one under an inn, in Wartales they’re grotesque, their disgusting hole surrounded by the carcasses of their victims, the ground made sticky by blood.

I hadn’t even picked up a quest, so I didn’t need to attack. I just saw rats and waded in with all the misplaced bravery of the level-two fighter. And frankly, I’ve had better mornings.

This fight against rats hinges on killing the broodmother, a swollen monstrosity who summons more rats out of the ground every time she gets a turn. Wartales, from the French developer behind Dune: Spice Wars, has been in Early Access for a while now, and is aiming for a release later this year. The game switches between real-time exploration and turn-based combat, so pitting my party of six fighters, rangers and archers against 15 rats sees the rodents nibble away at health and armour while I’m waiting for a turn. I prevail, but my party members are injured, have the plague, and are in need of a rest.