Wartales | PC Alpha Demo

Explore and survive if you can. Thrive, and feast on those that get in the way of your prosperity! Shiro Games, who brought us games like Evoland and Northgard, recently released an Alpha version demo for  Wartales. Wartales pits you, your skills in battle, and your will for adventure and prosperity against the harsh conditions of a world fraught with peril. I have yet to hear the phrase “turn-based” without stopping to look further, so when the opportunity arose to see what this was all about, I didn’t think twice. Since this was an Alpha version demo of the game, I didn’t get to wade too far into its waters, and things could definitely change before they release the game in its final entirety.

Also, there is no story whatsoever to experience in this demo. I don’t know if this was done on purpose and it’ll end up being a sandbox style experience, or if Shiro Games cut the story element out of this demo to keep it concealed until a later date. The Wartales trailer, shown at E3 2021’s PC Gaming Show, tells a bit of the setting, being a medieval post-plague. However, the demo simply dropped me on the map, with nothing to go on whatsoever. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the small bit of a nibble I got from what appears to be the massive plate that is Wartales.

Un-Parallel

The combat in Wartales feels very familiar, yet different enough. Battles are fought on a grid, much like the ones in the Divinity: Original Sin games and Baldur’s Gate 3, as well as many others. Battles are fleshed out in deterministic rounds, meaning you can see when the opponent is going to take their turn. On your turn, you can choose any of your characters that have not performed an action already in that round. Each character has the ability to move a certain number of tiles, and perform an action such as an attacking or healing another character within reach. There are sometimes a few obstacles scattered across the battlefield, and you can use your characters’ movement in a tactical manner to prevent them from taking damage by putting those obstacles between your character and the enemy.

The difference in battle here comes in how attacks are handled. Most games that are put together in this style adapt the Dungeons and Dragons’ system of rolling dice to see if you hit or miss, and/or how much damage you do on a hit. The system in Wartales seems to be a much simpler format, where damage is simply determined by the weapon the character is using versus the protection provided by the opposition’s armor. It was a simplistic form that I did not care for at first. However, the more I played, the more I came to appreciate that Shiro Games took the path of least resistance in this manner. I really feel that as the game progresses (especially when we are able to dive deeper into it), with all of the systems already at play here, that this helps to keep things a little less convoluted than would otherwise be.

This brings me to the other prominent aspect hindering your dominance in Wartales. There are numerous systems in play that will require your attention. Crafting, Knowledge, Suspicion, Happiness, Influence, and of course the ever familiar Experience systems will all play deciding factors in your demise and triumphs. On paper, this number of influential factors scared me. Many games behind me had a great story or exciting gameplay, but were pinned down and kept from their potential by the chains that were their numerous systems that got in the way. While there’s not enough playtime in this demo to gauge the weight they throw on the gameplay’s shoulders, the experience I had with them here was pleasant.

Beauty is Danger

The world design in Wartales is done very well. You experience the lands you traverse via an isometric viewpoint. It’s not a groundbreaking graphical performance by any means, but it is simply beautiful. I couldn’t help but watch the landscape unfold around me in adoration as I explored the small portion of the world Shiro Games had invited me into.

The musical score as I wandered about mystically pulled me into the atmosphere I was briefly a part of. Medieval scores are quite commonly overdone in games, but here, the experience is sharpened by the sadness of the strings singing to you as you walk your path, and the percussion pounding to raise the adrenaline as you enter combat.

Wartales Final Verdict

This Wartales demo is a nibble on what appears to be a feast for the tactical turn-based and adventure fan. I really wish Shiro Games would have given me a little more to chew on, however, to gauge the flavor of everything put together a little more. Many of the key parts to this experience are not able to be tested far enough to weigh in the short time they give you. From the little I was able to experience, though, it has some heavy, mouth watering potential. I look forward to what it becomes, and the day I can explore, thrive, and feast on what Wartales puts in front of me.

To hear me talk more about WarTales, be sure to listen to Episode 352 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:41:30 time stamp.

This review is based off of an Alpha demo of Wartales on Steam. The full version of the game launches later this year.