Battle Brothers – Blazing Deserts DLC
Overhype Studios
Battle Brothers made a rather quiet splash within the gaming community when it debuted three-and-a-half years ago. As an independent developer, Overhype Studios didn’t have the budget to compete with larger game studios so they instead focused on gameplay. Battle Brothers proved, once again, that you don’t have to have tons of funds behind a project to make it successful if you believe in it enough (and of course, it’s a great game, to begin with).
In Battle Brothers, you manage a mercenary company and have to navigate through a low-power, medieval setting in order to take on various contracts. You start with your base mercenaries (dependent on which origin you choose) and can hire more men throughout your travels. Along the way, you’ll have to contend with all sorts of dangerous denizens, including bloodthirsty bandits, as well as a wide variety of monsters and aggressive wildlife.
Overhype Studios recently released their new DLC, Battle Brothers – Blazing Deserts, to its ever-growing fan base and newbies alike. Whereas their previous DLC, Warriors of the North, focused on frigid Scandinavian-like environs—complete with fierce barbarians—this time you’ll travel to a massive southern area with sprawling, scorching deserts, and lush oases. Battle Brothers – Blazing Deserts is obviously inspired by Middle-Eastern cultures, such as some medieval Persian and Arabian ones.
What sets Battle Brothers apart from many of the similar turn-based tactical games is that it has a really gritty feel to it. Blazing Deserts continues this trend and you’ll find that the new mercenary origins fit right in with the base game. In other words, you get the feeling that your band of mercenaries is composed of desperate men who are merely trying to eke out a living as a scurrilous sword-for-hire. Therefore, you won’t find any mages casting fireballs or paladins wielding magical swords—just down-and-out dudes trying to survive in a dangerous, procedurally-generated world.
In Battle Brothers – Blazing Deserts, your band of mercenaries can travel to independent city-states, fight in an arena for fame and fortune (or go down in torrents of arterial blood spray), and face the new enemies, such as desert raiders and deadly southern beasts, in battle.
The new war gear has a really cool Middle-Eastern aesthetic and you can now employ alchemical contraptions and primitive firearms. And you’ll need them to forge your own path when the fires of religious turmoil threaten to engulf the world in a new late-game crisis.
But the new content of Blazing Deserts does not limit to the south, noooo. Other new features such as the new environments for fights will also be found in the north.
Here are some of the DLC’s key features:
- Visit new lands to the south with independent city-states that have their own lore, equipment and services, as well as entirely new character backgrounds to recruit
- Hire a retinue of non-combat followers to customize your campaign experience to fit your playstyle
- Fight in the arena in front of cheering spectators to earn coin, experience and unique rewards as an alternative to mercenary work
- Survive a new late-game crisis that tests the mettle of your company in the fires of religious turmoil
- Face entirely new opponents of city-state soldiers and desert raiders, complete with their own gear and unique mechanics. Hunt down and get hunted by desert beasts
- New Origins: play using one of three new southern-themed origins, each with special rules that shape your campaign into a different experience from beginning to end
- Dress in style with a collection of new banners, shields, helmets, and armors inspired by Arabic and Persian culture. Use new weapons, alchemical contraptions, and primitive firearms
- Visit a new legendary location and fight a new boss in a quest that leads to a legendary reward
- Fight in new location environments amidst southern ruins and nomad tents on the tactical combat map, in addition to graveyards and encampments by brigands, orcs, and goblins that come with a free update to the base game
- Earn your stay in the south by taking on new contracts and events. Immerse yourself in leading a mercenary company with even more illustrated events
- Several new music tracks set the mood on your adventures
- Challenge yourself with new achievements
Overall, the Battle Brothers – Blazing Deserts DLC is a welcome addition to the already fun-to-play base game and is a no-brainer purchase for lovers of tactical, turn-based combat.
SCORE: 83%
The Battle Brothers – Blazing Deserts DLChas some pretty good looking graphics that make its tactical gameplay truly shine. However, you want to have a pretty beefy gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:
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