Turn-Based & Tactical — After Strategy

Blood Bowl changes hands: Slitherine acquires Nacon licence and prepares Warhammer Blood Bowl

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The deal closed on July 1, and anyone following Nacon’s financial situation wasn’t entirely caught off guard. Blood Bowl — the Warhammer-licensed fantasy sports strategy game — now belongs to Slitherine, the British publisher whose catalogue has been built almost exclusively around wargames and strategy simulations for over two decades.

A publisher in collapse, a franchise that deserved better

Bigben Interactive, Nacon’s majority shareholder at 56.72%, disclosed in February 2026 that its banks refused to release funds needed to service a €43 million bond. Court proceedings followed, assets came under pressure — and the Blood Bowl licence became something to offload.

For players of Blood Bowl 3, released in 2023 and developed by Cyanide Studio, the Nacon years were mixed. The game was technically the most ambitious entry in the series, but a troubled launch and inconsistent post-release support fractured the community. A publisher fighting for financial survival is not well placed to maintain its catalogue.

Cyanide stays — under new management

The clearest piece of good news for franchise continuity: Cyanide Studio, the Paris-based developer behind every Blood Bowl game since 2009, isn’t going anywhere. Slitherine didn’t acquire the studio itself — Nacon retains Cyanide — but locked in a long-term development agreement.

In practice: the Blood Bowl back catalogue (BB3 and its predecessors) moves under the Slitherine banner, and future updates as well as the next franchise title will ship from there. Blood Bowl 3 stays on Steam and isn’t being pulled. Games Workshop retains ownership of the tabletop IP — Slitherine is acquiring the digital licence and publishing rights, not the board game property.

Warhammer Blood Bowl: what Slitherine is actually building

The next game is called Warhammer Blood Bowl — not Blood Bowl 4. It’s being built on Blood Bowl 3’s foundations, but with one structural fix that the series has never fully addressed: aligning the game with current Games Workshop tabletop rules rather than lagging behind the official ruleset.

Confirmed features include:

Updated roster aligned with current GW tabletop rules
Redesigned tutorials and new competitions
World Championship as an integrated competitive mode
Rumble mode: 7-player teams, 30-minute matches, smaller pitch

That last addition is probably the most strategically significant. Blood Bowl’s main friction has always been session length — a standard competitive match runs 45 to 90 minutes depending on player level. Rumble delivers a complete tactical experience in half the time without abandoning the turn-by-turn decision-making that defines the game. For onboarding new players while keeping the competitive scene intact, it’s a sensible design choice.

What to watch: Slitherine Next, July 22

Slitherine has scheduled a full Warhammer Blood Bowl reveal for its Slitherine Next showcase on July 22, 2026. Release date, pricing, and the complete feature set are expected then.

The structural shift here goes beyond a publisher logo change. Nacon covered a wide genre spread — racing games, narrative adventures, niche simulations — without particular depth in any single category. Slitherine’s whole identity is built around simulation depth and wargame fidelity: Panzer Corps, Field of Glory, Order of Battle, Close Combat. These games are made for the same audience as Blood Bowl — players drawn to tactical depth and tabletop accuracy. For a Games Workshop franchise with a committed miniature-painting fanbase, that alignment actually matters.

Total War: Warhammer 3 Update 9.0 — End Times Crises, Glottkin, and Vampire Counts Rework Explained

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Immortal Empires has always had the same structural issue in the late game: existing crises arrive predictably, without the dramatic escalation a campaign spanning three continents deserves. Update 9.0, previewed at Creative Assembly’s WHAT’S NEXT livestream on June 30, 2026, targets that problem directly — and most of the changes ship free to everyone, regardless of whether you buy the DLC.

Three End Times crises replace the flat endgame

Creative Assembly is replacing the current crisis system with three staged End Times events. An upgraded Vermintide acts as a mid-campaign pressure point. A Nagash-led invasion follows as the central escalation — even if you do not own the Undead Legions faction. The final stage is an Archaon-led assault built around what the developers describe as a true endgame state, not just another crisis pop-up.

The Archaon twist is notable: play as him and you can position yourself as the campaign’s final boss, with a win condition built around world-ending domination rather than the standard territorial objectives.

The risk here is balance. An End Times system that triggers too early breaks long campaigns; one that arrives too late becomes irrelevant. Creative Assembly has historically struggled to calibrate crisis timing across the enormous map of Immortal Empires.

Vampire Counts rework: Raise Dead scales with casualties

The Vampire Counts overhaul is the most concrete free change in Update 9.0. Raise Dead no longer operates at a fixed rate: the mechanic now scales with casualties taken during battles. Costly engagements unlock larger resurrections; comfortable wins give you less.

The tradeoff is real. Reaching maximum Raise Dead power requires lair investment and dedicated resources — turning the faction into an active economy rather than a passive snowball. In theory, Vampire Counts stay competitive late but demand deliberate management earlier.

Whether this fixes the polarizing swing between early dominance and mid-game fade-out that Mannfred and Isabella von Carstein produced in extended campaigns depends entirely on implementation. The full patch notes, expected closer to September, will tell the real story.

Individual victory conditions for every legendary lord

Update 9.0 replaces the generic campaign win conditions with unique objective checklists for each legendary lord. Depending on the lord, requirements might include leveling specific units, confederating with named factions, or constructing their most famous landmarks.

For players running multiple long campaigns, this is probably the change with the most long-term impact. Having a lord-specific narrative direction gives Immortal Empires the sense of purpose that open-ended sandbox runs often lack past the 150-hour mark.

Lords of the End Times: what September brings

The DLC is scheduled for September 2026 with four legendary lords. Three are confirmed:

Nagash — the Great Necromancer as a playable legendary lord for the Undead Legions, a new playable race
Boris Todbringer — Elector of Middenheim, joining the Empire with a fortress-lord identity
Glottkin — the Glot brothers, marked by Nurgle, joining the Warriors of Chaos with new units: Putrid Blightkings, Basilisk, and a Chaos Siege Giant

A fourth legendary lord, widely expected to be a Skaven character, has not been officially confirmed. Neferata will arrive as a free legendary lord (FLC) for the Vampire Counts.

What to watch before September

The free patch alone makes a case for returning to Immortal Empires in September. The End Times crisis overhaul addresses the structural endgame problem directly, and individual victory conditions change how every run feels regardless of which DLC you own.

The tension is in the execution. If the Nagash crisis and the Archaon assault land as genuine pressure rather than another checkbox, Update 9.0 could push Immortal Empires into its best state since the Chaos Dwarfs expansion. If the balance misses, expect community pushback.

For a current read on faction standings before the meta shifts, the Immortal Empires tier list is the place to start. The original DLC announcement from earlier this year is in our Lords of the End Times preview.

HoMM Olden Era: Mysterious Island Coming, Papyjama Joins Unfrozen

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Mysterious Island is one of the most-played Heroes of Might and Magic III maps of the past two decades. Unfrozen has just announced it’s coming to Olden Era — and that its creator, Papyjama, is joining the studio.

Papyjama joins Unfrozen: what this hire actually means

In the Heroes III community, Papyjama needs no introduction. His version of the Mysterious Island — a scenario inspired by Jules Verne’s novel — became one of the definitive references for solo play. Unfrozen has hired him as Level Designer, with the recreation of that map as his first project.

This hire isn’t routine. Since launching in Early Access on April 30, 2026, Olden Era has focused heavily on competitive play: matchmaking, templates, PvP balance. Solo players have been waiting for a signal. That signal just arrived.

Papyjama will create additional maps and scenarios after the Mysterious Island. His role isn’t a one-off collaboration — it’s the foundation of a long-term PvE offering.

The Mysterious Island: Olden Era’s first giant PvE content

The map will be the first of “giant” size in the game, a category that didn’t previously exist in Olden Era. In Heroes III, a giant map fundamentally changed the scope of a session: between 10 and 15 hours of non-linear exploration, scripted events and interlinked objectives.

The announcement states the map is “in advanced stages of development.” No confirmed date, but the timeline suggests a release within the next major content patches.

What made the original Mysterious Island special was its chained quests, hidden bosses, and the way thorough exploration was rewarded. Recreating that in Olden Era’s engine — with its new hero mechanics, subskills, and reworked factions — is genuine design work, not a simple file import.

Patch #8: Summon Avatar reworked, competitive meta shifted

Patch #8, released late May/early June 2026, brought the most significant mechanical change since launch. The Summon Avatar has been completely redesigned: it moves from a hybrid skill to a purely magical one.

In practice, the Avatar no longer loses standard HP. Instead, it can absorb a fixed number of hits depending on the skill level: 2 hits at level 1, 3 at level 2, 4 at expert. Attack power is now tied to the hero’s Spell Power — not Attack. Expert Murmuring subskills have been rewritten to match this new logic.

The patch also closed several major exploits: the Alt+F4 disconnect abuse and the bug allowing free creature upgrades. Jebus Cross templates were enriched to make side zones more interesting. Sprint, Harmony, and Exodus were adjusted to speed up the pace of play.

Patch #10 and Early Access state in July 2026

The most recent Patch #10 focused on tactical ergonomics. Formations are now saved between battles: no more manually repositioning units before each engagement. The visual and audio display during the tactics phase has also been revised.

These changes are less dramatic than Patch #8, but they fix friction that regular players had flagged since the early weeks. The tactics phase was one of the few spots where Olden Era still felt rough around the edges.

Olden Era is currently available at 25% off on Steam. The game remains in Early Access with no confirmed 1.0 release date. Upcoming milestones from the roadmap revealed last month include a Teamplay mode planned for Q3 2026 and a matchmaking overhaul for Q4. For a breakdown of the current faction standings, the updated tier list remains the reference.

What to watch now

The release date for the Mysterious Island is not yet confirmed. “Advanced stages of development” suggests weeks to months — but without a guarantee.

The real question: how does this solo content hold up against competitive modes that have benefited from ten patches of refinement? If the Mysterious Island delivers, Olden Era will finally have a strong argument for players who don’t want to spend their evenings in 1v1 ranked.

Also worth watching: whether other Heroes III community creators join the team after Papyjama. That would confirm PvE is a structural commitment, not a one-off PR move.

Songs of Conquest Yulan DLC: What the Steam Page Actually Confirms

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Yulan, Two Months In: What the Steam Listing Actually Confirms

Yulan does more than bolt a fourth faction onto Songs of Conquest. Every turn now asks which of three rival houses deserves an allegiance, not simply which banner to follow. Lavapotion launched the DLC on June 4, 2026, priced at $9.99 on the official Steam listing.

This piece is not a played-through account: Yulan’s content hasn’t been tried directly as of this writing. It’s an analysis built from the DLC’s official Steam page, Lavapotion’s community announcements, and the preview published ahead of launch. The goal is to state clearly what’s confirmed and what still needs checking once the content is in hand.

The Three-House System: Li, Sheng, and Xuan

The DLC announcement and Steam listing confirm a system built around three rival houses, each tied to a distinct Essence type:

House Li (Order) — defensive orientation and a stable economy.
House Sheng (Creation) — transformative magic and adaptable units.
House Xuan (Arcana) — powerful spells and a high-risk playstyle.

What sets Yulan apart from the game’s three other factions (Arleon, Barya, Rana) is the option to pledge allegiance to multiple houses at once. On paper, that opens up hybrid army compositions instead of locking players into one identity from the start. What remains genuinely unknown is how a mono-house army balances against a hybrid one. Only a real playthrough, once post-launch patches are factored in, can settle that question.

The mechanic goes beyond cosmetics. House choice determines available buildings, recruitable units, and how those units evolve in combat. Two Yulan armies built around different houses shouldn’t play the same way — that’s the design’s promise, still to be confirmed through actual play.

In practice, multi-house allegiance looks less like a free bonus and more like an economic trade-off. Investing across two or three houses at once means splitting construction and Essence resources. A mono-house army, by contrast, can concentrate its investment into a single building chain. That tension between versatility and specialization is exactly the kind of decision that, in a HoMM-like, separates a comfortable choice from a genuinely strategic one. Without a played match, there’s no way to know which side Lavapotion leaned toward — but the question is worth asking before purchase, not after.

Eight Units, One Shared Evolution Architecture

Yulan’s Steam listing confirms 8 new units, noting that several of them branch into three distinct evolutions depending on the chosen house. The May preview already covered five of these units ahead of launch: Conscript, Grenadier, Yi, Tian, and Seeker, each promised a triple Li/Sheng/Xuan branch.

What separates this from a simple roster dump is the stated design logic: the same base unit should be able to take on three radically different combat identities depending on the player’s allegiance. In practice, that avoids the classic DLC pitfall of stacking units with no real coherence between them.

The product page says nothing about the real learning curve. A large number of evolutions does not guarantee clear on-screen choices or readable cross-house synergies. Only direct play could settle that question.

Branching evolution is not entirely new to Songs of Conquest. The base factions already use per-unit progression trees, and previous DLCs extended that framework instead of replacing it. Yulan adds a more demanding variable: three houses instead of one evolution line. Lavapotion’s promotional images look clear, but only play can confirm that the interface remains readable.

A Campaign Across Three Connected Maps

According to the DLC’s Steam description, Yulan includes 3 connected Tale maps, on top of its Conquest maps. Tale is Songs of Conquest’s narrative mode, distinct from the sandbox-oriented Conquest mode; this linked-map format, rather than isolated missions, matches the structure Lavapotion already uses for its other base-game campaigns.

Without direct access to the content, there’s no way to judge writing quality, mission pacing, or actual difficulty. This analysis owns that limitation clearly: any claim about this campaign’s “intensity” or “narrative quality” would be invented until the content has been played start to finish.

Five Conquest Maps and a New Biome

Beyond the narrative mode, the Steam listing confirms 5 new maps for Conquest mode, built around a new biome unique to the Yulan faction. The official screenshots available already show a visual identity distinct from Arleon or Barya, but none of the official sources consulted currently detail the exact terrain composition — resources, obstacles, defensive bonuses.

That reservation isn’t a cosmetic detail. In a game where terrain directly shapes combat odds, a poorly balanced biome can skew an entire game mode. Before calling the new maps a competitive multiplayer success, you’d need feedback from ranked matches, not just a product-page reading.

The five-map count matters. It suggests that Lavapotion built the biome for regular Conquest play, not as a one-off showcase. That distinction matters once the novelty fades.

Who This DLC Actually Makes Sense For Right Now

Yulan primarily suits players already familiar with the other three factions and ready for another layer of decisions. Multi-house allegiance assumes a working knowledge of Essence management. A player still learning Arleon or Barya may find this extra layer hard to digest.

Someone discovering Songs of Conquest today should probably finish a base-game campaign first. Yulan’s choices only pay off once recruitment, hero management and the resource economy feel familiar. That is a practical caveat, not a final verdict.

There’s a middle profile too: players who bounced off Barya or Rana because those factions felt too close to a variation on Arleon’s playstyle. For that group, Yulan’s declared premise — three houses that each reroute unit evolution and building access differently — reads as a genuinely distinctive pitch on paper. Whether that premise survives contact with actual matches is exactly the open question this analysis can’t close.

Price, Availability, and What This Analysis Can’t Settle

The DLC is available on PC via Steam at $9.99, as observed at the time of writing. At that price, a faction, a campaign and five Conquest maps form a credible package on paper. The list is substantial; its value still depends on execution.

Without direct play, assigning a score or recommending an unconditional purchase would be dishonest. A Steam review percentage would also need a dated verification. This article can confirm the declared content, but not the balance of eight units or the campaign’s staying power.

For an impulse buyer, the risk is less the $9.99 than the untested promise. Until the house synergies prove readable in combat, buying Yulan means backing Lavapotion’s intention rather than a verified result.

What to Watch Now

The real test for Yulan will play out in post-launch balancing. Lavapotion typically patches its factions in the weeks following a release. The multi-house allegiance system is exactly the kind of mechanic that can swing from one extreme to another depending on the numbers chosen. Worth tracking: official patch notes on Li/Sheng/Xuan synergies, and community feedback once the competitive meta settles.

Three specific points deserve attention over the coming weeks. First, how frequently Lavapotion issues balance fixes for Yulan’s eight units. Second, how the five Conquest maps settle into the competitive rotation. Third, whether the three-branch evolution interface stays as clear once tested against real player feedback rather than promotional screenshots. This article will be updated if any of these change the read on the DLC.

None of this is a reason to write Yulan off before trying it — the stated design is genuinely ambitious for the genre. It’s simply a reason to treat the DLC’s promise and its execution as two separate questions until one of them gets answered by actual play.

For full context on the DLC ahead of launch, the May preview remains the reference on Lavapotion’s stated intentions. For full coverage of the game, head to the Songs of Conquest hub.

Civilization VII: Yi Sun-sin, Goryeo and Joseon are worth watching

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Korea is the hook, but naval pressure is the real test

The draft for Brush & Blade Phase 2 puts Korea at the center of Civilization VII with Yi Sun-sin, Goryeo and Joseon. The historical pitch is strong. For players, though, the useful question is more practical: can Firaxis make control of the sea matter enough to change how a campaign is played?

This leader choice is not neutral. Yi Sun-sin is tied to Joseon’s naval defense during the Imjin War, and that gives Firaxis a clear design path. If the leader becomes a bundle of generic defensive numbers, the addition will feel decorative. If he pushes players to protect coasts, control straits and defend trade routes, the Korean phase could be more interesting than a simple historical pack.

Yi Sun-sin needs more than historical prestige

The risk with famous leaders is obvious: prestige can hide thin mechanics. Yi Sun-sin is remembered for naval victories, but a naval leader only matters in a 4X if the map, objectives and economy give players a reason to build and protect a fleet.

That is the first thing to watch when the content is detailed. Do his bonuses create a real maritime plan, or merely reward a defensive posture that players would have used anyway? Civilization VII already leans heavily on age transitions and civilization choices. A leader like Yi Sun-sin becomes valuable if the sea turns into a pressure lane, not just a border around the map.

Goryeo and Joseon could support two Korean rhythms

The other promising part is the Goryeo / Joseon pairing. Goryeo points toward medieval Korea, Buddhist culture, celadon, the Tripitaka Koreana and repeated defensive pressure against invasions. In Civilization VII terms, that identity could support culture, resilience and knowledge production.

Joseon suggests a different tempo: Confucian administration, long-term stability, territorial defense and political continuity. If Firaxis makes those two profiles distinct, Korea will not feel like a single label attached to two eras. It could become a useful transition between cultural growth and defensive consolidation.

The wonders also need a job

The draft mentions Mireuksa and Seongsan Ilchulbong. Both names fit the cultural frame: a major Buddhist temple on one side, a volcanic Jeju landmark on the other. Their real value will depend on what they ask the player to give up.

A good Civilization VII wonder is not just visual reward. It creates a tradeoff: invest early, delay expansion, secure a bonus before a rival, or accept that another empire will define that part of the map. If these wonders only add predictable culture or faith numbers, their effect will be limited.

What needs confirmation

This draft should stay careful until Firaxis publishes the final details. The exact bonuses, price and release timing still need direct confirmation before publication.

The useful test is concrete. Do Goryeo and Joseon change age transitions? Does Yi Sun-sin make coastal maps more tense? Does Brush & Blade give players a reason to treat the sea as an active front? If yes, Korea can become a meaningful Civilization VII addition. If not, it will mostly be an attractive historical chapter.

Sources to verify before publication

Old World — Empires of the Indus DLC Review: Ancient India Enters the 4X Arena

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

South Asia Finally Gets Its 4X Moment

Old World, the historical 4X from Mohawk Games — founded by Soren Johnson, lead designer of Civilization IV — has been refining its formula since May 2022. Each DLC expanded the map: Greece (Heroes of the Aegean), Egypt (Pharaohs of the Nile), ruling dynasties (Wonders & Dynasties), court intrigue (Behind the Throne). On March 30, 2026, Empires of the Indus crossed a new frontier: the Indian subcontinent and Central Asian steppes.

This is the game’s fifth DLC, priced at $19.99. And for the first time, Old World offers civilizations that few ancient 4X games have taken seriously.

The Four New Civilizations
New Mechanics: Jungle, Religions, Resources
Integration with the Core Game
Verdict

The Four New Civilizations

Maurya: The Iron Empire. Chandragupta and Ashoka bring a focus tree centered on military dominance — fearsome war elephants that roll through enemy lines — but with a major political fork: you can found Buddhism as the game’s fifth world religion and transform a conquering empire into a power of peace. This pivot toward Ashoka’s dharma is the faction’s signature mechanic, and it works well both narratively and strategically.

Yuezhi: A nomadic people from the Central Asian steppes, the Yuezhi have a unique Vassalize Tribe mission that forces an alliance on any tribal nation weaker than them. The goal: recreate their historical rise toward the Kushan Empire under Kujula and Kanishka. Their mobility and coercive diplomacy make them complex to master — ideal for players who prefer indirect pressure.

Tamilakam: The most interesting faction in the pack. The DLC doesn’t give you a single ruler — it gives you the political balance between three rival families: Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas. Maneuvering characters into positions of influence to favor one family echoes Crusader Kings in compact form. Their Elephant Archers and Javelin Elephants defend coastal borders distinctively.

Huns: A formidable tribal faction, the Huns are primarily a threat to other players rather than a satisfying solo experience. Their campaign arc is short, but Attila-linked events give them strong historical presence. In multiplayer, ignoring them is a mistake.

New Mechanics: Jungle, Religions, Resources {#new-mechanics}

Jungle terrain, a new vegetation type, creates zones of slowed movement and reduced visibility. Where temperate forests created predictable obstacles, jungle forces genuine logistical adaptation — large armies become vulnerable, light units more effective.

Hinduism joins the four existing religions. Buddhism, foundable only through the Maurya’s Ashoka branch, can then spread to other civilizations mid-game — a historically accurate soft power mechanic that rewards long-term thinking.

The four new rare resources — jade, silk, spices, and ebony — enrich the era’s trade routes without overhauling the existing economy. They integrate cleanly into the base game’s systems.

By the numbers: 200+ new events, 60 ambitions, 11 cognomens, 4 new wonders, 5 pre-built maps, and 3 new map scripts ranging from the full subcontinent to duel maps set in Bactria or the Indus Valley.

Integration with the Core Game {#integration}

The risk with any geographic DLC is the silo effect: new factions play well with each other but feel disconnected from the Mediterranean civilizations in the base game. Empires of the Indus partially avoids this.

Diplomatic interactions with Greeks, Persians, and Egyptians remain meaningful through trade routes and conquest. However, the DLC’s pre-built maps naturally isolate South Asia into its own sphere — historically accurate, but potentially limiting in multiplayer when not all participants own the DLC.

At time of writing, the DLC holds 93% positive reviews on Steam across 46 ratings. A convinced niche audience.

Verdict {#verdict}

For established Old World players, Empires of the Indus is worth the $20. Tamilakam’s rival family management and the Mauryan Buddhist arc deliver playthroughs structurally unlike anything the game offered before. This is not cosmetic content.

For newcomers, start with the base game. Launching a Yuezhi campaign without understanding the orders, dynasties, and ambitions system will be discouraging.

Old World remains that unique ancient 4X that blends CK3-style dynastic management with Civilization-depth strategy. This DLC enriches it without transforming it — and that’s exactly what it needed to do.

Further reading: our complete Old World guide covers base game mechanics, civilizations, and winning strategies.

MENACE in Early Access: Overhype swaps the sword for the rifle, not the tension

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

MENACE does not need to sell itself as “XCOM in space.” The label helps place it, but it also shrinks it. What makes Overhype Studios interesting is not that shields became rifles: it is that they kept a very specific obsession, making every tactical decision leave a scar on the campaign.

The game arrived on Steam in Early Access on February 5, 2026, published by Hooded Horse, and it has already had a first major course correction. The SL Update 1 was not a cosmetic patch: it removed the unpopular promotion tax, adjusted supply costs, and reworked the Construct faction.

What matters now is not whether MENACE is “already finished.” It is not. Our reading is clear: it rewards patient players because it dares to be rough, but it will only become great if Overhype separates smart harshness from pointless friction.

You don’t command heroes, you manage losses

The real difference with XCOM is emotional scale. XCOM turns each soldier into an individual, almost cinematic piece. MENACE thinks more in terms of squads, resources, accumulated casualties and trade-offs. Losing people does not just fail a mission: it spends future.

That nuance matters because Overhype has always handled discomfort well. Battle Brothers was not brilliant for its pretty duels, but because every victory could leave you worse off than before: a one-eyed veteran, a broken economy, a company too battered to take the next contract. MENACE tries to move that cruel arithmetic onto an interplanetary front.

The sci-fi dressing is not just scenery. It lets the game bring in vehicles, heavy weapons, orbital support, rival human factions and threats less legible than a band of raiders. MENACE aims for that rare zone where turn-based tactics meets the light wargame: enough simulation to generate emergent stories, without turning every mission into a spreadsheet.

SL Update 1 fixes the wrong kind of friction

The most important data point of these months is not an average score or a Steam tag. It is the kind of change Overhype chose to make first.

The promotion tax penalised unit promotions with extra costs. In theory it protected squad balance. In practice it turned good news into a chore: progressing could feel like a fine. Overhype removed it and rebalanced supply costs to compensate. A small decision on the surface, but revealing in editorial terms.

A healthy Early Access is not the one that adds content endlessly. It is the one that identifies which part of its harshness produces tension and which part only produces chafing. MENACE needs to be severe. It does not need to punish the player for feeling their squad advance.

The same update touched the Construct. According to the summary published by PC Gamer, drones became more numerous but individually more fragile, soldiers lost their rockets, and Guncrawlers inherited the anti-vehicle threat role. A high-tier support unit also arrived.

That redesign heads the right way: an enemy faction should not be hard because it soaks more damage. It should force you to re-read the map.

What MENACE inherits from Battle Brothers

There is a direct line between Battle Brothers and MENACE, but not in genre. It is in the way mistakes turn into narrative.

In Battle Brothers, a bad pursuit could end with two brothers dead, a failed contract and the company selling gear to pay wages. In MENACE, the same logic shifts to soldiers, vehicles, supplies and factions. The fantasy is no longer “my small band survives the medieval mud,” but “my military operation tries not to break in a hostile system.”

That is where the strong promise appears: campaigns you do not just win, but endure. Missions where a timely retreat is worth more than clearing the map. Decisions where sending more soldiers raises immediate safety but drains a reserve you may need later.

It is a less clean fantasy than the perfect strike team. And that suits it. Memorable tactics games do not make you feel smart all the time: they force you to tell apart a good plan, an expensive plan, and a plan that only looks good because you have not yet paid its consequences.

What it still has to prove

Caution is still in order. MENACE is in Early Access, and Overhype plans a long development runway before version 1.0. In a game like this, balance can change completely: costs, factions, maps, campaign pacing, event variety and economic pressure.

The main risk is not technical. It is identity. If MENACE becomes too gentle, it loses the tension that makes it special. If it becomes too opaque, it will only speak to players who already forgave every rough edge in Battle Brothers. The fine line sits between the two: explain more clearly without domesticating, punish less through the interface and more through decisions.

That balance will be measured through consequences, not the size of the patch notes. A casualty can create a memorable campaign when the player understands which choice exposed the squad and what could change next time. It becomes mere irritation when the relevant information appears only after the punishment. Future updates need to preserve tactical uncertainty while making campaign costs legible enough for failure to teach something.

The real breadth of the campaign also remains to be seen. Impressions published by GamesRadar stress the strength of its missions and how each loss turns into strategic pressure. That is promising, but a tactics game of this kind lives or dies on repetition: how many times it can ask for “one more mission” before maps, enemies and objectives start to sound alike.

Variety alone will not solve that problem. MENACE also needs operations to ask different strategic questions: when to risk a vehicle, when to preserve an experienced squad, when a retreat protects more value than an objective provides. If every mission rewards the same cautious formation, the campaign layer will become bookkeeping. If enemy factions and supply constraints keep changing the acceptable cost of victory, Overhype will have translated the best part of Battle Brothers rather than merely borrowing its reputation.

Buy in now or wait

Buying in now makes sense for three profiles: Battle Brothers fans who want to watch Overhype learn in real time, turn-based tactics players who enjoy hard systems, and anyone who accepts that a campaign can change between patches. It is not a universal recommendation.

If you want a finished campaign, stable balance and an experience without visible patchwork, wait. The good news is that MENACE seems to be asking the right questions: SL Update 1 fixed structural friction, not just numbers, and the Construct rework aims at enemies with more identity, not more hit points. The recommendation stays conditional: yes for patient tactical players, no for anyone expecting a 1.0 disguised as Early Access. For more of Hooded Horse’s tactical lineup, our complete XCOM 2 guide covers the benchmark this genre keeps measuring itself against.

Sources: Steam — MENACE, Steam — SL Update 1, PC Gamer — launch date, PC Gamer — SL Update 1, GamesRadar — impressions after launch.

HoMM Olden Era faction tier list 2026 — which army should you pick?

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Six factions, six combat philosophies

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era crossed one million copies sold within its first month following Early Access launch on April 30, 2026 — a milestone that confirms the enduring appeal of the HoMM formula. But with six factions offering genuinely distinct mechanics developed by Unfrozen, choosing your starting army can be decisive, especially in multiplayer or on the most competitive random maps.

This tier list ranks all six factions across three axes: raw power in the current meta, accessibility for players new to the game, and versatility against both AI and human opponents.

S-Tier: Dungeon
A-Tier: Necropolis and Grove
B-Tier: Temple and Hive
C-Tier: Schism
Which faction suits your playstyle?
Faction Laws and morale: two rules you can’t ignore

S-Tier: Dungeon — the power of the Alvar Pact {#h-s-tier}

Dungeon represents the Alvar Pact, an underground coalition of dark elves, minotaurs, medusae and dragons. It is the strongest faction in the current Early Access, and that dominance rests on a single defining principle: every unit can switch between two attack modes depending on the situation. This tactical flexibility — unique to Dungeon — lets you adapt in real time to enemy compositions, counter specific threats and maintain constant pressure across all stages of the game.

Onyx Dancers rank as the best starting units in the game according to most community tier lists: mobile, versatile, they let you set an aggressive pace from turn one. Their only weakness is low Initiative, which demands more forward planning when sequencing actions compared to other factions.

Mid-game, Dungeon deepens with high-damage units that benefit from faction synergies. A fully developed late-game army with dragons is simply overwhelming when the scaling goes to plan. Dungeon rewards players who want to dominate — and equally rewards mastery of its advanced mechanics.

A-Tier: Necropolis and Grove — powerful and more forgiving {#h-a-tier}

Necropolis (Shadowspire) is the undead faction, ruled by Necromancers and Vampires. Its signature mechanic: units that fall in combat rise again after each battle as skeletons or undead, generating a continuous stream of passive reinforcements. This accumulation mechanic makes Necropolis especially threatening in long campaign games where every engagement strengthens rather than depletes the army.

Its weakness is a slow early game. Opening turns are less explosive than Dungeon’s, and impatient players may feel at a disadvantage before the snowball begins. In experienced hands on longer maps, however, Necropolis becomes very difficult to stop.

Grove (Murmurwoods) brings together the creatures of the forest — elemental spirits, fey folk and spellcasters. It is the most accessible faction for beginners without sacrificing competitive viability. Its early advantage comes from ranged damage spread across multiple unit tiers: Fauns, Faun Archers, Aqualotls and Herbomancers provide consistent backline output that teaches positioning and rear-line management naturally.

Grove also forgives early mistakes more than most factions, particularly positioning errors in the opening turns.

B-Tier: Temple and Hive — solid but more specialized {#h-b-tier}

Temple represents humans guided by the High Inquisition. Its starting cavalry is strong, its economy scales stably and its buff mechanics are among the most intuitive in the game. For these reasons, Temple is the other faction recommended for beginners: it teaches HoMM fundamentals — frontline tanking, buffing key units, controlling resources — without throwing confusing mechanics at new players.

Its power ceiling is lower than Dungeon or Necropolis in advanced mid-game, however. Against experienced players, Temple lacks the flexibility to reverse unfavorable situations. A solid faction for learning the game, less ideal for pushing competitive ladders.

Hive plays on a swarm mentality: fast units, precise strikes, quantity over individual quality. The faction shines in aggressive early rushes and quick confrontations but struggles in long attrition games where the depth of other factions expresses itself fully. Its swarm interaction kit demands a learning curve that beginners may find counterintuitive.

C-Tier: Schism — promising, watch for patches {#h-c-tier}

Schism is a splinter group of the Alvar Pact that awakened eldritch monsters from the Plane Between Planes. It is the most thematically original faction and the least optimized mechanically in the current Early Access state.

Its eldritch units have unpredictable behaviors that can catch opponents off guard — but can also backfire against their own army. This asymmetry is fascinating in theory and difficult to master in practice. Unfrozen has confirmed balance passes in its 2026 roadmap; Schism is worth reassessing after each major update.

Which faction suits your playstyle? {#h-pick}

Playstyle	Recommended faction
Complete beginner	Grove or Temple
Aggressive, early tempo	Dungeon or Hive
Economy and long attrition	Necropolis
Map exploration, campaign	Necropolis or Grove
Advanced mastery, multiplayer	Dungeon
Experimentation, asymmetric play	Schism

Faction Laws and morale: two rules you can’t ignore {#h-tips}

Faction Laws are chains of upgrades unique to each faction, unlocked through points accumulated during combat. These progressive bonuses define your army’s identity from mid-game onward. Two players running the same faction can produce very different results depending on their Law choices — this is one of the layers of depth that sets Olden Era apart from a classic HoMM game.

Army morale: units from different factions within the same army suffer a Morale penalty that reduces their stats in combat. Prefer single-faction compositions or split factions across two distinct heroes if you want to leverage cross-faction synergies without the morale hit.

With 90% positive reviews on Steam and one million copies sold, Olden Era is one of the most successful strategy releases of 2026. Our full Early Access review and the breakdown of the 1 million sold milestone and 2026 roadmap give you a complete picture of where the game stands today.

Civilization VII 1.4.1: Hotseat Multiplayer, Government Overhaul, and the Brush & Blade Japan DLC

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Civ VII Accelerates: Hotseat, Feudal Japan, and Reworked Governments

Firaxis has unveiled the full contents of Update 1.4.1, arriving the week of June 22, 2026. Alongside the free update comes the first half of a new paid collection, Brush & Blade, focused on medieval Japan and Korea. Two months after the Test of Time update in May, the game continues to evolve at a steady pace.

What 1.4.1 Delivers Free to All Players

Three major additions arrive at no extra cost:

Hotseat Multiplayer finally makes its debut in Civ VII. Previously absent from the game, this mode lets multiple players share a single device and pass the keyboard between turns — a franchise staple that at last finds its way back.

The Archipelago map type is completely rebuilt. It now uses procedural Voronoi generation to produce more natural, unpredictable island layouts. Every playthrough promises a genuinely different geography.

The Government system receives a deep overhaul. Government Traditions now persist across Ages, leaving a permanent mark on your civilization’s history. The Happiness and Celebrations systems have also been reworked to offer sharper strategic choices each era.

Brush & Blade Part 1: Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Feudal Japan

The paid Brush & Blade collection explores the tension between refined high art and battlefield violence in medieval Japan and Korea. Part 1, launching alongside Update 1.4.1, includes:

Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a new leader. A lowly foot soldier under Oda Nobunaga, he rose to become the first unifier of Japan during the chaotic Sengoku era — a warlord who was equally a patron of the arts.
Heian Japan — a civilization centered on cultural refinement and diplomacy, embodying the relative peace of the Heian period (794–1185).
Sengoku Japan — a militarized civilization reflecting the era of warring lords who tore Japan apart before Hideyoshi’s unification.
Four new Wonders: Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace, Nachi Falls, Mireuksa, and Seongsan Ilchulbong (the latter two anticipating the Korean Part 2 content).

Part 2 Arrives Later This Summer

The second half of the Brush & Blade collection will introduce Yi Sun-sin, the Korean admiral renowned for his naval victories against Japanese invasions, alongside the Goryeo and Joseon civilizations. No exact release date has been confirmed yet.

The Bottom Line

Update 1.4.1 addresses two long-standing gaps in the game: the lack of Hotseat play and a weak Archipelago map generator. The Brush & Blade Part 1 content targets fans of medieval Asian history, a relatively unexplored angle in the franchise. To see how these new civilizations fit into the current meta, check out our Civilization VII tier list of the best leaders and civs.

Age of Wonders 4: Secrets of the Archmages — Guide to All Six Tomes and the Owlkin Form

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Secrets of the Archmages Drops June 16 — Everything You Need to Know

Two days from now, Secrets of the Archmages arrives in Age of Wonders 4. Triumph Studios delivers six tomes of forbidden magic once banned by the ancient Archmages, a new Owlkin physical form, and three narrative story realms — all accompanied by a free Sprite update that reshapes the Empire Tree.

This guide breaks down every element of the DLC based on information confirmed in Dev Diary #61 by Triumph Studios and the official Paradox page, so your empire is ready for the June 16, 2026 launch.

The 6 Forbidden Magic Tomes
The Owlkin Form
The 3 Story Realms
The Sprite Update (Free)
Build Recommendations

The 6 Forbidden Magic Tomes {#tomes}

Six new tomes form the heart of the DLC, each centered on magic once deemed too dangerous by the ancient masters of the world. Triumph Studios detailed all six in Dev Diary #61.

Tome of Burning Passion — Offensive demonic arts. Your units gain infernal wrath, can seduce enemies to temporarily turn them and engulf foes in infernal flames. An aggressive tome that excels at disrupting enemy lines before pushing through.

Tome of the Weaver — Transform your people and trap the enemy in your web by harnessing the power of spiders. Effective for defensive compositions and terrain control, especially in late game when enemy movement is already constrained.

Tome of Abjuration — Create wards and protections to preserve your units. A pure defensive tome: against high-DPS compositions, it can make certain troops nearly untouchable for several turns.

Tome of Gluttony — Gain control over the infernal domain of Gluttony, making your units tougher and stronger as they feed on mortal essence. Rewards sustained aggression and gradual power scaling — ideal for long campaigns where each battle fuels the next.

Tome of the Sprite — Use the powers of fey to support your units and befuddle your enemies. One of the most versatile tomes in the DLC, easy to slot into almost any build thanks to its flexibility.

Tome of the Cosmos — Use your mastery over the magic of the universe to empower your units, boost your economy, and summon a mighty Avatar of the Cosmos itself. The only DLC tome combining economic progression with a decisive late-game military threat.

The Owlkin Form {#owlkin}

The Owlkin is the new physical form introduced by the DLC. Triumph Studios describes them as wise and watchful beings who move through the world with quiet confidence and an air of ancient mystery.

In AoW4’s mechanics, each physical form governs passive race bonuses, special units unlocked at certain development levels, and dedicated city buildings. The Owlkin clearly leans toward stealth and knowledge over frontal confrontation.

Natural synergies emerge with the Tome of the Sprite (fey-knowledge affinity) and Tome of Abjuration (protection over offense). An Owlkin empire plays best by observing, setting traps, and striking when the enemy is worn down.

The 3 Story Realms {#realms}

Secrets of the Archmages features three guided scenarios with their own contexts and dedicated objectives.

Hunt Merlin’s Apprentice — Track down a disciple who fled with forbidden secrets across a world that must be gradually pieced back together. An exploration and investigation scenario, perfect for players who enjoy AoW4’s lore. The best entry point to discover the DLC.

Survive a World of Endless Infernal Carnage — High-difficulty survival challenge with roguelike tension. For veterans who have already mastered the core systems. The Tome of Gluttony thrives here: units must stay mobile and keep fighting to grow stronger throughout.

Save Hero Ham Binger from a Fairy Domain — A rescue mission set in a treacherous, magically hostile fae environment. The most narrative of the three realms, with an atmosphere that fits the Owlkin and the Tome of the Sprite perfectly.

Progression tip: start with the first realm to familiarize yourself with the new tomes, save the second for challenge sessions, and explore the third for its narrative richness.

The Sprite Update (Free) {#sprite}

Good news for all AoW4 players: the Sprite update releases simultaneously on June 16 and is completely free.

Empire Tree rework — a major community request since the game’s 2023 launch. Mid-game progression should become significantly smoother and more readable.
Two new Reaver sub-cultures (requires Empires & Ashes): Imperial Reavers and Federate Reavers, each with distinct identities and bonuses.

This rework is reason enough to restart a campaign even without purchasing Secrets of the Archmages.

Build Recommendations {#builds}

A few combinations to explore from day one:

Build	Recommended Tomes	Playstyle
Infernal Spider	Weaver + Gluttony	Terrain control + power scaling
Cosmic Guardian	Cosmos + Abjuration	Economy + absolute defense
Demonic Storm	Burning Passion + Sprite	Offensive chaos + support
Fey Silence (Owlkin)	Sprite + Abjuration	Stealth + protection

These are starting points — AoW4’s sandbox ultimately rewards experimentation and synergies discovered through actual play.

For the fundamentals before diving into these new tomes, our complete Age of Wonders 4 guide covers everything you need to build an effective empire.

Sources: Dev Diary #61 — The Tomes of Secrets of the Archmages (Steam / Triumph Studios) | Official DLC page (Paradox Interactive)

Star Wars Zero Company: Clone Wars XCOM-Style Tactics Game Arrives August 27, 2026

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Star Wars Tactics Game Fans Have Been Waiting For

The Clone Wars finally has its XCOM. Revealed at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025 and shown in full gameplay at Summer Game Fest on June 5, 2026, Star Wars Zero Company is shaping up to be one of the most exciting strategy releases of the year — a turn-based squad tactics game set in one of Star Wars’ most politically complex eras.

Developed by Bit Reactor (a studio founded by Firaxis veterans behind the XCOM series) alongside Respawn Entertainment, and published by EA and Lucasfilm Games, the game launches August 27, 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars
Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization
The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters
Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans
What to Expect on August 27

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars

You play as Hawks, a former Republic officer tasked with assembling an irregular squad of hired professionals to carry out operations that neither the Republic nor the Separatists can officially acknowledge. Zero Company works in the grey zones of the Clone Wars — missions where conventional heroism doesn’t apply.

Your core squad is diverse and compelling from the start: Trick, a disillusioned clone trooper voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (the voice behind every clone in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series), Cly Kullervo, a Mandalorian of the ancient Clan Verminoth, Tognath Jedi Padawan Tel-Rea Vokoss, and Umbaran soldier Luco Bronc. Each character brings unique abilities and a personal narrative arc to the campaign.

Beyond the authored cast, you build and customize your own Operators — mercenaries recruited across the galaxy — choosing from eight iconic Star Wars species: Devaronian, Human, Neimoidian, Ovissian, Togruta, Twi’lek, Weequay, and Zabrak. Appearance, specializations, and talent trees are fully customizable.

Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization

Combat in Zero Company is turn-based and played from a top-down perspective, with a strong focus on squad positioning and ability chains. Every mission demands careful planning: cover management, action sequencing, and the synergy between your characters. If you’ve played XCOM 2, the foundation will feel familiar — but the Star Wars setting and new systems add distinct depth.

The standout mechanic is the bond system. As your characters fight side by side, they develop relationships — trust, rivalry, or camaraderie — that unlock unique support abilities. The cross-training system also improves Operator stats and skills based on who they fight alongside, making your squad’s history feel meaningful.

The gameplay trailer at Summer Game Fest teased an appearance by Anakin Skywalker, suggesting Zero Company will intersect with key Clone Wars characters while keeping its original protagonists front and center.

For a sense of the tactical depth the genre can reach, our XCOM 2 complete strategy guide covers the mechanics that Bit Reactor is building on and reinventing for a galaxy far, far away.

The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters

Between missions, you manage The Den, your mobile base of operations. A dynamic galaxy map displays available contracts and objectives, and from the Den you recruit new Operators, upgrade facilities, and acquire equipment.

This familiar loop — field mission then base management — echoes the best elements of XCOM’s Avenger, but in a setting where your squad’s constant movement feels narratively justified. The galaxy map and mission variety suggest strong replayability, with squad composition varying dramatically across campaigns.

Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans

Bit Reactor was founded in 2021 by former Firaxis developers — the team behind XCOM and Civilization. Their turn-based pedigree is immediately evident in Zero Company’s design. Paired with Respawn Entertainment, known for the narrative level design of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the collaboration promises a game that is both tactically deep and narratively compelling.

EA and Lucasfilm Games officially announced the project on June 3, 2026, with the gameplay trailer broadcast live at Summer Game Fest two days later to millions of viewers worldwide.

What to Expect on August 27

With a confirmed release date and public gameplay footage, Star Wars Zero Company has moved well beyond concept. The bond system, Operator customization, and Clone Wars setting give it a distinct identity — not just another licensed XCOM clone, but a tactics game that uses the Star Wars universe to add genuine emotional weight to squad relationships.

Open questions remain: campaign length, difficulty scaling, and whether a New Game+ or skirmish mode will be available. Expect more details in the months ahead as the August 27 launch approaches.

If you’re a fan of tactical games with strong narrative hooks, this is one to add to your wishlist now.

Star Wars Zero Company launches August 27, 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Developed by Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment, published by EA and Lucasfilm Games.

Total War: Warhammer 3 Update 8.0 — Bhashiva and the Grand Cathay Rework Explained

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Grand Cathay Reborn: Everything Update 8.0 Changes

On May 21, 2026, Creative Assembly dropped Update 8.0 for Total War: Warhammer 3 alongside the Bhashiva Character Pack. For Grand Cathay players, it ranks among the faction’s most substantial overhauls since launch: a new Legendary Lord, three fresh units, reworked heroes, and a completely restructured technology tree.

Here is everything you need to know.

Bhashiva, the White Tiger of Shang-Yang
Tiger Warriors: Three New Units
Grand Cathay Tech Tree Rework
Reworked Heroes
Taoyan the Merciless — Free for All
What’s Coming Next

Bhashiva, the White Tiger of Shang-Yang {#bhashiva}

Bhashiva is built to play nothing like any Grand Cathay option before her. Where Miao Ying leans into formation depth and defensive pressure, and Zhao Ming favours a diplomatic and economic approach, Bhashiva is designed around ambush, speed, and disruption.

Her playstyle revolves around lightning strikes, flanking manoeuvres, and withdrawing before the enemy can respond. Creative Assembly explicitly designed her as Grand Cathay’s predatory, disruption-focused option — filling a gap the faction had since day one.

On the campaign map, her bonuses focus on army mobility, stealth, and the ability to wage war on multiple fronts simultaneously. Playing her feels markedly different from a standard Grand Cathay campaign in Immortal Empires.

Tiger Warriors: Three New Units {#tiger-warriors}

Bhashiva comes with a unique recruitment roster built around Tiger Warriors, available in three variants:

Tiger Warriors — available with axes, guandao, or discs, offering tactical flexibility
Tiger Warrior Stalkers — ambush specialists, perfect for flanking or hitting a column on the march
Iron Claw Tiger Warriors — the heavy-hitting line variant designed to anchor a charge

Hotfix 8.0.2, released on June 2, 2026, adjusted Tiger Warrior recruitment costs (considered too powerful relative to their price) and fixed several crashes reported since the main patch went live.

Grand Cathay Tech Tree Rework {#tech-rework}

This is the most structural change in Update 8.0. Grand Cathay’s monolithic tech tree has been split into two distinct branches:

Military: research focused on units, combat buffs, offensive and defensive capabilities
Provinces: building upgrades, tax income, diplomacy, and economic output

The total number of technologies is unchanged from before the patch. What changes is that each research now covers a wider range of units and provides multiple simultaneous effects. Early campaign decisions become significantly more readable: you immediately know whether you’re investing into the war machine or into economic expansion.

Reworked Heroes {#heroes}

Three Grand Cathay heroes receive deep reworks:

Gate Master: new offensive specialisations, less passive role
Alchemist: redefined support role and debuff chain
Astromancer: complete skill tree rebuild with new magical synergies

The Sky Lantern also changes role entirely: it shifts from a long-range sniper to an infantry-disruption unit, built to break enemy formations rather than pick off individual targets. This meaningfully changes how the unit fits into compositions.

Taoyan the Merciless — Free for All {#taoyan}

Players who don’t want to purchase the Bhashiva Character Pack still get a meaningful addition: Taoyan the Merciless is a free Legendary Hero delivered to every Grand Cathay Legendary Lord. She unlocks via a mission triggered once your lord reaches rank 12, regardless of which lord you’re playing.

What’s Coming Next {#whats-next}

Update 9.0 is scheduled for Summer 2026, bringing the Lords of the End Times DLC — including Nagash — and the free Neferata FLC. For everything on that upcoming content wave, see our Lords of the End Times preview.

If you want to see where Grand Cathay now stands in the post-8.0 Immortal Empires meta, our 2026 faction tier list covers the full roster.

HoMM Olden Era: 1 Million Copies Sold and an Ambitious Early Access Roadmap

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era Crosses 1 Million Copies and Reveals Its Early Access Roadmap

Released in Early Access on April 30, 2026, Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era — developed by Unfrozen, published by Hooded Horse — surpassed 500,000 copies sold in its first 72 hours. On May 28, 2026, the studio announced crossing the one million copies milestone in under a month, simultaneously releasing a detailed preliminary Early Access roadmap.

One million copies, concrete timelines, and structured stages: this revival of the legendary strategy franchise is built to last.

Where Is the Game Now?
Stage 1 — Q3 2026: Teamplay and Advanced Map Generator
Stage 2 — Q4 2026: Matchmaking, Subclasses, and Replays
Long-Term Goals: Underground, Roguelike, and Full Campaign
What This Means for the Franchise

Where Is the Game Now? {#game-state}

The Early Access already features six playable factions — Temple, Grove, Dungeon, Necropolis, Schism, and Hive — with customizable heroes, city development, and turn-based tactical battles on hexagonal battlefields. The game is priced at $39.99 on Steam and is also part of PC Game Pass since launch.

Since April, Unfrozen has shipped several patches: multiplayer UI improvements, turn-timer refinements for fairer online matches, crash fixes, and a new “Moderate” difficulty setting. For a full look at the game’s launch state, check out our HoMM: Olden Era Early Access review.

Stage 1 — Q3 2026: Teamplay and Advanced Map Generator {#stage-1}

The community’s most requested feature leads the roadmap. Stage 1 (planned for Q3 2026) includes:

Teamplay Mode — team vs team (2v2, 3v3) against other players or AI. Unfrozen confirmed this is the single most-requested feature.
Advanced Random Map Generator — more customization options: density settings, zone types, and events for greater variety.
Hero Skills Rebalance — in-depth revision of the skill system to break rigid metas and encourage build diversity.
Emote Wheel Update — social experience improvements for online play.

Stage 2 — Q4 2026: Matchmaking, Subclasses, and Replays {#stage-2}

Stage 2 (Q4 2026) focuses on competitive infrastructure and class depth:

Matchmaking System Rework — redesigned queue for more balanced games, especially in ranked modes.
Subclass System Rebalance — revising advanced class progression for more viable tournament diversity.
Observer Mode & Replays — watch live games or review your own battles; essential for competitive improvement.
Alternative Creature Upgrade Rebalance — upgrade choices should carry greater strategic weight.

Long-Term Goals: Underground, Roguelike, and Full Campaign {#long-term}

Beyond the two stages, the roadmap lists general Early Access objectives:

Feature	Details
Underground Layer	A simultaneous map level with unique terrain, objects, and music — a HoMM III hallmark
Thieves’ Guild	Return of the espionage institution from the classic series
Tier 8 Neutral Creatures	High-tier neutral creatures populating the maps
Map Editor Improvements	Enhanced editor and map-sharing between players
Ironman Mode	Permadeath for the solo campaign
Match Statistics	End-of-match data for performance analysis
New PvE Mode	An alternative co-op or solo mode in development
Roguelike Mode	Procedural runs — currently being explored
Complete Solo Campaign	Finalizing the game’s main story

The Underground Layer is particularly anticipated — it’s one of HoMM III’s defining mechanics, and its absence in the current build remains the clearest sign that the game is still under development.

What This Means for the Franchise {#franchise}

One million copies in under a month — for an Early Access title in a franchise that had been dormant for years — sends an unmistakable signal: the demand was real. Unfrozen delivered something solid enough to win over players well beyond nostalgic HoMM III fans.

The roadmap is clearly structured with concrete timelines, a sharp contrast with vague Early Access projects that keep milestones intentionally fuzzy. If Unfrozen delivers on the Q3/Q4 schedule, Olden Era could reach a very complete state before end of 2026, well ahead of a full 1.0 launch.

Whether you’re a HoMM III veteran or new to the franchise, this is a strong moment to jump in.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch Announced: Lead the Kill Team

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Announcement That Set the 40K Tactics Community Ablaze

On May 21, 2026, during Warhammer Skulls 2026, Complex Games and Frontier Foundry officially revealed Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch, the direct sequel to the critically acclaimed turn-based tactical Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (2022). The game is confirmed for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a winter 2026 launch window announced for the Xbox version.

Four years after the Grey Knights, the Canadian studio Complex Games switches its playable force to one of the Imperium’s most feared units: the Deathwatch Kill Team, an elite force of Space Marines drawn from multiple chapters and specialised in hunting xenos.

The Deathwatch: A New Narrative Premise

You play as Interrogator Bastian Rath, thrust into command of the Kill Team amid a conspiracy threatening the stability of the Tyrian Expanse. The tone appears darker than Daemonhunters, with a protagonist who must simultaneously unravel a political intrigue and lead high-stakes strike operations.

The Deathwatch draws Marines from different chapters — each brother retains the techniques and background of his home chapter. Complex Games promises nine playable classes, mixing Inquisitorial agents with Deathwatch battle brothers for even more granular tactical customisation than in the first game.

Seven Enemy Factions: No More Mid-Game Monotony

One of the most consistent criticisms of Daemonhunters centred on the lack of enemy variety in the late game. Deathwatch addresses this directly by introducing seven distinct factions, including:

Genestealer Hivecults — ambushes, infiltration, and swarm tactics
Orks — mass, brutality, and unpredictability
T’au — long-range fire support and coordinated fire teams
Forces of Chaos — warp corruption and psykers

Each faction demands radically different tactical adaptations: cover becomes essential against T’au fire; aggressive movement can pay off against Orks. Three more factions have yet to be named and promise further surprises.

Vehicles and Skirmish Mode: New Building Blocks

Chaos Gate – Deathwatch introduces iconic vehicles to the franchise for the first time:

Redemptor Dreadnought — assault firepower and resilience
Scout Sentinel — mobility, scouting, and reconnaissance
Leman Russ — long-range armoured support

These heavy units add a new strategic layer to maps that will need to be meaningfully larger than those in Daemonhunters.

The game also introduces a dedicated Skirmish Mode for composing and testing squads outside the main campaign — a consistently requested feature since the community first engaged with Daemonhunters in 2022. Three playable forces and more than ten mission archetypes are referenced in the official press release.

What Still Needs Confirming

The PC release date remains unannounced. Xbox Series X|S has a winter 2026 window, but PS5 and PC are without a specific calendar. No details on pricing, a potential co-op mode, or the post-launch DLC policy have been shared.

Complex Games and Frontier Foundry are expected to reveal more at summer and autumn 2026 events — possibly Gamescom in August or The Game Awards in December.

Conclusion

For fans of turn-based tactics in the 40K universe, Chaos Gate – Deathwatch is shaping up as one of winter 2026’s most anticipated releases. The promise of seven factions with distinct tactical profiles, nine playable classes, and iconic vehicles directly addresses the core criticisms of the first game. The Vigil begins this winter.

For more 40K tactical games, check out our Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II review.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II Review — Two Empires, Two Ways to Conquer

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Two Legions of Cold Metal Clash Over Hekateus IV

On May 21, 2026, during the Warhammer Skulls event, Bulwark Studios and Kasedo Games released Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II. Five years after the original, the challenge was clear: expand the scope without diluting what made the first game so compelling — its oppressive atmosphere, surgical tactical combat, and rare fidelity to the Games Workshop universe.

This review is based on the PC version, with roughly ten hours spent in each of the two campaigns.

Two Factions, Two Combat Languages
Cognition Points vs Dominance: The Mechanical Core
Campaigns and Storytelling
Art Direction and Sound Design
Where It Falls Short
Verdict

Two Factions, Two Combat Languages

The defining addition of Mechanicus II comes down to one word: the Necrons are finally fully playable. The first game kept you firmly in the boots of the Adeptus Mechanicus, those techno-fanatic pilgrims plundering a tomb world’s knowledge. The sequel gives you both sides of the conflict — and that choice fundamentally shapes the experience.

Playing the Adeptus Mechanicus means operating a precision machine. Your units — Tech-Priests, Skitarii, cybernetic servants — rely on positioning and cover. Every exposed flank is a liability; every piece of terrain a potential lifeline. Dominus Faustinius, the Mechanicus campaign’s protagonist, embodies this cold logic: every decision must be calculated, nothing improvised.

Playing the Necrons requires an entirely opposite philosophy. Your Lords — five distinct commanders grouped into Court formations — do not fear enemy fire. Their imperative is to advance, absorb, and crush. Antagonist Vargard Nefershah is not built for sacrifice; he imposes his presence on the battlefield. This asymmetry is not cosmetic — it genuinely transforms how you read the game depending on which side you choose.

Cognition Points vs Dominance: The Mechanical Core

The Cognition Points system — inherited from the original — remains intact for the Adeptus Mechanicus. These action-economy points accumulate and are spent to trigger offensive and defensive abilities. Frugal management is the hallmark of a skilled Mechanicus player: overspend early in a turn, and you leave yourself exposed when it counts.

The Necrons operate on an entirely different principle: Dominance. This meter charges by dealing damage to enemies — the more aggressively you attack, the more power you accumulate. Each Dominance level unlocks additional abilities for both your Lords and regular units, deliberately creating a momentum-building dynamic. Necrons do not win by defending; they win by pressing forward.

Having two such distinct resource systems under the same tactical umbrella is an ambitious move, and it pays off in terms of variety. Each campaign demands a mental reset of your tactical habits.

Campaigns and Storytelling

On the narrative front, Hekateus IV — the tomb world at the center of the conflict — provides a rich setting. The Mechanicus campaign explores the internal tensions of the Omnissiah’s faithful: the sacred drive for technological acquisition clashing against the brutal realities of war. The Necron campaign dives into dynastic politics, with Lords whose ambitions occasionally diverge and must be managed carefully.

The writing holds up well. Warhammer 40,000’s universe rarely tolerates half-measures, and Bulwark Studios clearly understands this: characters speak like entities born of this cosmos of metal and faith, never like generic RPG protagonists.

Total playtime is solid: expect 20 to 30 hours to complete both campaigns on normal difficulty, more if you replay missions to optimize decisions and scores.

Art Direction and Sound Design

Mechanicus II’s visual identity is preserved — and reinforced. The industrial environments of Hekateus IV exude the silent menace of a Necron tomb world: black metal corridors, spectral blue energies, silhouettes of awakened metal emerging from darkness. Unit models are detailed and animations remain readable even during the chaos of large encounters.

The soundtrack continues the first game’s austere, metallic approach — a score that amplifies isolation rather than alleviating it. This is not action music; it is ritual music. Players who pick up the Omnissiah Edition will also receive the original game’s full soundtrack as a bonus.

Where It Falls Short

Mechanicus II consolidates rather than revolutionizes. For veterans of the original, the onboarding is immediate — perhaps too immediate. Skill trees and base management (between missions) lack the ambition you might expect from a 2026 sequel.

Enemy AI, while competent on normal difficulty, tends to repeat the same attack patterns once you identify its logic. Players seeking deep tactical challenge will need to push into higher difficulties to recapture the natural tension the first game imposed more consistently.

A few minor technical issues were present at launch — primarily interface problems at certain resolutions — but nothing that undermined the experience overall.

Verdict

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II delivers on its core promise: bigger, fuller, with a dual-faction structure that opens genuinely new tactical perspectives. The Necron Dominance system is the sequel’s best mechanical addition, and the fidelity to the 40K universe remains beyond reproach.

This is not a game that reinvents the turn-based tactical genre. But if you’re looking for a solid tactical experience set in one of science fiction’s richest universes, it’s well worth your time.

For more recent reviews in the tactical genre, see our Xenonauts 2 version 1.0 review or our Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era Early Access review.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II — Developer: Bulwark Studios — Publisher: Kasedo Games — Released: May 21, 2026 — Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S — Price: $39.99 / €39.99 / £34.99

Age of Wonders 4: Secrets of the Archmages — Owlkin Form, Forbidden Magic & 3 Story Realms June 16

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Wizard Kings Had Secrets — Now It’s Your Turn to Uncover Them

Triumph Studios and Paradox Interactive officially announced Secrets of the Archmages on May 19, 2026 — the next Story Pack for Age of Wonders 4. The DLC launches on June 16, 2026, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

The pack brings a new Owlkin physical form, six all-new forbidden magic tomes, three narrative story realms, and a host of additional content. All players will also receive the free Sprite Update on the same day, which overhauls the empire tree and introduces new Reaver subcultures.

Owlkin — New Playable Form
6 Forbidden Magic Tomes
3 Narrative Story Realms
Free Sprite Update
Price and Availability

Owlkin — New Playable Form

The headline addition of the DLC is the Owlkin physical form — a brand-new species option joining the roster of playable peoples in AoW4’s sandbox. Triumph describes them as wise and watchful beings who move through the world with quiet confidence and an air of ancient mystery.

In Age of Wonders 4 mechanics, each physical form shapes your empire’s passive racial bonuses, dedicated buildings, and specialized unit types. The Owlkin’s identity — discretion and knowledge — fits naturally with the DLC’s overarching theme of secret, forbidden powers once hidden by the Wizard Kings.

6 Forbidden Magic Tomes

This is where Secrets of the Archmages sets itself apart from previous Story Packs. The DLC adds six new tomes, all themed around forbidden magic — spells of extraordinary power that the Wizard Kings of Age of Wonders deemed too dangerous and potent for conventional empires.

The new tomes introduce both offensive and defensive capabilities not previously available, opening fresh build synergies in a game that already features a hundred tomes. In AoW4’s dense sandbox, six additional tomes represent a significant expansion of combinatorial possibilities — particularly relevant for mid and late-game empire differentiation.

Detailed tome breakdowns and interaction previews will be covered in the upcoming dev diaries before launch.

3 Narrative Story Realms

Secrets of the Archmages includes three new narrative story realms — handcrafted scenarios with scripted objectives, unique events, and thematic progression. The three announced themes:

Track down Merlin’s apprentice — hunt a disciple who fled with forbidden secrets across a fractured world
Survive a chaotic, infernal world of endless carnage — a high-difficulty rogue-style survival challenge
Rescue famed hero Ham Binger from a Fey Domain — a rescue mission set inside a treacherous magical realm

AoW4’s narrative story realms have consistently been among the most content-dense features of each DLC, typically offering five to fifteen hours of guided play on top of the open sandbox.

The pack also includes a new mount, new Pantheon content, new music tracks, new wildlife and units, and a new interface skin.

Free Sprite Update for All Players

Launching simultaneously with the DLC, the Sprite Update is free for every Age of Wonders 4 owner. It delivers:

Empire tree rework — a long-requested community overhaul that reshapes mid-game empire progression
Two new Reaver subcultures (Empires & Ashes content): the Imperial Reavers and the Federate Reavers, each with distinct playstyle identities

The empire tree rework is the kind of systemic change that makes even veteran players want to start a new campaign — a strong reason to return to AoW4 even without purchasing the DLC.

Price and Availability

Item	Price	Release
Secrets of the Archmages (standalone)	$19.99 / £16.99 / €19.99	June 16, 2026
Expansion Pass 3 (DLC included)	—	June 16, 2026
Sprite Update	Free	June 16, 2026

Available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

New to Age of Wonders 4? Our complete AoW4 guide covers all cultures, physical forms, magic tomes, and empire-building strategies to get you started.

Sources: Paradox Interactive — official DLC page | Games Press — press release May 19, 2026

Songs of Conquest Yulan DLC Preview: New Faction, Three Houses & 8 Units (June 4, 2026)

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Songs of Conquest’s Most Complex Faction Yet Arrives June 4, 2026

Lavapotion has been steadily expanding Songs of Conquest since its 1.0 release, adding new factions and narrative expansions at a steady pace. On June 4, 2026, the studio releases its latest DLC: the Yulan, a faction rooted in Asian mythology from the long-isolated region of Aerbor. Mechanically, this is the most ambitious content update to date — built around an entirely new three-house system.

If you’re looking for a fresh strategic challenge this summer, here’s everything you need to know.

The Three Houses System: Li, Sheng, Xuan
The Eight New Units
Campaign & Conquest Maps
Free Content for All Players
What We’re Watching at Launch

The Three Houses System: Li, Sheng, Xuan {#h-three-houses}

The Yulan’s core innovation is their political and magical structure. Their homeland of Aerbor is shaped by three rival Houses, each embodying a different approach to Essence — the fundamental magic of the game:

House Li — Order: disciplined armies, territorial control maximized
House Sheng — Creation: tactical flexibility and unit transformation
House Xuan — Arcana: access to the deepest, most unpredictable mystical powers

The key mechanic: Yulan units evolve differently depending on which House they serve. The same base unit can become an orderly soldier under Li, a chaos agent under Xuan, or a hybrid if the player pledges to multiple houses simultaneously. This is the first faction in Songs of Conquest to offer this level of branching in its upgrade trees.

The potential for hybrid compositions — part-Li, part-Xuan — introduces strategic depth not seen in previous factions.

The Eight New Units {#h-units}

Lavapotion has officially confirmed eight new units, with four revealed in detail ahead of launch:

Grenadiers — Throw clay bombs at range while boosting army morale. Offensive support role.
Conscripts — The backbone infantry. Disciplined and versatile, forming the core of any Yulan army.
Tian — Part-dragon, part-ancestral guardian creature inspired by Asian mythology. Likely the faction’s signature elite unit.
Seekers — Described by Lavapotion as “scholars of Essence who risk transformation into fearsome Transcendents.” These units can literally change form mid-combat under the influence of Essence.

The remaining four units stay secret until June 4 — a welcome surprise for players who want to discover the faction fresh.

Campaign & Conquest Maps {#h-campaign}

The Yulan DLC is more than just a new faction. Its full content includes:

A 3-map narrative campaign following House Sheng as their homeland faces new and ancient threats — perfect for learning Yulan mechanics in a story-driven context.
5 new Conquest maps designed specifically around Yulan, with scenarios that highlight the Houses system.
A new biome consistent with Aerbor’s aesthetic — likely misty forests or snow-swept steppes drawn from Asian visual traditions.

For context, the previous DLC Rise Eternal (March 5, 2026) introduced necromancy through Kastus Maal. The Yulan DLC is a complete thematic departure — from shadows and death to living Essence split across three competing lineages.

Free Content for All Players {#h-free}

True to Lavapotion’s established practice, every paid DLC ships with a free update for the entire playerbase. The Yulan DLC will add new research options, new artifact sets, and additional map buildings to all players at no cost. Global balancing stays behind no paywall.

What We’re Watching at Launch {#h-verdict}

Songs of Conquest has earned its reputation as the best pixel-art alternative to Heroes of Might & Magic: tactical turn-based combat, territory management, and Wielders with escalating powers. Each DLC has expanded the roster coherently. The Yulan look set to push the formula further with triple-house mechanics and branching evolutions.

Points we’ll evaluate at launch:

Balance between specialized mono-house lists and multi-pledge hybrid armies
Depth and replayability of the 3-map Sheng campaign
The four still-secret units and their synergy with each house

If the genre appeals to you, our Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era Early Access review covers the other major HoMM-like of the moment. And for medieval turn-based strategy, our Wartales Fires in the Capital DLC preview is required reading.

We’ll have the full verdict on June 4, 2026.

Wartales: Contract Fires in the Capital — Urban Warfare Comes to the Imperial Capital

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Edoran Is Burning — Wartales Enters Urban Warfare Territory

Wartales, Shiro Games’ open-world medieval tactical RPG, has sent your mercenary band through forests, coastlines, and misty archipelagos. With Contract: Fires in the Capital, the French indie studio takes a new direction: the city. Specifically, the imperial capital of Edoran, torn apart by an internal rebellion your company must suppress before the whole district structure collapses.

Released on April 30, 2026 on Steam and GOG for $12.99, this DLC marks a clear shift in Wartales’ design formula. Fewer journeys between open regions, more cobblestone alleys, angry crowds, and decisions with immediate consequences on urban stability.

Type: Story DLC (Contract)
Setting: Imperial capital of Edoran
Central mechanic: The Chaos system (civic stability)
Price: $12.99 / €10.99 / £12.99 — Steam and GOG

A New Arena: The Capital of Edoran
The Chaos System — the DLC’s Mechanical Core
New Mission Types: Guile, Diplomacy, and Coercion
New Companions and Urban Gear
Quick Verdict

A New Arena: The Capital of Edoran {#h-edoran}

Previous Wartales DLCs sent your company to rural or maritime settings. Fires in the Capital changes the scale: you arrive in a large city divided into districts with independent tension levels. One side of the capital can be in open flames while another district barely holds together.

The urban environment is built to react to your decisions. Every choice — arresting a ringleader, protecting a supply convoy, or spreading counter-propaganda — ripples through the city’s atmosphere. The game’s usual freedom of movement is channeled through the capital’s dense geography, which creates a new kind of pressure even for series veterans.

The Chaos System — the DLC’s Mechanical Core {#h-chaos}

The standout mechanical addition is the Chaos system, which tracks civic stability district by district. In practice:

Each district has its own Chaos index
Successfully completed missions reduce local Chaos
Failed or skipped missions increase it
Unchecked Chaos can render a district uncontrollable, triggering chain riots

This forces your company to prioritize. You cannot handle everything at once — sometimes you have to let one corner burn to properly stabilize another. It adds a strategic tension layer that previous DLCs did not provide, and alone justifies the purchase for fans of the base game.

New Mission Types: Guile, Diplomacy, and Coercion {#h-missions}

Fires in the Capital introduces several mission types designed specifically for urban warfare:

Hunt brigands through alleyways before they can destabilize a neighborhood
Destroy propaganda posters to cut off rebel factions from their ideological grip on the population
Disguise as bards to shift public opinion without drawing steel
Escort supply convoys through burning streets
Rescue civilians caught in the crossfire

This range breaks from Wartales’ classic formula. Infiltration and social manipulation take as much space as direct combat. For players who found the base game sometimes too combat-forward, this is a welcome shift in pacing.

New Companions and Urban Gear {#h-companions}

The DLC adds two unique new companions with their own unlockable traits, designed for infiltration, coordination, or counter-intelligence roles. They integrate into your existing roster without displacing established specialists.

On the equipment side, Shiro Games has added ten new accessories suited for urban combat — light armor, distraction tools, stealth-oriented gear. No new character class, but a genuine expansion of the base game’s already deep customization options.

Quick Verdict {#h-verdict}

Contract: Fires in the Capital is a well-tuned DLC for players who know Wartales and want a fresh challenge in a radically different environment. The Chaos system delivers genuine strategic pressure, the urban mission types refresh the formula without betraying it, and the two new companions add to the roster without bloating it.

At $12.99, the pricing is consistent with Shiro Games’ previous DLC policy. Expect between 8 and 12 hours to complete the main content if you explore the decision branches.

For fans of tactical medieval strategy who want to dig deeper into Shiro Games’ catalog, our Northgard complete guide covers the studio’s flagship RTS. And if turn-based tactics are your thing, our Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era early access review is worth a read.

Stellar Tactics review: after a decade in Early Access, does the space RPG finally deliver?

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ten years. That’s how long Stellar Tactics spent in Early Access before its 1.0 release on March 30, 2026. This sci-fi sandbox RPG — developed almost solo by Maverick Games Studios — promises a 160,000-system galaxy, deep turn-based combat, and detailed ship customization. After a decade of waiting, does it deliver? We played 30 hours.

TL;DR:

1.0 release: March 30, 2026, after almost 10 years in EA (started September 2016)
Massive content: 160,000+ star systems, 40 ships, 240 perks
Deep combat: turn-based ground, real-time space simulation
Solo dev: Maverick Games Studios, primarily one developer
Steam reviews: overall “Very Positive”, but 57% over the last 30 days — post-launch bugs are hurting new players

10 years in Early Access: how do we get here?
The content: 160,000 systems, really?
Ground combat: XCOM with RPG roles
Space: simulation or dashboard?
Flaws: bugs, dated interface, dizzying scope
Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

10 years in Early Access: how do we get here?

Stellar Tactics launched into Early Access in September 2016 on Steam and GOG. At the time, it pitched itself as the spiritual heir to Starflight (1986) and Sundog: Frozen Legacy (1984) — the sandbox space RPGs that today’s thirty- and forty-somethings wore out.

What lengthened development:

One main dev (Don Wilkins of Maverick Games Studios), not a team
An incredibly ambitious scope — 160,000 procedural systems is literally unthinkable for a solo dev
Community funding via Steam EA rather than a publisher who could have imposed deadlines

The result after 10 years: a game vast but artisanal, with the qualities and flaws you’d imagine. Some EA veterans have poured 1000+ hours in. Others bailed seeing each update took 3 months.

The content: 160,000 systems, really?

Yes. The number is real. Stellar Tactics procedurally generates over 160,000 star systems, each with:

Stations, planets, asteroids, wreckage debris
Dynamic factions in conflict
Random events (piracy, encounters)

The galaxy is persistent — what you do in one place impacts the rest. Caveat: narrative density varies. Some systems are full of stories (named factions, scripted quests); others are empty, just asteroid-mining filler.

Verdict: the content is real but not uniformly dense. As with Starsector or Elite Dangerous, you have to accept that most systems are “filler” to create the illusion of a truly living galaxy.

Ground combat: XCOM with RPG roles

This is the game’s best aspect. Stellar Tactics’ turn-based combat borrows from XCOM (cover, firing angles, height) but adds a deep RPG layer:

240 unlockable perks — specialization as sniper, medic, hacker, heavy, etc.
Classless progression — your character evolves freely based on your choices
Teams of 4 — each member is distinct, not an XCOM clone
Environmental effects: gravity, radiation, toxic atmosphere

Battles on the ground in abandoned stations and ancient ruins recall Fallout Tactics with a Star Wars KOTOR touch. Satisfying, demanding, with a real learning curve.

Space: simulation or dashboard?

The space side is more dashboard than pure simulation. You pick a destination, you travel (with warp jump), and you encounter what comes up along the way. No arcade piloting like Elite Dangerous.

On the other hand, the 40-ship customization runs deep:

Combat — offense/defense optimization, ammunition, armor
Mining — ships dedicated to asteroid extraction
Cargo — trade between stations
Exploration — long-range sensors, upgraded jumpdrives

You can disable and board enemy ships — opening a ground combat aboard their vessel. It’s one of the game’s unique mechanics, a direct heir to the Starflight tradition.

Flaws: bugs, dated interface, dizzying scope

Three recurring critiques of the 1.0 release:

Post-launch bugs — recent reviews (57% positive over 30 days) flag loading crashes, quests getting stuck, save issues. The solo dev pushes near-daily hotfixes, but it remains frustrating.

Dated interface — the UI feels 2016. Little visual polish, austere fonts, sometimes missing tooltips. For a $40 game, it’s rough.

Dizzying scope that can paralyze — 160,000 systems is literally infinite. Many new players bail at 10-15h, overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. The game doesn’t hold your hand enough.

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Buy Stellar Tactics if:

You loved Starflight, Sundog, or early ’80s/’90s space RPGs
You love open sandboxes where you make your own story
XCOM-style turn-based combat appeals to you
The “one-man project” angle inspires rather than scares you

Skip it if:

You want guided narrative à la Mass Effect
You don’t have 100h+ to invest to really “taste” the game
Dated UIs put you off
You’re looking for a solo RPG finishable in 40h

At $39.99, it’s an honest bet for anyone looking for a modernized old-school space RPG. To compare with the other 2026 RPG/tacticals, see our Xenonauts 2 review and our Vaunted preview.

Final score: 7/10 — a singular game, thrilling for those it grabs, frustrating for those without context.

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era — Early Access Analysis After the Million-Copy Milestone

Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A Million Copies Settles the Credibility Question

On May 28, 2026, Unfrozen announced that Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era had passed one million copies sold. The milestone landed less than a month after its Early Access launch on April 30. Sales say nothing about the content itself, but they change the question. The franchise has already come back commercially. What does this Early Access build contain once the launch noise fades?

Ten years separate the quiet release of Heroes of Might & Magic VII in 2015 from this comeback, built by independent studio Unfrozen and distributed by Hooded Horse. In between, the franchise mostly survived through mobile spin-offs and re-releases, never through a genuine turn-based successor. This gap explains part of why the million-copy figure landed so hard in strategy circles.

This piece does not claim any hands-on time with Olden Era. It analyzes what the studio and the Steam listing confirm, faction by faction and system by system, without repeating the unverifiable numbers and impressions that circulated at launch.

An Early Access Build, Not a Finished Release

Worth stating plainly before going further: Olden Era is sold and presented as Early Access, not a full release. Every system described below should be read with that distinction in mind. A Faction Laws tree or a game mode confirmed today can still be adjusted, expanded, or rebalanced before version 1.0, and Unfrozen’s own communication doesn’t claim otherwise.

That structural caution shapes how the rest of this article should be read. Each section describes a system confirmed by Steam or by Unfrozen, not a verdict on its balance or its staying power over long sessions. Making that call needs playtime this article doesn’t claim to have.

Six Confirmed Factions at Early Access Launch

Early Access ships with six playable factions: Temple, Dungeon, Schism, Grove, Necropolis and Hive. No seventh faction has been confirmed at this stage by Unfrozen or by the Steam listing; any longer list circulating online is community speculation, not official information.

Each faction has its own Faction Laws tree and its own active abilities, two systems covered in more detail below. That architecture, more than the raw faction count, is what carries the real promise of the game: reviving the series’ turn-based formula instead of settling for a graphical reskin of Heroes III. Six factions at an Early Access launch is a solid number for this kind of release; whether that number grows is for version 1.0 to prove, not for this article to predict.

Judging that roster against a franchise entry’s full, post-expansion lineup would be an unfair comparison at this stage. Olden Era is a first Early Access build, not a finished product with years of content updates behind it. The fairer question is whether these six factions play differently enough from each other to justify the wait, and that’s a question only the Faction Laws system, detailed next, can really answer.

Faction Laws and Active Abilities: the Two Systems to Watch

Unfrozen presents the Faction Laws system as the mechanic that separates each side beyond its unit roster. In practice it’s a ruleset unique to each faction, unlocked over the course of a match, that reshapes how that faction is meant to be played. Without direct access to the game, there’s no way to judge real balance here. Only the structure of the system is confirmed by official sources, not how it feels across a full campaign.

Active abilities round out that system in combat: they trigger on command, unlike passive bonuses that apply automatically every round. Together, Faction Laws and active abilities form the customization layer Unfrozen points to as the justification for Early Access rather than an immediate full launch.

Every modular rule tree carries the same risk: if one Law clearly outperforms the rest, the entire tree collapses into a single optimal path and the promise of customization falls apart. That’s something only time and a community that has picked the system apart can verify — not launch-day marketing copy.

The opposite risk exists too. A tree that’s too flat can make every choice feel interchangeable, which kills strategic interest just as effectively as one Law that clearly outperforms the rest. Between those two traps, Unfrozen’s margin for error is narrow, and it’s exactly the kind of tuning an Early Access period is supposed to sharpen before a final release.

Solo Content: Tutorial, Campaign Act One, and Ready-Made Scenarios

Solo content in Early Access is deliberately limited: a tutorial, the first act of the narrative campaign, and a handful of ready-made scenarios playable independently of the main story. That reduced scope lines up with Early Access status — Unfrozen doesn’t promise a complete campaign at launch, and neither does the store listing.

A player who wants a full, complete narrative experience right now won’t find it in Early Access yet. But for anyone testing the core strategic loop — exploration, town management, tactical combat — before committing to version 1.0, this slice is already enough to get a feel for the game’s skeleton.

Classic, Single Hero and Arena: Three Modes, Solo and Multiplayer

Three modes ship with Early Access: Classic, the full formula of exploration, town management and combat, and Single Hero, a leaner variant built around a single commander. Arena rounds out the lineup, geared toward faster, more direct fighting. All three are playable both solo against the AI and in multiplayer, which gives Early Access several distinct entry points.

A player short on time can stick to Arena for quick matches, while a series veteran will likely head straight for Classic to find the franchise’s full loop. How these three modes balance against each other over the long run is a question only sustained community playtime, spread across months, can settle properly.

Multiplayer being available across all three modes from day one of Early Access is worth flagging on its own. Many strategy titles push that piece to a later update, precisely because it demands heavy synchronization and anti-cheat work. Shipping it at launch says more about where Unfrozen puts its priorities — competitive online play — than any marketing statement could.

The Million-Copy Milestone: What It Actually Changes

The May 28, 2026 announcement puts Olden Era among the fastest strategy Early Access titles to reach that threshold in recent years. For an independent studio like Unfrozen, that number most likely secures funding for the rest of this year’s promised roadmap — it doesn’t guarantee anything about the finished game’s quality.

The practical consequence for players is different. A title that has already hit this sales level statistically stands a better chance of getting real ongoing support than a niche Early Access release struggling to fund its own roadmap. That’s not a quality guarantee, but it’s an economic signal that would be dishonest to ignore when weighing the risk of buying into Early Access.

This signal should still be read for what it is: a sales figure, not a quality score. An Early Access title can sell a million copies on nostalgia for the license alone, then stall on content if the studio doesn’t follow through. Nothing in the May 28 announcement prejudges what comes next — it simply documents a strong commercial starting point, one to weigh against the update pace the community observes in the months ahead.

What to Watch Now

Top priority to track: how balance shakes out across the six factions once the community has fully theorycrafted the Faction Laws trees. A second priority is how quickly Unfrozen adds campaign content beyond the confirmed first act. What to avoid for now: buying purely on the promise of a complete campaign, since that content remains limited to its first act at this stage.

Anyone deciding whether to buy in now versus waiting for a later Early Access build should weigh two things separately. The first is whether the current strategic loop — exploration, town management, tactical combat across three modes — is already enough to hold interest. The second is whether they’re comfortable with systems that may still shift before 1.0. Those are two different risk tolerances, and conflating them is how buyers end up disappointed by a build that never claimed to be finished. For more on the game’s commercial trajectory, our post-million-copies roadmap recap covers the next steps the studio has announced.

Developer: Unfrozen.
Publisher: Hooded Horse.
Platform: PC (Steam).
Price: $39.99.
Status: Early Access since April 30, 2026.
Steam App ID: 3105440.

Sources

Civilization VII tier list 2026: which leaders and civilizations are the best?

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

More than a year after its February 2025 launch, Civilization VII has refined its meta. The first tier lists were shaky — too many variables, too small a sample. Today, with tens of thousands of community playtime hours cumulated, some leaders clearly dominate. Here’s our 2026 tier list based on CivFanatics, Pocket Tactics, Game8 analyses, and our own experience.

TL;DR:

S Tier (5 leaders): Confucius, Catherine the Great, Augustus, Ashoka, Himiko
A Tier (4-5 leaders): Xerxes, Amina, Napoleon, Harriet Tubman, Benjamin Franklin
B Tier: the rest, solid but situational
C Tier: objectively weak leaders, to avoid
Caveat: Civ VII tier lists are more volatile than Civ V/VI — civs change per age, leader stays

How to read this tier list
S Tier: the dominant leaders
A Tier: strong but situational
B Tier: solid without being top
C Tier: avoid in competitive
Leader × civilization combinations

How to read this tier list

Civilization VII has a structural quirk: you play 3 different civilizations within the same game, one per age (Antiquity, Exploration, Modern). Your leader stays the same throughout. Consequence: the leader has more long-term impact than the chosen civ.

Our ranking is based on:

Leader bonuses stable over 500 turns
Adaptability to multiple victory types
Synergy with multiple civs per age
Community feedback 2025-2026 (Reddit r/civ, CivFanatics, Pocket Tactics forums)

S Tier: the dominant leaders

Confucius ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Considered near broken. Massive science bonus coupled with huge civ-choice versatility. Giant cities pumping science every turn. Crowned “reference leader” by most guides.

Preferred victory: Science
Ideal civ per age: Han (Antiquity), Abbasid (Exploration), Modern wild card

Catherine the Great ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rare excellence: cultural victory without sacrificing tech. Science bonus via her cultural output — she unlocks techs and civics in parallel. Flexible, strong from turn 30 to turn 500.

Preferred victory: Cultural
Ideal civ: Normans, French (depending on age)

Augustus ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ +2 production in the capital per town built, +50% gold for urban purchases. Rapid expansion, map covered with towns feeding the capital. Versatile across all victories.

Preferred victory: Production (domination OR wonders)
Ideal civ: Romans (Antiquity), Normans, Mongols

Ashoka (World Conqueror) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The military leader who isn’t militarily obligated. Very solid conquest bonuses but his stats also enable peaceful victories. S-tier thanks to his double profile.

Preferred victory: Domination
Ideal civ: Mauryan (Antiquity), then Mongol/Aksumite

Himiko (Queen of Wa) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Queen of Wa — pure versatility. Few massive bonuses but exceptional adaptability between culture and diplomacy. Beloved by players who change plans mid-game.

Preferred victory: Diplomatic / Cultural
Ideal civ: Meiji Japan (Modern)

A Tier: strong but situational

Xerxes (King of Kings) — A+ Excellent late-game science bonus, better in Modern Age than Antiquity.

Amina — A Strong in trade/diplomacy, perfect if your strategy revolves around city-states.

Napoleon Bonaparte — A Classic military bonuses, effective but less versatile than Ashoka.

Benjamin Franklin — A Science and wonder focus, but less “open” than Confucius who plays with any civ.

Harriet Tubman — A Exploration + late-game science, excellent on Tide of Empires maps.

B Tier: solid without being top

José Rizal — good scientist, defensive gaps
Machiavelli — diplomatic but sometimes frustrating against aggressive AI
Isabella — powerful religious but religion meta weakened in 2026
Tecumseh — territorial defense, good vs AI but limited competitively
Frederick the Great — classic military, eclipsed by Napoleon

C Tier: avoid in competitive

These leaders suffer from miscalibrated or overly situational bonuses after 2025-2026 patches:

Charlemagne — too religion-dependent (weakened meta)
Pachacuti — mountain-specific bonuses that block expansion
Trung Trac — military but without the solid bonuses of Ashoka or Napoleon

Important note: “C” leaders aren’t unplayable, just suboptimal on Hard/Deity. On easier modes, any leader can win.

Leader × civilization combinations

Some community-validated meta combos:

Leader	Antiquity Civ	Exploration Civ	Modern Civ
Confucius (Science)	Han	Abbasid	Russia
Augustus (Production)	Rome	Normans	Mongol
Catherine (Cultural)	Greeks	French	Meiji Japan
Ashoka (Military)	Mauryan	Aksumite	American
Himiko (Diplomatic)	Han	Khmer	Meiji Japan

Experiment — Civ VII’s charm lies precisely in the variety of transitions between civs.

For other 4X analyses, see our Stellaris vs Endless Space 2 comparison, our Humankind review, and our top PC strategy games 2026.

This tier list will evolve with upcoming patches — we update it every 6 months.

Vaunted: the sci-fi tactical RPG from a StarCraft co-creator is coming via Hooded Horse

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On March 26, 2026, Hooded Horse — the Manor Lords publisher — unveiled Vaunted, the debut title from studio Lost Lake Games. The announcement at Xbox Partner Preview immediately got the tactical community talking: at the helm sits James Phinney, StarCraft’s historic co-creator, alongside ex-Guild Wars devs. Here’s what we know about this sci-fi tactical RPG blending turn-based and real-time.

TL;DR:

Announced March 26, 2026, release planned for 2026
Developed by Lost Lake Games (debut title) with James Phinney (StarCraft co-creator)
Published by Hooded Horse (Manor Lords, Terra Invicta)
Hybrid combat: turn-based planning + real-time execution, no traditional initiative
Day one on PC Game Pass — Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store

Who is Lost Lake Games?
The narrative pitch: three post-empire mercenaries
Combat: reactive turn-based without initiative
What to expect from the ex-StarCraft team
Availability and post-launch outlook

Who is Lost Lake Games?

Lost Lake Games is a recently-founded studio led by veterans with a heavy résumé:

James Phinney — StarCraft co-creator (1998), historic figure in Blizzard RTS
Several ex-Blizzard with StarCraft, Warcraft, Diablo on their CV
Ex-ArenaNet with Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2 experience
A compact team — not a juggernaut, an ambitious indie studio

Hooded Horse made the same bet it did with Slavic Magic (Manor Lords): back a small studio with strong dev DNA. The strategy paid off with Manor Lords hitting 2 million sales in 6 months. We’ll see if Vaunted confirms the pattern.

The narrative pitch: three post-empire mercenaries

Vaunted’s universe is set: a millennium after the last galactic empire fell, imperial relics lie scattered across ruins. Mercenaries, smugglers, and treasure hunters battle over these priceless remnants.

You play Dyse, Gendril, and Kyvaath — three “dysfunctional frenemies” in the team’s words. The official pitch promises “bullets, bravado, and brazen lies” — classic space-western cyberpunk tone. Think Cowboy Bebop, The Outer Worlds, even Firefly.

The plot revolves around a score of a lifetime — a galactic heist pitting your trio against ruthless rivals, monstrous aliens, and giant robots. More Borderlands narrative than Grand Tactical grand strategy.

Combat: reactive turn-based without initiative

This is the distinctive hook that sets Vaunted apart from the tactical crowd.

No classic initiative. In XCOM, you move your soldier, then the aliens move, then you, etc. Vaunted breaks that: you decide who acts after an enemy activation. It echoes Valkyria Chronicles (PS3, 2008), which let you choose unit order via a shared AP system.

Hybrid turn-based + real-time. While you plan your actions, some things happen in real time (enemies moving, environments shifting). The team compares it to Frozen Synapse with more narrative, or Door Kickers with more depth.

“Vibrant, action-packed battlefields” — arenas aren’t abstract grids but living spaces. Trailers show Martian canyons, exploding orbital stations, submerged imperial wrecks.

It’s a risky formula: it can be brilliant (like Valkyria Chronicles) or confusing (like some failed hybrids of the 2010s). The team’s CV pushes us toward optimism.

What to expect from the ex-StarCraft team

The massive marketing pull is James Phinney. StarCraft is still considered the best RTS of all time by a large chunk of the community. That creates expectations:

Millimeter-level balancing — StarCraft is iconic for its asymmetric balance across 3 factions
Tactical readability — each unit has a clear role, no smoke and mirrors
Narrative depth — StarCraft Brood War had real narrative that most post-2000 RTSs lost
Solid AI — Blizzard has always been strong in single-player AI

But caution: Vaunted isn’t an RTS, it’s a tactical RPG. Design skills transpose, but they’re two very different genres. We’ll see in 6 months.

Availability and post-launch outlook

Platforms:

Steam (date TBC)
Epic Games Store
Microsoft Store
PC Game Pass day one — huge asset, guaranteed visibility

Our prediction: if Vaunted ships with classic Hooded Horse polish, it should join the strong tacticals of the year alongside Xenonauts 2 v1.0 and XCOM: Chimera Squad. The hybrid system is a bet, but if it works, it could become the most original tactical game of 2026.

We’re watching the release date. To compare with the other 2026 tacticals, see also our full Xenonauts 2 review.

Civilization VII Test of Time: Free Update on May 19 Reshapes the Game

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Civilization VII Test of Time: Firaxis answers the community’s biggest complaint — for free

On May 19, 2026, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII receives its most ambitious update since launch. Named Test of Time, it’s entirely free, addresses the controversial age-switching mechanic, and finally introduces the “play one civ from start to finish” mode the community has been requesting for over a year. A new free leader is also part of the package.

Release date: May 19, 2026, free for all base game owners
Major rework: new Triumphs system, reworked victories, single-civilization mode
Official livestream: May 13 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM GMT with the new leader reveal

Single-civ mode: Firaxis finally listens
Triumphs: the new objective system
Reworked victories and new leader
Fractal Continent map and trade overhaul
May 13 livestream: what to watch
Verdict

Single-civ mode: Firaxis finally listens

Since Civilization VII released in February 2025, the mandatory civilization switch between ages has been the franchise’s most divisive design choice. For many veterans, it broke the historical identity that has been the soul of the series since Civilization II.

With Test of Time, Firaxis officially introduces Time-Tested Civs: the ability to play one civilization across an entire campaign, from the bronze age to the modern era. To keep that choice mechanically interesting, two new systems support it:

Syncretism: allows you to adopt unique units or infrastructure from other civilizations without abandoning your own, blending flexibility with narrative coherence.
Affirmation: the opposite approach — double down on your civilization’s signature strengths to amplify their bonuses.

This is the direct response to the community’s most consistent feedback over the past 15 months.

Triumphs: the new objective system

The Legacy Paths system, introduced at launch to structure each age, is being entirely replaced by the new Triumphs framework: a wide range of optional, challenging objectives tied to the game’s six Attributes.

Attribute	Gameplay focus
Militaristic	Conquest, armies, dominance
Cultural	Religion, wonders, influence
Scientific	Research, tech, progress
Economic	Gold, trade, infrastructure
Diplomatic	Alliances, treaties, soft power
Expansionist	Colonization, territory, exploration

Each Triumph offers a tangible gameplay variation, and their combination makes every game feel genuinely different. Where Legacy Paths enforced a linear progression, Triumphs rewards experimentation.

Reworked victories and new leader

The victory system has also been overhauled to reward dominance and meaningful strategic decisions rather than mechanical checklists. Firaxis hasn’t detailed every condition yet, but the official communication points to expanded paths to victory with deeper strategic implications.

On the content side, a new free leader is being added to the roster. The name has not been officially revealed yet — Firaxis is saving the reveal for the May 13 livestream. The teaser trailer has fueled speculation (Constantine, Alexander the Great, or potentially someone less expected), but nothing is confirmed.

Fractal Continent map and trade overhaul

Test of Time also delivers a strong batch of quieter-but-important content:

Fractal Continent map: a new map type with more organic terrain, irregular coastlines, and greater geographical variety
New Commerce screen: reworked UI to track trade routes and revenue — long requested since launch
Advisor Council: a new contextual advice panel, designed to help newcomers without bothering veterans
Specialists & Biomes updates: city specialists and biomes receive gameplay and balance adjustments
New audio and music: general soundtrack refresh
Narrative Events: new scripted events to add flavor and pacing

The patch also includes numerous balance changes, the full detail of which won’t land until the May 19 deployment.

May 13 livestream: what to watch

Before launch, Firaxis is hosting an official livestream on May 13, 2026:

Pacific Time: 11 AM PT
Eastern Time: 2 PM ET
GMT: 7 PM
Paris: 8 PM CET

The stream airs on the official Firaxis Twitch channel and the Civilization YouTube channel. Agenda: Test of Time gameplay demo, dev team Q&A, and the official reveal of the new leader with their full gameplay kit.

Verdict

Test of Time isn’t a balance patch — it’s a structural rework that directly addresses the two most persistent criticisms of Civilization VII’s launch: forced civilization switching and the rigid Legacy Paths framework. For anyone who shelved the game after a few frustrating runs, May 19, 2026 is a date worth circling on the calendar.

The fact that all of this is free — with no paid DLC alongside — also breaks from the usual playbook of major publishers on this kind of pivot. Firaxis is playing a reconquest card here, and it looks more than credible.

Going further

To prep for May 19, check out our Civilization VII tier list of civilizations and leaders — it remains useful for understanding the current strength balance ahead of the rebalance pass.

Xenonauts 2 review: is the 1.0 release the true heir to classic X-COM?

Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On April 2, 2026, after nearly three years of Early Access, Goldhawk Interactive finally shipped Xenonauts 2 in version 1.0 on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. The small British studio’s goal: deliver the most faithful spiritual successor to 1994’s X-COM, set in the late Cold War. After a month of play and 50+ hours of campaign, here’s our full verdict.

TL;DR:

The most punishing tactical game in its category — not an accessible XCOM-like, a true X-COM in the 1994 tradition
180+ battle maps and real depth in global management (bases, R&D, funding)
Pragmatic art direction rather than spectacular — visual charm isn’t the strong suit
$39.99 — a fair price for a deep strategy game of this scope
Verdict: 8/10 for X-COM old-school fans, 6/10 for those seeking cinematic XCOM

Three years in Early Access: what changed?
Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding
Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared
The Cleaners: the new narrative faction
Weaknesses: art direction and repetition
Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Three years in Early Access: what changed?

Launched July 2023, Xenonauts 2 spent 34 months in Early Access. Over that period, Goldhawk listened to the community — often brutally honest — and reworked several core mechanics:

Less tedious early game: the opening missions, long criticized as too repetitive, now offer real enemy-type and terrain variety
Rewritten air combat: the interception system was simplistic in beta, it’s now a full tactical mini-game
Richer late game: new UFO types, complex alien threats, endgame that no longer runs out of steam
Redesigned UI and UX with several iterative passes

The 1.0 result is clean and playable — which wasn’t a given.

Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding

At Xenonauts 2’s heart is turn-based combat on 2-to-3-level maps. Goldhawk made the opposite choice from Firaxis: no hidden percentages, no heroic cinematics, no manufactured chance. If your soldier misses an 80% shot, it’s because ballistics decided — and you’ll have to live with it.

This approach has two consequences:

Maximum satisfaction when plans work — you genuinely won, not carried by scripting
Brutal punishment when things fail — a single positioning mistake can cost three veteran soldiers

The action preview system (clearly inspired by XCOM 2, improved here) helps anticipate consequences. Combined with highly precise pathfinding — you can finally climb stairs without falling into the ambush you’d already spotted — combat becomes pure pleasure for hard-tactics fans.

Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared

Where Xenonauts 2 crushes the competition is the global strategic layer:

Multiple bases to manage simultaneously (unlike XCOM 2 centralizing everything on the Avenger)
Multi-nation funding with distinct reputations — losing Japan’s trust doesn’t affect your US rating
Parallel R&D — 3 to 5 science projects simultaneously, each with tech prerequisites
Interception patrols to coordinate globally, strategic choice on fighter positioning

It’s complex, sometimes bewildering, but it rewards anticipation. You recover the 1994 X-COM feel that no game since really captured — except maybe the old UFO: Aftermath series of the 2000s.

The Cleaners: the new narrative faction

Xenonauts 2 introduces a secret human faction — The Cleaners — that operates alongside the alien invasion. They’re sleeper agents sabotaging Xenonauts efforts from within: government infiltration, disinformation, black ops.

Narratively, this is denser than Xenonauts 1. The 1.0 version significantly enriched this storyline with:

New dedicated mission types (Cleaners base raids, extractions)
Scripted events that progressively reveal their motives
A final choice that affects the campaign ending

It stays less memorable than XCOM 2’s Avatar storyline cinematically, but smarter in its writing. No caricature villain speeches, just a slow buildup of paranoia.

Weaknesses: art direction and repetition

Two real critiques to address:

Pragmatic art direction: the graphics are functional, clean, readable — but charmless. Maps look similar despite the count (180+), aliens have generic designs, UI is efficient but lacks personality. After 30 hours, you miss XCOM 2’s Gothic overture style.

Limited mission variety: despite the effort, the campaign eventually goes in circles. UFO recovery → terror mission → enemy base raid → repeat. The first 50 hours are excellent, the next 20 less so.

High failure penalty: losing a mission can trigger catastrophic domino effects. Some Iron Man players abandoned their campaign after a single failure. The game owns this choice — it’s authentic X-COM — but it can drive new players away.

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Buy Xenonauts 2 if:

You loved original 1994 X-COM or the 2000s UFO: Aftermath series
You want a real tactical challenge without narrative crutches
You enjoy global strategic management (multi-base, parallel R&D)
The $39.99 price doesn’t put you off for 80+ hours of gameplay

Skip it if:

You want an accessible cinematic XCOM (grab XCOM 2 + Chimera Squad instead)
Art direction matters to you
You hate losing 5 hours of progress to a single bad mission

To compare Xenonauts 2 with the other major 2026 tacticals, see our tactical strategy guide 2026. To expand the genre, our 4X space comparison covers the other angles.

Final score: 8/10 for hard-tactics fans, 6/10 for general audiences.

XCOM 2: Complete Guide Tactical Strategy 2026

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

XCOM 2, developed by Firaxis Games and released in 2016, is one of the defining tactical strategy games of its generation. Combined with its landmark expansion War of the Chosen (2017), it delivers an unmatched blend of turn-based tactical combat, squad management and strategic base-building — all wrapped in a desperate narrative of humanity’s guerrilla war against alien occupation. In 2026, it remains the gold standard for the genre. Here’s the complete guide.

Why XCOM 2 is essential in 2026

Best-in-class tactical combat — cover mechanics, overwatch, flanking and elevation create endlessly engaging encounters
Permadeath with emotional weight — your customized soldiers can die permanently, making every mission tense
War of the Chosen — widely regarded as one of the best strategy game expansions ever made
Massive mod support — 10,000+ Steam Workshop mods, including total conversions like Long War 2
High replayability — procedural missions, random soldier abilities, multiple difficulty levels and Ironman mode
Still holds up visually and mechanically in 2026

Base game vs. War of the Chosen

What War of the Chosen adds

3 Resistance Factions: Reapers (stealth), Skirmishers (aggression), Templars (psionic melee) — each with a unique hero class
The Chosen: 3 powerful alien nemeses that hunt you across the campaign, grow stronger over time, and must be defeated in their strongholds
Fatigue system: soldiers tire after missions, forcing roster rotation
Bonds: paired soldiers gain combat bonuses, adding tactical depth
Covert Operations: send soldiers on off-screen missions for rewards and intel
Lost missions: zombie-like enemies that swarm in huge numbers
Breakthrough research: random tech bonuses that add variety between runs

Verdict: War of the Chosen is not optional — it transforms XCOM 2 from excellent to legendary.

Soldier classes guide

Base game classes

Ranger

Role: Close-range assault, scouting
Key abilities: Slash (melee guaranteed hit), Phantom (starts concealed), Bladestorm (melee overwatch)
Strategy: Your flanking specialist. Bladestorm Rangers are devastating against melee enemies. Phantom Rangers provide invaluable scouting
Recommended build: Phantom → Shadowstep → Run and Gun → Implacable → Untouchable → Rapid Fire

Grenadier

Role: Demolition, area damage, cover destruction
Key abilities: Shredder (removes armor), Hail of Bullets (guaranteed hit), Rupture (target takes extra damage)
Strategy: Grenadiers solve problems. Armor? Shred it. Full cover? Destroy it. Group of enemies? Grenade them. Every squad needs at least one
Recommended build: Blast Padding → Shredder → Holo Targeting → Chain Shot → Hail of Bullets → Rupture

Specialist

Role: Support, healing, hacking
Key abilities: Medical Protocol (remote heal), Aid Protocol (defense buff), Guardian (multiple overwatch shots), Capacitor Discharge (AOE hack)
Strategy: Medic build for Ironman (soldiers are precious), Combat Hacker build for regular play. Guardian is one of the best skills in the game
Recommended build: Medical Protocol → Field Medic → Guardian → Threat Assessment → Ever Vigilant → Restoration

Sharpshooter

Role: Long-range sniper or pistol gunslinger
Key abilities: Squadsight (shoot beyond visual range), Serial (free action on kill), Fan Fire (3 pistol shots)
Strategy: Sniper build dominates open maps. Gunslinger build is more versatile for close quarters. Serial is the single most powerful ability in the game for cleanup missions
Recommended build (Sniper): Long Watch → Deadeye → Kill Zone → Aim → Steady Hands → Serial

Psi Operative

Role: Psionic abilities, crowd control, damage
Key abilities: Domination (mind control), Null Lance (line AOE), Void Rift (area psionic damage)
Strategy: Trained in the Psi Lab, not through combat. Takes time but becomes the most powerful class. Domination turns the strongest enemy into your ally
Training priority: Inspire → Stasis → Domination → Null Lance → Void Rift

War of the Chosen hero classes

Reaper

Specialty: Stealth, scouting, precision damage
Key ability: Shadow — superior concealment that doesn’t break on most actions
Role: Your permanent scout. Reveals the entire map while remaining hidden. Claymore mines provide explosive utility

Skirmisher

Specialty: Mobility, multiple actions
Key ability: Grapple — hookshot to any elevated position for free
Role: Most mobile class. Can shoot + move + grapple in one turn. Justice (pull enemy to you) and Wrath (grapple to enemy, shoot) provide incredible flexibility

Templar

Specialty: Psionic melee, focus management
Key ability: Rend — melee attack that generates Focus, powering stronger abilities
Role: High-risk, high-reward melee fighter. Parry makes them surprisingly tanky. At max Focus, they deal massive damage

Strategic layer guide

Base building priority

Guerrilla Tactics School — Squad Size upgrades are non-negotiable
Resistance Ring (WOTC) — Covert Ops for faction influence and Chosen intel
Power Relay — enables further construction
Proving Grounds — experimental ammo and grenades
Psi Lab — start training Psi Operatives mid-game
Shadow Chamber — required for story progression, reveals enemy counts on missions

Research priority

Priority	Research	Why
1	Alien Biotech + Sectoid Autopsy	Unlocks Mindshield (critical vs. psionic enemies)
2	Modular Weapons	Weapon attachments boost accuracy and damage
3	Magnetic Weapons	Massive damage increase, essential for mid-game
4	Plated Armor	Survivability jump keeps soldiers alive
5	Gauss Weapons	Endgame weapons, prepare for final missions
6	Powered Armor	W.A.R. Suit and Wraith Suit are transformative

Managing the Avatar Project

The doom clock creates strategic urgency:

Don’t panic at 8-10 blocks — you have time
Panic at 11 blocks — have a facility assault or story mission ready
Always keep one facility lead in reserve — insurance against doom timer pressure
Contact new regions to discover more facilities to assault
Story missions reduce Avatar progress significantly

Tactical combat masterclass

The golden rules

Never move a soldier into unknown territory without overwatch coverage
Full cover is mandatory — half cover is a death sentence on Commander+
Kill or disable every active enemy before your turn ends — leaving wounded enemies alive gets soldiers killed
Grenades are not a last resort — they’re your primary tool for destroying cover and shredding armor
Concealment is your greatest weapon — set up ambushes, don’t break concealment early

Engagement protocol

The ideal engagement sequence:

Scout with Reaper/Phantom Ranger to locate enemies
Position your squad in elevated full cover with flanking angles
Break concealment with your highest-damage soldier or a grenade
Focus fire — kill the most dangerous enemy first (Sectopod > Codex > Muton > Trooper)
Overwatch trap any survivors — they’ll trigger overwatch running for cover

Enemy priority list

Threat Level	Enemy	Why
Critical	Sectopod, Gatekeeper	Massive damage, high HP, can wipe squads
High	Codex, Chosen, Spectre	Disruptive abilities, clone/shadow mechanics
Medium	Muton, MEC, Archon	Strong damage dealers, need to be eliminated quickly
Low	ADVENT Trooper, Stun Lancer	Manageable but Stun Lancers can one-shot wounded soldiers

Ironman survival tips

Save your grenades for emergencies — but don’t hoard them either
Build 12-16 soldiers — injuries and fatigue will bench your A-team regularly
Accept losses — losing a Corporal hurts less than losing a Colonel trying to save them
Evac is not failure — pulling out of a bad mission saves your squad for future fights
Flash grenades are underrated — disoriented enemies have terrible aim and can’t use abilities

Best XCOM 2 mods (2026)

Total conversions

Long War 2 — the definitive XCOM 2 overhaul. More classes, more enemies, longer campaign, deeper strategy. Essentially a new game
Long War of the Chosen — combines Long War 2 with WOTC mechanics. The ultimate XCOM 2 experience for veterans

Gameplay mods

A Better ADVENT — adds new enemy types for variety
Musashi’s RPG Overhaul — expanded class trees, RPG-like progression
Tactical UI Killzone — shows hit chances from any tile before moving (quality-of-life essential)
Evac All — evacuate all soldiers with one click (saves time)
Stop Wasting My Time — removes unnecessary pauses and animations

Cosmetic mods

Unrestricted Customization — mix and match armor cosmetics freely
More Nationalities — adds hundreds of real-world names and flags
Capnbubs Accessories — tactical gear cosmetics (helmets, glasses, scarves)

The XCOM 2 modding community remains one of the most active in strategy gaming, with new mods still being created in 2026.

Difficulty breakdown

Difficulty	Description	Recommended for
Rookie	Very forgiving aim bonuses, low enemy count	First-time strategy players
Veteran	Balanced, fair challenge	First XCOM 2 playthrough
Commander	Tighter economy, smarter AI, more enemies	Experienced tactical players
Legend	Punishing. Longer research, fewer resources, deadly enemies	XCOM veterans only
Ironman	No save-scumming, one save file	Any difficulty (adds tension)

Recommended first run: Veteran difficulty, no Ironman. Learn the systems, then replay on Commander Ironman for the “real” XCOM experience.

XCOM 2 vs. other tactical games

Feature	XCOM 2	Into the Breach	Fire Emblem	Phoenix Point
Randomness	High (hit chances)	None	Low	Medium
Permadeath	Yes	No (timeline reset)	Optional	Yes
Base management	Deep	None	Camp management	Deep
Squad size	4-6	3	10-15	4-8
Mod support	Excellent	None	None	Limited

For a contrasting tactical experience with zero randomness, see our Into the Breach guide.

Conclusion

XCOM 2 with War of the Chosen is the greatest turn-based tactical game ever made — a bold claim, but one supported by its mechanical depth, emotional weight and staggering replayability. The combination of tense tactical combat, meaningful strategic decisions and soldier permadeath creates stories that stay with you long after the campaign ends. Every missed 95% shot, every clutch grenade, every soldier lost — they all matter.

In 2026, with thousands of mods available and a passionate community still playing, there has never been a better time to liberate Earth from ADVENT. Commander, the resistance needs you.

For more tactical strategy content, explore our Civilization 7 guide, our Age of Wonders 4 guide and our top 10 PC strategy games 2026.

Into the Breach: a guide to thinking like the game

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Into the Breach looks tiny at first. Three mechs, a small grid, insects that politely announce their attacks. Then the trap becomes clear: the game rarely asks you to make a brilliant turn. It asks you to make the turn that leaves the planet standing.

That is the cleanest way to improve. Do not start by asking how to kill the most Vek. Start by asking how to cancel damage, move threats and keep enough room for the next turn.

The mental rule that changes everything

Every turn should be read in layers. Start with the buildings under threat, then look for attacks that can be cancelled by movement. After that, check which mech can take damage without breaking the mission. The kill comes later, only if it does not create a worse problem. Finally, ask whether blocking a spawn is worth immobilizing the unit that stands on it.

This hierarchy changes the entire game. Beginners often lose because an enemy is in range and they shoot. Stronger players look at grid power first. A living Vek pushed into the wrong square is often a better result than a dead Vek after a building collapses.

The useful sentence is simple: Into the Breach is not asking you to dominate the turn. It is asking you to survive it cleanly enough that the next one stays solvable.

Why the 8x8 grid works

Into the Breach is harsh because it is honest. Enemy intentions are visible. The map is small. Combat rules are readable. When everything falls apart, it is rarely because the game cheated. It is usually because one threat was misread two turns earlier.

Pushing matters more than damage because a single tile can change five outcomes. You can save a building, force an enemy shot into empty space, make one Vek hit another, push a unit into water, fire, acid or a mountain, or clear a spawn tile at the exact moment it matters.

That is why the game still feels fresh years later. It does not need a huge ability bar. It needs a few tools with sharp consequences.

Which squads teach the right lessons?

Rift Walkers are the clearest starting point because they teach the basics without a lot of special vocabulary. After that, pick a squad according to the mistake you want to fix.

Squad	What it teaches	Main risk
Rift Walkers	Pushing, direct damage, priorities	Feeling too safe too early
Rusting Hulks	Smoke and area control	Lacking direct damage
Frozen Titans	Defensive freezing and timing	Blocking your own options
Steel Judoka	Pure repositioning	Solving very abstract turns
Bombermechs	Mines and terrain planning	Creating your own chaos

Advanced Edition made the game more generous, but not messier. The added squads bring ideas rather than padding. That is rare, and it is one reason the update remains a strong excuse to return in 2026.

Mistakes that end a run

The first mistake is protecting mechs before buildings. A wounded mech can finish a mission. A grid at zero cannot negotiate.

The second mistake is blocking every spawn without asking what happens next. Blocking an emergence tile deals damage and delays a Vek, but it also freezes your unit in place. If that mech becomes unable to answer the following turn, you have bought a debt.

The third mistake is undervaluing secondary objectives. They are not always worth a building, but the reactor cores they provide make later islands cleaner. Failing an early objective can deny you the upgrade that would have saved the final stretch.

Upgrading a squad without breaking its logic

Reactor cores are scarce, so each upgrade should reinforce what your squad actually does. A push-focused mech often needs range, safety or a secondary effect more than raw damage. A mech that already hits hard may become more reliable with a movement option that stops it from being trapped behind allies.

The useful question before buying a weapon is not “is this strong?”. It is: which impossible turn does this weapon make solvable? A diagonal push, a smoke effect or a freeze can be worth more than a dramatic cannon because it opens a line when three buildings are threatened at once.

Pilots follow the same logic. A movement bonus can turn an average unit into a permanent emergency tool. A pilot that survives better allows more aggressive spawn blocks. A damage bonus looks tempting, but it does not help much if your real weakness is arriving too late on the right tile.

Quick diagnosis after a failed island

Read the run by failure type. If buildings died because attacks came from opposite corners, your squad probably lacked mobility or map control. If Vek survived on one health too often, you may need one direct damage upgrade. If spawn blocks created worse turns, your mechs were probably standing on emergence tiles without enough movement to recover.

Then look at the mission objectives. Failed train missions, broken satellites and lost power pylons usually point to a positioning problem, not a damage problem. Into the Breach improves when you can name the missing tool: push, pull, freeze, smoke, flight, extra movement, or a weapon that solves two threats with one action.

Good failure is information

Into the Breach has one rare quality: a defeat can be legible. If you lose an island, name the type of turn that broke you. Was it lack of pushing? Lack of mobility? Too little direct damage? A squad unable to protect two distant buildings? That reading is more useful than a tier list because it tells you what tool you actually lack.

Over time, you also see maps differently. A mountain is no longer scenery; it is a collision wall. A water tile becomes a possible execution. An isolated building signals a future positioning debt. The game does not change, but your eye becomes sharper, and that is where the progress feels satisfying.

Practical case: the turn where nobody has to die

A typical turn may show three Vek threatening two buildings and one mech. The spectacular move would be to kill one enemy. The stronger move may be quieter: push the first Vek so it misses, move the second so it hits the third, and let your mech take one damage because the grid remains intact. The final board looks less heroic, but the mission continues with an acceptable loss.

That is where the game reveals its elegance. It does not reward domination. It rewards a cold reading of consequences. A solid run is built from modest decisions: losing one health in the right place, giving up a secondary reward, or blocking a spawn only when the unit can still act next turn.

Sources and media

This rewrite uses the Steam page for Into the Breach and Subset Games’ official page. The screenshots above are official Steam media tied to steamAppId 590380.

Verdict

Into the Breach remains a model of tactical design because it never confuses depth with overload. It gives you few tools, but every tool matters. Progress is not about finding a magic recipe. It is about looking at an impossible turn and calmly asking which damage can be moved somewhere else.

If XCOM taught you to hope for a favorable percentage, Into the Breach teaches the opposite. When information is perfect, excuses disappear. That is harsh, elegant and still quietly brilliant.

For more tactical strategy, read our XCOM 2 guide and our top PC strategy games 2026.

Turn-Based & Tactical — After Strategy

Blood Bowl changes hands: Slitherine acquires Nacon licence and prepares Warhammer Blood Bowl

A publisher in collapse, a franchise that deserved better

Cyanide stays — under new management

Warhammer Blood Bowl: what Slitherine is actually building

What to watch: Slitherine Next, July 22

Total War: Warhammer 3 Update 9.0 — End Times Crises, Glottkin, and Vampire Counts Rework Explained

Three End Times crises replace the flat endgame

Vampire Counts rework: Raise Dead scales with casualties

Individual victory conditions for every legendary lord

Lords of the End Times: what September brings

What to watch before September

HoMM Olden Era: Mysterious Island Coming, Papyjama Joins Unfrozen

Papyjama joins Unfrozen: what this hire actually means

The Mysterious Island: Olden Era’s first giant PvE content

Patch #8: Summon Avatar reworked, competitive meta shifted

Patch #10 and Early Access state in July 2026

What to watch now

Songs of Conquest Yulan DLC: What the Steam Page Actually Confirms

Yulan, Two Months In: What the Steam Listing Actually Confirms

The Three-House System: Li, Sheng, and Xuan

Eight Units, One Shared Evolution Architecture

A Campaign Across Three Connected Maps

Five Conquest Maps and a New Biome

Who This DLC Actually Makes Sense For Right Now

Price, Availability, and What This Analysis Can’t Settle

What to Watch Now

Civilization VII: Yi Sun-sin, Goryeo and Joseon are worth watching

Korea is the hook, but naval pressure is the real test

Yi Sun-sin needs more than historical prestige

Goryeo and Joseon could support two Korean rhythms

The wonders also need a job

What needs confirmation

Sources to verify before publication

Old World — Empires of the Indus DLC Review: Ancient India Enters the 4X Arena

South Asia Finally Gets Its 4X Moment

Table of Contents

The Four New Civilizations

New Mechanics: Jungle, Religions, Resources {#new-mechanics}

Integration with the Core Game {#integration}

Verdict {#verdict}

MENACE in Early Access: Overhype swaps the sword for the rifle, not the tension

You don’t command heroes, you manage losses

SL Update 1 fixes the wrong kind of friction

What MENACE inherits from Battle Brothers

What it still has to prove

Buy in now or wait

HoMM Olden Era faction tier list 2026 — which army should you pick?

Six factions, six combat philosophies

Table of contents

S-Tier: Dungeon — the power of the Alvar Pact {#h-s-tier}

A-Tier: Necropolis and Grove — powerful and more forgiving {#h-a-tier}

B-Tier: Temple and Hive — solid but more specialized {#h-b-tier}

C-Tier: Schism — promising, watch for patches {#h-c-tier}

Which faction suits your playstyle? {#h-pick}

Faction Laws and morale: two rules you can’t ignore {#h-tips}

Civilization VII 1.4.1: Hotseat Multiplayer, Government Overhaul, and the Brush & Blade Japan DLC

Civ VII Accelerates: Hotseat, Feudal Japan, and Reworked Governments

What 1.4.1 Delivers Free to All Players

Brush & Blade Part 1: Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Feudal Japan

Part 2 Arrives Later This Summer

The Bottom Line

Age of Wonders 4: Secrets of the Archmages — Guide to All Six Tomes and the Owlkin Form

Secrets of the Archmages Drops June 16 — Everything You Need to Know

Table of Contents

The 6 Forbidden Magic Tomes {#tomes}

The Owlkin Form {#owlkin}

The 3 Story Realms {#realms}

The Sprite Update (Free) {#sprite}

Build Recommendations {#builds}

Star Wars Zero Company: Clone Wars XCOM-Style Tactics Game Arrives August 27, 2026

The Star Wars Tactics Game Fans Have Been Waiting For

Table of Contents

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars

Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization

The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters

Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans

What to Expect on August 27

Total War: Warhammer 3 Update 8.0 — Bhashiva and the Grand Cathay Rework Explained

Grand Cathay Reborn: Everything Update 8.0 Changes