Dungeons and Warbands

A Battle Brothers-inspired dungeon crawler, still very much becoming itself

Dungeons and Warbands sets out to fuse grid-based, turn-based tactical combat with open-world exploration: lead a personal warband of mercenaries, knights, goblins, and other recruits across a low-fantasy medieval map dotted with kingdoms, ruins, and dungeons to raid. Its most distinctive pitch is a genuinely detailed combat model — damage lands on specific body parts, layered armor made of cloth, gambeson, chainmail, and plate each resists slashing, piercing, and blunt damage differently, and losing an unprotected limb or neck can be fatal regardless of how tough a fighter otherwise is. It's a concept squarely built to appeal to fans of tactical squad-based RPGs, and the comparison every single reviewer reaches for, positively or negatively, is Battle Brothers — a genre-defining predecessor this Early Access build is inevitably, and often unfavorably, measured against. Skill trees add a further layer on top of the armor and body-damage systems: party-management abilities like Hold, Follow, and Command sit alongside combat techniques such as Riposte, Cleave, and a momentum-fueled Charge that can close distance and end a fight in a single decisive hit, plus separate Offensive and Defensive Stances for shifting tactical balance mid-battle.

Combat with real teeth, wrapped in a system that isn't finished yet

The reviewers who stick with Dungeons and Warbands describe a game with real promise buried inside it: fast, punchy damage exchanges, a satisfying loop of raiding dungeons for loot and gear, and an unusual, "brutal" atmosphere more than one reviewer says grew on them despite rough presentation. But even sympathetic reviewers are clear-eyed about how unfinished the systems around that combat currently feel. Multiple detailed negative reviews describe a genuinely confusing interface: newly learned skills reportedly can only be assigned to the action hotbar while already in combat, making basic setup unintuitive, and recruited warband companions don't automatically join a fight — instead requiring the player to individually call each one into battle, a design choice several reviewers say is never explained or made clear anywhere in the game. One especially detailed review flatly states there's currently no way to manage or equip companions at all in the way Battle Brothers allows, undercutting the appeal of building a personalized warband in the first place.

A thin slice of content, even for day-one Early Access

Several reviewers describe the currently available content as strikingly sparse. One blunt, widely-endorsed review lists an absence of helmets, quests, loot variety, and boots, along with no clear system for earning money beyond a starting gold stash — concluding there's currently little to actually do beyond wandering and fighting with "wonky mechanics" until death. Another reviewer more generously estimates the available content at roughly a tenth of what Battle Brothers itself offers, framing the comparison as more of an indictment than a compliment given the asking price. It's a criticism that shows up across multiple otherwise-differing reviews: this is a game whose foundational systems are visibly present in concept — warband recruitment, skill trees, layered armor, an open world to explore — but not yet populated with enough actual content to reward exploring them.

Bugs, freezes, and one specific art complaint

Technical stability draws real concern too. One detailed negative review describes the game randomly bugging out to the point of being unable to enter town, open the inventory, or interact with much of anything besides moving around the map, alongside a separate bug that reset progress and returned the player to their starting position. A smaller number of reviewers report the game running smoothly for them, framing their experience as generally stable if visually rough. One additional, specific criticism worth noting: a reviewer flags what they identify as AI-generated artwork as actively pulling them out of the game, explicitly recommending Battle Brothers instead in part to support what they describe as human artists — a piece of player-raised criticism about the game's own asset pipeline, not something this review is asserting independently.

A passionate solo developer working against very early odds

What consistently softens the criticism across the review pool is an acknowledgment that this is a true solo-developer project, still sitting at an early build version by several reviewers' own accounts. Multiple reviewers specifically praise the developer's visible passion and responsiveness — actively patching reported bugs and adding new content and framework in the weeks following launch — and several explicitly caution other reviewers against judging a genuinely early Early Access build as though it were a finished product. One reviewer who filmed streams of the game for their own channel recommends at minimum wishlisting the project and checking back periodically, describing tangible, ongoing improvement even if the current 0.6-version build isn't yet ready to stand alongside its inspiration. Reception isn't uniform even among the harshest critics of its content: one reviewer who otherwise acknowledges the game is "bare bones and very new" still describes themselves as hopeful and willing to gamble on where it's headed, and a separate reviewer specifically praises the interface, visuals, and music as pleasant despite the broader consensus that the UI needs real work — a reminder that impressions of a build this early can vary sharply depending on what a given player happens to run into first. One reviewer even suggests co-op support would suit the warband concept well, a feature not currently offered.

Verdict

Dungeons and Warbands has a genuinely interesting tactical-combat foundation — localized body damage and layered, damage-type-specific armor are the kind of systems that could carry a really compelling squad-tactics game once everything around them catches up. Right now, though, "Mixed" reads generously: a confusing, apparently unfinished interface, companion management reviewers say barely functions, content thin enough that basic RPG staples like quests and helmets are reportedly missing entirely, and real stability bugs on top of it all. Reviewers who are already Battle Brothers fans looking for something adjacent should probably wait several more months of development before spending roughly NZ$22 here; for everyone else, this is a wishlist-and-watch situation rather than a day-one Early Access buy.