Battle Brothers Review (Switch)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Battle Brothers
  • Platform: Switch
  • Show system requirements
  • Reviewed on:
Battle Brothers artwork

I've played Battle Brothers for several dozen hours on PC when it launched three years ago, so when I heard the game is going to be ported on the Nintendo Switch, I thought it's the perfect excuse to jump back right in.

To describe my experience with Battle Brothers after I've played so many hours on PC would be a bit unfair for new players, so I'm going to try and touch only those aspects that I think will be useful for newcomers to the franchise.

If you've decided to pick up Battle Brothers on the Switch, you should definitely select the easiest difficulty, not necessarily because the game is very hard, but mostly for the things, you'll learn by trial and error. On the surface, Battle Brothers might seem like an ordinary turn-based tactical RPG sprinkled with some resource management elements. Don't be mislead by the game's description though.

Battle Brothers is one of the most complex RPGs I've played, and I'm playing these types of games quite often since it's my favorite genre. You're not just leading your army into battle, you're also recruiting, gearing up, trading, and make meaningful decisions that will influence the outcome of your campaign.

Battle Brothers
Battle Brothers
Battle Brothers
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Once the difficulty and company origin is selected, the game starts abruptly with your band of brothers being decimated in an ambush. It's the perfect, yet cruel, opportunity to start building up your company again. Your next objective is to recruit three new people and add them to your roster, and while this might seem easy enough, recruiting the right fighters is the secret to success in Battle Brothers.

Before you recruit someone for your company, you're allowed to see their traits (if any) for a small fee. Some potential recruits have negative traits that you should avoid like Asthmatic and Dastard, while others have both positive and negative traits. Many don't have any traits at all or just positive ones.

What the game doesn't show you before recruiting a character is their attributes, talent star distribution, and starting values. All this information is very important if you want to build your characters for specific roles. Every time a character levels up, you're allowed to further improve their attributes and choose a perk.

Building a company capable to survive the harsh world in Battle Brothers is no doubt the most complex aspect of the game, but not the only one. More important than having a company suitable for every battle scenario is to have a good flow of money to sustain it. Each character in your army requires a daily wage and provisions (food), not to mention that a huge amount of money will be spent on improving your gear.

Battle Brothers offers you one way to gain a lot of money by doing what you know best: fight. Most towns offer contracts to mercenaries that involve either eliminating thugs, monsters, and rival companies or escorting caravans to nearby towns. However, that will not be enough to build a powerful company, so you'll have to find other sources to make money. Thankfully, the game provides a less risky way to become rich, although you'll probably need a bit of luck too.

Commerce is one of the safest ways to make money, although not early in the game when you won't have enough resources to pull it off. As you progress in the game you'll learn which towns sell certain products very cheap and which ones are going to pay a lot of money for the same products. Add to that the money that you loot from the enemies you fight and the looted gear that you sell, and you're way ahead on the road to success.

As far as the battles go, I won't lie, Battle Brothers is ruthless. Some of your characters can die in just one hit or, if they're lucky, they will remain permanently crippled. Luckily, the game gives you all the necessary tools to minimize the chances of losing a character. Truth be told, it's not a big deal if you lose some brothers early in the game, so I'd suggest experimenting as much as possible before mid-game.

One other important aspect about Battle Brothers is that different opponents will require not just different strategies, but also a different company setup. For example, it's useless to bring brothers with shields when fighting orcs because they'll be easily destroyed. The same goes for archers who are typically useless against the undead. The game doesn't teach you any of these things, so you'll have to learn by yourself and the learning curve can be very steep in Battle Brothers.

Battle Brothers
Battle Brothers
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Gameplay-wise, there is no difference between the PC and Switch versions of the game. However, if you've decided to pick this one up on Nintendo's gaming platform, there are a couple of things that I'd like to highlight.

First off, the controls on the Nintendo Switch aren't really suitable for this type of game that involves not just turn-based battles, but also heavy management of resources and characters. I would've recommended playing directly on the Switch's touch screen, but the text is very small and hard to read.

Also, the Battle Brothers lags in certain scenarios. For example, it's always lagging when you zoom out on the map, which is something that you'll do very often to orient yourself before sending your company to a certain destination. That's about all the negative things I noticed while playing Battle Brothers on the Switch.


The Good

  • Very deep battle system
  • Complex resource management
  • Amazing soundtrack and art style

The Bad

  • Lacks a proper tutorial
  • Steep learning curve
  • Some performance issues
  • Awkward controls

Conclusion

Newcomers to the franchise will find Battle Brothers very hard to pick up, especially due to the lack of a proper tutorial. I do love those games that don't hold your hand, but I think Battle Brothers is in a league of its own and some more complex aspects should be made more clear.

Although the learning curve is quite steep, once you get the hang of it, Battle Brothers is actually a very enjoyable experience. I strongly recommend those looking for a challenging turn-based RPG to give Battle Brothers a try, not just for the complexity of building the perfect company of brothers, but also for its stunning soundtrack and art style.

story 7
gameplay 7
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 
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Battle Brothers screenshots (22 Images)

Battle Brothers artwork
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