Prepare for sand to get rough and absolutely everywhere, because strategy and tactics RPG Battle Brothers has a gritty new expansion coming August 13 called Blazing Deserts. Where last year's expansion added a sprawling, frozen North, this year's adds a southland of city-states, advanced scientific learning, and a sun god who sounds kind of mean. Alongside these new locations to visit will be new non-combat followers to recruit, late game crises to weather, and era-appropriate medieval firearms.
You heard me. We're talkin' handgonnes and firelances and mortars. Aww yiss.
In addition to new lands, you'll be able to fight in new Arena matches to earn money. You can also use special new origins to play as a southern mercenary band, a team of ex-gladiators, and the like. There are also giant snakes. Who doesn't love a giant snake?
We very much liked Battle Brothers when it released back in 2017, giving it an 84/100 in our review, and it has only improved since then, with subsequent expansions adding all manner of new stuff to do. It was so good that our Evan Lahti penned an ode to it the summer after release.
"I started to appreciate that Battle Brothers wasn't afraid to expose me to threats I wasn't leveled for, and each victory and loss started to feel owned and personal," he said. "It reminded me of Mount & Blade, one of the other true 'bottomless' sandboxes on PC that lets you bite off more than you can chew." A sterling comparison, I think.
You can check out and/or buy Battle Brothers on the official website. It's also on Steam at 50 percent off for the summer sale.
