Battle Brothers

 Switch
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Digitally Downloaded
    Mar 17, 2021
    70
    You've just got to persevere with Battle Brothers to really appreciate it, and it really is the epitome of the saying "it's a marathon, rather than a sprint". Once you've overcome the horrible excuse for a "tutorial" and onboarding process, you've then got to deal with some really repetitive quest design and an astronomically unforgivable difficulty curve. But, slowly, the game starts to open up, and before you know it, you realise that you're really enjoying this thing. It's expansive, it's complex, it's nuanced and it puts complete control over the story and quest in your hands. It's everything good about Mount & Blade, but in a more compact, turn-based format. It's no wonder the game has become a beloved hit on Steam, with fans pouring hundreds - if not thousands - of hours into it. It's not quite the same experience on Switch, and yet I can't see a scenario where I tear myself away from it, now I've pushed through its various walls. A truly fascinating example of a game that's just worth the effort.
  2. Screen Rant
    Mar 11, 2021
    70
    Battle Brothers on Nintendo Switch is a tricky game. The base Battle Brothers experience and its DLC is as excellent and engaging as it was on the PC years ago. It remains one of the most interesting and replayable tactical wargames and management sims in recent-ish memory, but even though the unfortunate issues that come from porting Battle Brothers to the Switch are solvable, they must be taken into consideration before anyone makes a purchase.
  3. Starbit
    May 24, 2021
    60
    The main game mechanic, with emphasis on combat and management rather than on plot, is definitely a point in its favour, as is its wide and varied game world. Where Battle Brothers falls short of expectations lies mostly on how the game was adapted, namely its control system, which is difficult to get used to on the Switch. Its difficulty level also feels unbalanced at moments, and its player interface feels like it doesn't fit with the game. Players able to look beyond these shortcomings will find a great tactical RPG challenge, but others will feel put off by those elements where Battle Brothers fails to deliver a consistent experience.
  5. Finger Guns
    Mar 11, 2021
    60
    Battle Brothers has remarkable freedom that’s rare to see in the RPG genre. It truly feels like your decisions and actions have weight and that the responsibility for your band of warriors rests in your hands – quite literally on the Switch. That’s backed up by a deep turn based battle system that’s deceptively strategic. Unusually long load times and a frustratingly steep learning curve, compounded by a lack of an adequate tutorial, means that some players will bounce right off this game however, never getting to experience its best aspects.
  6. COGconnected
    Mar 31, 2021
    56
    So I turned off my Switch and booted up my PC. I started a new game of Battle Brothers on that. And you know what? It’s as good as it ever was. A truly superlative strategy game made better with mods. I could not recommend Battle Brothers enough, but do yourself a favor and avoid the Nintendo Switch version. You’ll avoid one tragic end to meet a much more satisfactory one.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 13 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
  1. pirluit
    Mar 30, 2021
    10
    An awesome game!!! I don't really believe that the user average score is under 8. It is true that the scheme control could be better. I'm sureAn awesome game!!! I don't really believe that the user average score is under 8. It is true that the scheme control could be better. I'm sure that the commitment developers will fix it. The fps drop in world map is not a problematic issue in this kind of game. But on the other hand the game mechanic is the most rewarding and challenging that I've ever seen in a tactical battle turn based and I have seen a lot. It has a deep learning curve and RNG but you can manage it and it's so fun and inmersive. I have played 60 hours in two weeks playing on Switch and I am a busy father. The first three runs been crushing and the fourth enjoying more than playing FTL, X-COM, Into the Breach, Disgaea, Dungeon of the Endless or whatever good tactical game I've ever played. Be prepared for the initial frustration. Read the wiki and steam guides and love your brothers till they die.… Full Review »
  2. Tradnux
    Feb 7, 2023
    10
    This game just became one of my top favorite turn based strategy games ever.

    Graphics: Initially I couldn't pick this game up because I    This game just became one of my top favorite turn based strategy games ever.

    Graphics:
    Initially I couldn't pick this game up because I thought the art style was too simple even for games in its genre, but I was wrong, I never thought I would grow and appreciate the art style, it's just unique and brilliant, does not in any way take away the glory that is the gameplay.

    Gameplay:
    Turn based Strategy/Tactics is my favorite genre, and this game pretty much have a solid battle system gameplay that earns top spot to my top games. The difficulty is high and provides high challenge to thinking players.    … Full Review »
  3. Ughduty
    Jan 25, 2022
    8
    Update January 2022:
    Most issues are solved. The game is now good to play and a lot of fun.
    Old: In a nutshell the control scheme is    Update January 2022:
    Most issues are solved. The game is now good to play and a lot of fun.

    Old:
    In a nutshell the control scheme is rubbish, the performance lacks and the path-finding ai does weird things.

    UPDATE 25 March 2021 - Patch 1.4:
    Unfortunately the promised changes to the control scheme were not implemented with patch 1.4. The performance issues weren’t fixed either.

    Original Review:
    Overall the most dissatisfying and problematic about the Switch version of Battle Brothers is the control scheme. Other than that I experienced performance issues when zooming out on the world map and occasionally had bad pathfinding ai leading to my party leaving the streets by them self's and for no reason wander off into the wilds what leads to babysitting every step of their movement.

    The game still is fun to play but the issues described do drag the overall fun down significantly!

    Following more details about the control scheme issues:
    ==============================================================
    Following a list of the controls I have the most pressing issues with and what the issues are. The higher up the issue is listed the higher is the priority:

    1. Left right keys on D-Pad selecting attacks in battle
    - The first click on whatever of the two buttons will not select the first attack but the second or last attack but should select the first attack.
    - After selecting an attack the mouse cursor stays on the attack button but should stay where it was when the user pressed the D-Pad button. The way it is now the player has constantly to move the cursor back to where the opponents pawns are to issue the attack. This way is very tedious on the Switch because mouse control simulation in general is rather clunky!
    - In general the D-Pad Buttons are not suited very well for controls you need as often as the ones for selecting the attack. Better suited would be the shoulder buttons L & R for example.

    2. Left Stick press to activate/deactivate the tooltips
    - This button is uncomfortable to press if you need it often and one does so in Battle Brothers on the Nintendo Switch because screen estate is so small that if you have the tooltips enabled they often make the overview especially in battle rather difficult. Therefore I tend to activate them only for a second when hovering over something I need more detailed information about. A better suited button for this would for example be the left trigger. And best would be if the tooltip would then only be shown as long as the button is pressed.

    3. Controls in recruitment dialog
    - After selecting a possible recruit on the left and then selecting anything on the right one can't easily switch back to the character on the left which results in a lot of scrolling and switching and scrolling. Making recruitment very tedious.

    Besides that I realized a small and purely aesthetic issue when having the party screen open. The heads of the statues on the left and right of the dialog box have their heads cut off.    … Full Review »
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