- Demo Patch - Sept 16 - Commissioned Art + interesting backgrounds - 16 September 2026
There are three main changes in in this patch; more commissioned images to replace some original art, improved guilds to make them more interesting and a fairly big change on backgrounds to make them more relevant. First, almost all the equipment images are now hand drawn art (about 20 new images). The plan is to slowly have different art for different tiers to make them easy to distinguish.With guilds, this was a bit of a bigger overhaul on something fairly niche. Before they were just a place to hire more experienced and specialized mercs. Now you can't sign up unless you have someone vouche for you which is either someone who has a specialty or skill that aligns with that guild (such as a warrior specialty for a warriors guild). There are many other hidden aspects you can unlock over time. Finally, backgrounds overhaul. Before they mainly dictated your starting stats, equipment and s…
- Demo Patch - Sept 9 - Improved Tutorial, Destructible Terrain and More - 6 September 2026
This demo patch is a bigger one as it now makes terrain destructible. Tired of having a wall block you? Smash it down and go through the rubble. Burn down trees to remove the cover. This opens up more strategic options. Note to attack terrain you need to hold down the control key. Also the tutorial has been completely redone based on player feedback. Removed most of the walls of texts to make them simpler, removed the draft as it adds unnecessary complexity for new players, starts in a curated battle to give players a taste of the battles and other minor tweaks. Finally, a much requested feature is that now there are subtle outlines around allied and enemy units so you can easily see the difference.Tip: - The hardest early game enemies are bandits by design. Avoid them unless you are more confident of your squad Tutorial : - Heavy revamp of the tutorial based on player feedbackNew Featu…
- Roadmap Update - 1 September 2026
Updates to Roadmap - Journey to Early AccessWhen I last did the roadmap, it was before the demo launch. Before then I had play testers who provided a lot of feedback so I was pretty sure the state of the game and was sure it was solid. Well like any good plan, once it was played by more than a few people it was clear it needed more work. There weren't stability issues just many usability tweaks needed as well as many smaller bugs. Also, there was a large amount of interest from Chinese and French players so that led to a lot of work adding in early translations to the game. However there also was enough interest in the game to justify commissioned art so I started commissioning art for that game. This part has been a lesson learned for me, that unless I have dedicated people doing the art, it takes a lot longer than I was originally expecting.Overall the beta resulted in a far better ga…
- Demo Patch - Aug 19 - Bug Fixes + Mid Game Balances Changes - 19 August 2026
This demo patch is a collection of miscellaneous bug fixes and mid game balance changes as reported by players. Most are ones that won't be visible to most players as they are more in the mid game stage.Tip: - First couple level ups are really fast. Subsequent levels are much slower. UI: - Show characters hometown on their character sheet - Tweak to look of the faith section of character sheet Balance: - Improve loot drop variety. While enemies still are most likely to drop the weapon they are wielding, such as a sword, they now have a chance to drop other equipment as well. This addresses and issue where weapons like javelins were hard to find- Mercs stay in their faith for life. No more conversion - Using mechanical crossbows or hand cannons help discover tinkering - Settlement reputation drops much slowerFixes:- Tinkering skill levels up much faster- Kills with magic now count toward…
- Demo Patch - Aug 16 - Improved translations + - 16 August 2026
This demo hotfix focuses primarily on the translations plus on fix for Vendetta weapons. Tip: - The demo caps out at about 20% of the games content however you can keep playing. This is why some people find the enemy variety lacking after 20 hours or so. Translations:- About 40 different changes focusing on improving the current translations. Many of them were minor (a couple words here or there that weren't translated, or a hover over that wasn't) while others focused on either French or simplified Chinese specific translation issues.Fixes:- Vendetta items were bugged. They didn't have icons, sell for 0 gold, and some aren't even equippable.
- Testing French and Simplified Chinese Translations - 7 August 2026
3 Interesting Facts About Mercenary Brotherhood In Different LanguagesAn interesting fact is that even though this game was made primarily for English, as I wasn't sure if there would be interest in other areas, 60% of the wishlists and players speak French and Simplified Chinese. Second interesting fact is that one of the things that has caused crashes during the demo are players using some sort of tool to force the game to run in Simplified Chinese. Not sure how, but very impressive what they did when all my crash logs were in Chinese. Finally, the cost to translate a game with this much text for just one language would cost around the same amount as replacing all the art in this game with commissioned art. Art to me is a much higher priority.Beta Testing French and Simplified Chinese TranslationsSimple Google Translate take literal translations and often gets things wrong. Or it feel…
- Demo Patch - Aug 5 - More emergent stories + commissioned art - 5 August 2026
This patch adds a lot. There are more emergent events, new commissioned art for settlements, tweaks to new game screen to look nicer, and many other smaller changes.Tip: - The center of the map is easier than the edges. Graphics:- New commissioned images and icons for all settlements- New game screen is more colourful and has more contrast- New images for roads in battle mapsGameplay:- Tinkering now has a basic ranged ability at level 1 - repeater.- New emergent event - Company cohesion. Races and personalities that don't get along form rivalries easier. Too much friction impacts company dynamics- New emergent event - Religion. Certain units can worship demigods, including past characters that ascended- New emergent event - Survivors guilt. Survivors of tough battles take it rough and they are not easily accepting to new recruits- Mending magical item trait provides a bonus to heals pro…
- Dev Diary - Emergent Stories - 31 July 2026
Emergent StoriesI am going to take a different approach to this dev diary and not show new screens or features but talk about something more subtle that I love about games, emergent stories. Some of my favorite games, even ones not turn based, have such great emergent story engines, like Crusader Kings, Dwarf Fortress or CDDA. While the games are fun, what I really love is my memories of it. Year later I still remember some of the crazy and interesting things that naturally occurred in some of my games. To me, a good story is not a multiple choice selection. It is something that occurs based on your actions. And even bad actions, like someone dying, can lead to interesting stories. However what makes great stories is when some of these actions and mechanics start interacting together. In Mercenary Brotherhood, I have your units and the game world change through your actions.Examples Of…
- Demo Hotfix - July 31 - Vendetta fix + to hit buff - 31 July 2026
This hotfix is focused on addressing a rare issue that only impacts a couple players right now. The Inquisition faction, a mid to late game faction, was ambushing them and becoming vendettas way too early in the game. This made for unwinnable fights.Tip: - If you like the game and where it is going, tell your friends. Better yet, post on Reddit or other forums. As a solo indie developer, it can be hard to stand out so even posting once or twice can help out more than you may think! Fixes- Fix with inquisition attacking way too early and with vendettas when they shouldn't- Cooldown added between vendetta fights- Players shouldn't get vendettas from factions they have never foughtBalance- Every consecutive attack against the same unit gives a stacking +5% to hit (max +25%)- Eastern empire (ratkins) melee defense slightly reduced
- Demo Hotfix - July 30 - More interesting world to explore - 30 July 2026
This hotfix heavily reworks the world generation to make it more interesting to explore. Before it was all procedural. It was plains with sporadic groups of hills or trees or mountains. However besides finding the occasional monster lair or enemy base, there wasn't incentive to explore.This changes the world into different biome terrains. For example, the North part is snow with some forests, with mountains. West is many mountains and hills, etc. For now the only new terrain type is snow but I have ideas for more changes in the future. As past of this change now there are rare enemy sites. These are higher challenge sites with far better loot, unique mechanics (like freeing slaves, stopping a summoning circle, etc) and provides new unique loot to upgrade your weapons. Those weapons can be upgraded at a new Master Blacksmith point of interest that is hidden on the map somewhere near the…
- Demo Hotfix - July 26 - Building revamp, siege revamp and more tweaks - 26 July 2026
This hotfix heavily reworks two key areas; multi-story buildings and sieges. Unlike many medieval/fantasy turn based tactics games, I really wanted to have buildings in this game that you can enter. And not just normal buildings but multi-story ones. Some of my favorite games, like XCom, have this already so I wanted to add it. And I thought it would be really epic to have a large, sprawling, multi-story castle to attack. Sounds great on paper but turns out the reason it mainly works in games like XCom is that they have guns. Shooting enemies in a 3rd story building? Sure. Having to run up 3 floors to kill just that one enemy? Not fun. This was pretty common feedback during the demo and long story short, now all buildings have one floor. Sieges used to be two phases; build up and then attack. Now it is just a longer build up. Lots of other smaller changes. Tip: - Level 3 is when the gam…
- Dev Diary - Ascension - The Path to Being a Demigod - 24 July 2026
The Path to Being a DemigodThere comes a point in any game, where your characters have mowed down thousands of enemies and are able to single handedly defeat giants and dragons. At that point, you characters are so powerful that you feel they are legends heros and... then that's it. They are so powerful that there is nowhere else to go.With Mercenary Brotherhood, I wanted to take a different tactic. Once you get that powerful, you are are basically a demigod, however it is a journey and not a trigger at level X. That journey is about gaining potential to awaken your power. This power increases over your mid to late games. Potential - Rewards Continual Risks Characters gain experience as per normal in battles. Those that are defeating the enemy get more than those at the back but overall your units go up in levels at a consistent pace. As they go up in levels and unlock abilities, they g…
- Demo Hotfix - July 24 - Ascension and Awakening rework - 24 July 2026
This hotfix heavily reworks ascension and awakenings, laying the ground work for some long term interesting events in this area. About half of the tier 4+ awakening traits have been reworked or replaced. Those that were replaced were grandfathered in so anyone with it will still have it, but no one new can select it. I will have a Dev Diary later talking about Ascensions and Awakenings in more details Also did a rework of all abilities and gear that give extra movement. Many of them quit working properly with a recent revamp in how AP is used for movement and attacks. Now any gear/abilities/traits that give extra movement now give that many as free (no AP) movement each turn. So if you have a unit with +2 movement before, now they will be able to move the first two tiles each turn without spending AP.Tip: - Awakening Tiers are gained by raising your potential, which is given for fightin…
- Demo Hotfix - July 22 - Improved pathfinding and new unit images - 22 July 2026
This hotfix fixes some pathfinding issues. For some reason, mercs were thinking the straightest path to a tile three steps forward was to zig zag there. That is fixed, along with similar issues with pushing mechanics. Also added more unit images for humans, dwarves, goblins and stonemen.Tip: - The higher your Company level is, the harder the enemies you will fight but also the better loot you will find.Usability/UI- Elevated tiles less high to improve readability - Added Continue option on main screen to load your last saved game- Tweak to messages at inn when players get to stay for free- Abilities should all show the exact stats they impact and by how much. Some, like Battle Cry, were vague- Added equipment tier to the items equipped- Cleaned up the Unit Picker screen and added ability to filter based on the race Fixes- Path finding, including your own on the world map, now prefers a…
- Demo Hotfix - July 20 - New free unit image pack, rotating units and much more - 21 July 2026
This hotfix adds a request for more unit images, in particular ones that are AI driven. I don't shy away that I do have AI images AND I am getting commissioned art to slowly replace them. However in the mean time I added capability to add in unit packs where they are folders of free commercial use unit images, if you want, to change your unit images. This set comes from ddant1100 and they have a great style to them.This also adds many other things, like rotating units in battle, many tweaks to the later game (like relics and giants), making the market make more sense, etc. Also, you will find much more loot and double chance for magic items at lower levels. The chance for loot and magic items increases at higher levelsFinally, the company level, which is the game for better loot and higher tier levels, is automatically triggered once you reach it. Some players were missing that they cou…
- Demo Hotfix - July 19 - Fixes, gameplay settings and more localization setup - 19 July 2026
This hotfix isn't really a shiny one. It focuses on some fixes, often that are found by players 10+ hours in as that is when some of that content starts unlocking. Also adding helpful usability gameplay settings, tweaked how sieges worked, revamped ranger stations and adjusted some enemy AI. There is a lot more in the backend for future localization, such as supporting Chinese characters and centralizing all the text to translate. Plus I built up my automated testing suite to help catch some of the above issues sooner.Tip: - Trading is a great way to make money in the early game. It is very low risk and allows you to afford early equipment upgradesLocalization- More backend changes to support future potential localization, including centralizing all the text and adding in font to support Chinese characters Usability/UI- Added animations for auras- Visual indicators where sieges are- Add…
- Dev Diary - How Combat Works - Part 1 - 18 July 2026
Dev Diary - How Combat Works Part 1I am taking a short break from talking about the bigger features of this game and will use this one to focus on what this game is all about. Combat. Really, that is what this game revolves around and I realize I haven't talked about it much mainly because it didn't seem flashy but considering this is what people play these games for I think it is time to go into the details.Warning, this one may get a little crunchy on stats and details so not everyone will appreciate these details. :)Positioning in BattleAlmost every battle starts with units on either side of the map. There are special conditions or events where players will start surrounded in the middle of the map, split up from each other, behind a wall, etc. However those are the exceptions.Map LayoutDepending on where the battle takes place on the world map, it will determine what type of map you…
- Demo Hotfix - July 17 - Improved animations and reworked dungeons - 18 July 2026
This hotfix improves animations for over 20 abilities and spells. Originally I never was planning on having too many animations in this game, as Battle Brothers has few and it is a classic. Yet with an emphasis on abilities, especially magic, with Mercenary Brotherhood I started adding it and it made a great difference. This path improves animations on many abilities and spells, and expect more passes to come. Doing this was fun. Also I reworked the dungeon from the ground up. My original idea was epic battles in dungeons that were more like multi-level caves. Caves are dark, windy, tight... and boring. So a tactics game with very long, cramped and boring battles. Sounds like a hit, right? So... yeah, this is reworked now to be more like assaulting an underground base. Much wider and straighter paths, very big rooms that are more thematic (props coming soon) and lots of enemies. And onl…
- Demo Hotfix - July 16 - New Tutorial, improve battle flow and usability tweaks - 17 July 2026
This hotfix addresses one key challenge seen with the demo, which is easing in new players. A new tutorial is added that, while short, introduces you to the key mechanics, ensures you have a healer and gives you a quick level up so you can see how the unit builds work. This will evolve over time. Another big changes is the battle flow through tweaks in attack and movements economy. Before normal attacks were free but they would end a turn and you could only do one of them per turn. Now they cost 1AP for the first one and 3AP for subsequent ones, they don't end your turn but they do prevent you from moving without special abilities. What this leads into is adding multiple attacks per round for faster units, stresses movement related abilities more and rewards using abilities and spells to attack because now you can attack with one, kill the unit and then still move. Finally lots of minor…
- Demo Hotfix - July 14 - World atlas + ability fixes + long term localization - 14 July 2026
This hotfix addresses some concerns with issues with some ability triggers, setting up some backend changes for long term localization and adds in a new World Atlas. This was one asked by for a few people. The map can be large (and will get larger in the future) and it can be hard to see where settlements are, where was that one hermit trainer you need or where are all the sieges. Meanwhile the minimap is good for quick navigation but that is it. The World Atlas (accessed by M or clicking + on the minimap) pulls up a large map where you filter and search for settlements, points of interest, quest targets, sieges and more. In future patches I will tweak the look of it but I am happy with how useful it is. Tip: If enemies live through a battle, especially if they kill one of your units, they can become Vendettas. Once you have a Vendetta, if you don't put them down quickly they will get m…
