Glorious Companions gathers the troops for launch in June

I'm always happy to see another game reaching for the (increasingly contested) fantasy mercenary sim crown. The oddly titled Glorious Companions invites immediate comparison to the more historically-skewed Mount & Blade in its real-time 3D overworld, but features turn-based tactical battles similar to Battle Brothers. Developers Ancient Forge Studio say it's still deep in development, with an initial early access release planned for June, followed by "up to a year" of extra work afterwards. Take a peek at the game's strategic and tactical layers in motion below.

Described as a blend of Mount & Blade and Heroes Of Might & Magic, Glorious Companions will an open-ended game. Players start out nearly alone, with just a single loyal follower, and aspirations of building up a profitable warband, keeping them paid and fed, and developing their skills in combat. As with Battle Brothers, it has its own grungy fantasy setting, which features other humanoid species and mention of a "science based magic system". While perhaps a wobbly translation from their native Polish, I'm curious whether that refers to alchemy instead of traditional spell-casting.

The version of the game due to launch in June will contain all the combat systems in place and ten usable unit types, split between two playable factions, plus some minor neutral groups on the map. Over the next year, Ancient Forge plan on adding another three factions with some story and a quest-line for each, a procedurally generated world map and the option to build your own city. While Battle Brothers was content to just let you lead a couple dozen men around, I'm curious how well this city management and political wrangling will work - it's an ambitious endgame, similar to what StarSector has planned.

If all goes to plan, Glorious Companions enters early access this June, and will cost £23.79/€26.99/$29.99. You can find it here on Steam, its official page and Discord channel.