The Iron Oath

About

In "The Iron Oath," lead a mercenary company in a grim fantasy world through tactical combat and strategic decision-making. Oversee recruitment, operations, and missions to ensure your group's survival and success amidst the world's political turmoil. With a dynamic, evolving setting and focus on long-term consequences, this RPG offers a rich, immersive experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+11

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 665 reviews

story78 positive mentions

grinding31 negative mentions

The game features beautiful pixel art and animations that enhance the overall experience.
Combat is engaging and tactical, requiring careful planning and strategy to succeed.
The character classes are unique and offer a variety of builds and abilities, allowing for diverse gameplay.

The game can feel repetitive and grindy, with limited enemy variety and similar quest types.
There are issues with the user interface, making it clunky and unintuitive at times.
The story and world-building, while promising, currently lack depth and can feel generic.

story
364 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
71%
7%
The story in "The Iron Oath" is generally well-received, featuring a solid narrative centered around themes of revenge and mercenary life, with engaging dialogue and character development. However, many players note that the quest system can become repetitive, with a lack of variety in missions and limited player agency in shaping the story. While the main plot is compelling, it feels incomplete in its current early access state, leading to a desire for more depth, twists, and meaningful choices as the game evolves.
- “The story is engaging, the setting is atmospheric, and the customization is great too.”
- “The writing is very good and the two main storylines are quite detailed and interesting, leading to multi-map, multi-party, larger fights.”
- “The iron oath has lots of well-written, descriptive dialogue for both main story events as well as side quests and other missions.”
- “The story is okay, but I don't feel like I'm really working towards something.”
- “The main story arc dragged on a little too long, and was a little bit one-dimensional.”
- “The story is generic and every twist is predictable (even for me, so not a great sign).”
gameplay
191 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
58%
9%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players enjoying the unique mechanics and tactical elements, while others find it repetitive and lacking depth. Many appreciate the character diversity and strategic combat, but criticize the lack of meaningful progression and the overwhelming reliance on RNG, which can lead to frustrating experiences. Overall, while the game shows potential with its engaging art and sound design, it struggles to maintain player interest over extended play sessions due to its core gameplay loop and mechanics.
- “The party gathering is very simple, but what is amazing about it is each character has a unique identity and habits that can truly affect the party morale and even gameplay throughout your mission.”
- “The gameplay is great; the mechanics of going into the dungeon and the more time you explore, the more negative traits you accumulate, which makes the game very interesting.”
- “The classes especially make things interesting as they don't fit easily into typical fantasy roles, but the mechanics of how those classes work and synergize together make the combat something you look forward to doing again and again.”
- “Boring, repetitive gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is simplistic and doesn't introduce you at all to the mechanics, just throws you into battles with opponents that are as or more powerful and then leaves your characters with 45 days of fatigue.”
- “The core gameplay loop is tactical combat, but it does not feel very tactical.”
graphics
109 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
50%
5%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming pixel art style that evokes nostalgia, with many reviewers praising the beautiful artwork and smooth animations. However, some players noted that the visuals lack refinement compared to modern titles, leading to mixed feelings about character diversity and customization. Overall, while the graphics may not be cutting-edge, they contribute positively to the game's atmosphere and appeal, especially for fans of retro aesthetics.
- “My overall conclusion is the game is good enough, the graphics are simply art and that makes it a positive in my books.”
- “The artwork and animations in the game are a visual feast.”
- “The entire visual aesthetic is an homage to stylized brutality, and its pixelated world straddles the fine line between retro and contemporary, managing to nail that perfect mix without straying into tryhard territory or overstaying its welcome.”
- “The graphics are very much SNES-level 16-bit garbage and hurt your eyes.”
- “This is a terrible game, so so wordy, with a clunky interface, cheap cheap cheap graphics, like 40 years ago graphics.”
- “The graphics are from the stone age; if updated, this would be a great game instead of just a good one.”
music
51 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
29%
6%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its atmospheric and immersive qualities that enhance the overall experience. While some players find the soundtrack well-composed and enjoyable, others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking variety. Overall, the music is considered a strong aspect of the game, contributing positively to its dark ambiance and gameplay immersion.
- “One of its standout features is the exceptional music, which sets an immersive tone for the gameplay.”
- “The music does an excellent job of accompanying this and it all flows so smoothly together.”
- “The soundtrack is amazing.”
- “Music is repetitive and annoying, graphics are very much SNES level 16-bit garbage and hurts your eyes.”
- “I really am not pleased with the music choices in The Iron Oath.”
- “The limited soundtrack becomes repetitive very fast.”
grinding
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
3%
94%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and repetitive, particularly in combat and resource management. Many reviews highlight that while the game has strong visual and design elements, the mechanics often lead to a frustrating experience where progress feels slow and unengaging. The lack of meaningful challenge and the necessity to manage multiple systems contribute to a sense of monotony that detracts from the enjoyment of the game.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Fights get really grindy and repetitive the more you get into the game; it could be more interesting if difficulty scaling wasn't mostly HP-based.”
- “All in all, the game just feels very grindy with very little advancement.”
- “Was fun for about 6 or so hours, but once you get into the core game loop, it becomes really grindy and tedious.”
replayability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
56%
22%
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the unique classes and engaging story, many criticize the lack of depth, limited enemy types, and absence of a randomized map, which significantly hampers replay value. Although there are hopes for improvements through future DLCs and potential mod support, current feedback suggests that the game feels shallow and lacks the refinement needed for sustained replayability.
- “I think it has replay value and you can continue to play even after completing both main storylines.”
- “A nice story campaign to follow through with more to come, 8 classes that feel unique and fun to play, a wide choice of difficulty, and a random start make the game highly replayable and enjoyable for both rookies and veterans of the genre.”
- “There's talk of mod support as well, which adds to replayability.”
- “However, it's not replayable.”
- “Last but not least - unfortunately, the map is not generated, which means replayability is actually not that big.”
- “Over all I say the game is solid so long as the devs keep at it but limited gameplay and no real replayability currently due to how short the game is.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
88%
13%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised, characterized by engaging storytelling, stunning visuals, and an exceptional musical score that enhances the overall experience. Reviewers highlight the intriguing and grim setting, along with the charming pixel graphics that contribute to a vibrant and immersive world. Overall, the combination of audio, visuals, and thoughtful design creates a captivating atmosphere that resonates with players.
- “There is plenty of intrigue, both within the company and without, set in an interesting, grim atmosphere.”
- “Overall this game has a lot of spirit -- decent writing, incredible atmosphere with amazing visuals and score, and a satisfying combat loop that keeps you on your toes.”
- “First of all, the pixel graphics are a joy to look at, and simply ooze atmosphere - everything from the overworld map, to the city screens, to the building interiors and combat... units are lovingly animated - they move, they fight, they die, and they do it all with style!”
character development
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Character development in the game is noted to be present but lacking depth, with players calling for more personality, diverse classes, and engaging ability improvements. While the character art is appreciated, it is considered limited, and there is a desire for enhanced systems that include richer story elements and varied gameplay activities. Overall, the character development system is seen as balanced and user-friendly, but it requires more complexity and variety to fully engage players.
- “The character development system is very good, balanced, and easy to understand.”
- “Improve existing systems, make the trade interesting, improve the character development with more personality, more equipment, more different classes, and more interesting ability improvements (instead of just +1 range as a filler).”
- “Looking forward to character development depth, story, more city activities, guild management, some quest diversity, synergy between class skills, late-game skills to aim for.”
- “Character development is there; however, it is pretty bare bones, and compared to the monster arms race, you seem generally a bit behind.”
- “The character art seems very limited for a game that is all about character development.”
- “Looking forward to character development depth, story, more city activities, guild management, some quest diversity, synergy between class skills, and late-game skills to aim for.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it features smooth gameplay and effective skill optimization that enhances combat variety, players have reported issues with performance, including frequent stuttering due to a lack of FPS locks. Additionally, fatigue mechanics can hinder performance, creating frustration when resources are limited.
- “Now, to the positive: there is so much skill optimization that, if you carefully fill your mercenary roster and spread out the various abilities among your crew, the sameness of the combat can be greatly offset.”
- “The story is actually decent, the gameplay is smooth as hell, very well optimized; no GPU spikes.”
- “Fatigue that leaves you with -25% performance and you don't have enough gold to rest and eat to be able to get rid of that fatigue.”
- “Decent game for early access, but what annoys me the most is that it just goes full yolo on FPS and ignores FPS locks, making stuttering quite frequent.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by occasional funny and unexpected dialogue that feels endearing yet somewhat amateurish, reminiscent of old-school writing styles. It often includes jovial interactions that evoke a whimsical, medieval atmosphere.
- “Also, the occasional funny and unexpected bit of dialogue pops up.”
- “It's kind of endearing, but amateurishly written in an old-school Lord British kind of style, with a lot of shoulder-grasping and back-clapping while laughing heartily, for we are in yon Elden times, huzzah.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game elicits mixed reactions; while some players find themselves surprisingly attached to the characters despite typically disliking narratives, others feel that the lengthy and tedious story detracts from the overall experience, overshadowing the game's more engaging elements.
- “Some people may not be into the story as much, but that's only a minor part. It still had me engaged, and I normally hate stories, but this one made me feel more attached to my mercs.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates strong stability, particularly on macOS, making it an excellent choice for players who use both Mac laptops and PCs.
- “The game runs great on macOS, making it a perfect mobile (ish) game if you have a Mac laptop along with a PC at home like me.”