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WARBORN

Warborn set out to bring a great tactics game inspired by mech anime and I would say it has. It misses the mark here and there but fans of tactics games should consider this a victory.
WARBORN Game Cover
74%Game Brain Score
gameplay, music
story, graphics
77% User Score Based on 56 reviews
Critic Score 70%Based on 9 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5Mac OSPlaystation 4Xbox OneXboxWindowsPlayStation
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WARBORN Game Cover

About

WARBORN is a single player and multiplayer tactical role playing game with anime and science fiction themes. It was developed by Raredrop Games Ltd and was released on June 12, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Rise up and deploy for battle in the Variable Armour, a technologically advanced suit of war. As the political climate between factions is thrown out of balance and the solar system is engulfed in conflict, lead your strike force of deadly mecha towards victory in turn-based tactical combat.

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WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
WARBORN screenshot
+6
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77%
Audience ScoreBased on 56 reviews
gameplay8 positive mentions
story7 negative mentions
  • Solid turn-based tactical gameplay inspired by Advance Wars and mech anime with a lengthy campaign and multiple factions.
  • Good strategic depth from unit abilities, terrain effects, rock-paper-scissors damage types, and commander skills.
  • Includes a map editor, skirmish mode, and multiplayer (though player base is small), providing replayability and customization.
  • Repetitive mission design and grindy gameplay with limited unit variety; some later missions become frustrating or tedious.
  • AI is often weak or unintelligent, making battles less challenging, and some mechanics like commander super moves can feel unbalanced or punishing.
  • User interface and controls are clunky and unintuitive, with lack of hotkeys, cumbersome unit commands, limited camera options, and some technical bugs.
  • story
    55 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in Warborn features a 40-mission campaign with four distinct commanders and an overarching sci-fi military narrative reminiscent of classic mech franchises, though it is generally seen as generic, unevenly paced, and lacking emotional depth. While some players appreciate the strategic integration of characters with conflicting goals, many find the story and character development uninspired, with early missions bogged down by excessive exposition and repetitive objectives. Overall, the plot serves more as a serviceable backdrop to the gameplay rather than a compelling or standout element.

    • “The game has a forty mission campaign with ten missions per faction, and an overarching story that ties them all together.”
    • “They are also characters in the story with conflicting personalities and goals, and they help to give each faction its own flavor.”
    • “Warborn takes the tried and tested Advance Wars formula, adds a bunch of huge mechs, some overwrought '90s anime-inspired cutscenes and a story that sees you take control of four different commanders as you seek to restore order to the Auros system.”
    • “The story exists but isn't fantastic.”
    • “Story/narrative: yay for a female lead on a mecha game, but sadly she goes for the whole cliché of superpowered/enhanced pilot which I highly dislike - they try to say it has counter effects to her health but meh, I like my heroes being normal people who earn everything they have through sheer effort and experience.”
    • “* lackluster story that fails to draw any emotional connection with the characters.”
  • gameplay
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is generally praised for its strategic depth, variety of units, and solid turn-based mechanics reminiscent of classic strategy titles like Advance Wars and Panzer General. While some find it easy and relaxing with streamlined controls and a balanced challenge, others note issues such as sluggish unit movement, lack of clear status explanations, and repetitive or unexciting mechanics. Overall, it offers a generous, content-rich experience with a focus on strategy over RNG, though certain elements like commander powers feel underutilized.

    • “The gameplay design is excellent and I really appreciate the fact that the mission outcomes are entirely dependent on strategy rather than the caprice of RNG.”
    • “I love the unit variety, and gameplay is pretty streamlined I would say, while still providing enough depth in my opinion.”
    • “Solid turn-based tactical gameplay, decent soundtrack, lengthy campaign, skirmish, online mode, and a map editor make for a generous package; flow of battle is pretty chilled out and perfect for relaxing portable sessions.”
    • “The gameplay is extremely sluggish - units have very limited movement distance (often moving only single tile right after they spawn in their next turn).”
    • “I would say it's probably not worth the full purchase price at this time, even for a mecha fan, due to the sort of repetitive nature of its gameplay and nothing special in the plot department.”
    • “[Graphical style, especially the maps and mechs during combat, feels pretty sterile, gameplay doesn't throw up any surprises, commander powers and perks are totally under-utilised]”
  • graphics
    19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's graphics feature a nostalgic 90s anime-inspired 2D art style with crisp visuals and a sci-fi mech theme that some players find charming, while others see the simplistic, repetitive unit designs and lack of animation variety as uninspired. Despite resolution options, the visuals remain basic and cannot be significantly enhanced, leading to mixed opinions on the overall graphical quality.

    • “It has crisp anime-like graphics, a boppy soundtrack, and enough variation of units, tactics, and factions for multiple playthroughs.”
    • “The 80's anime art-style only makes it that much better and visually appealing.”
    • “According to the developer's mention in the store page, the graphic visual was inspired by the Japanese anime style in the 90's, but it seems to be well ported in Western anime style and has a good mood in the actual impression.”
    • “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
    • “It's 2024, you know, computers are capable of rendering their own 3D graphics now!”
    • “Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lacklustre 2D visuals.”
  • music
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally praised for its strong rock-based soundtrack with standout basslines and memorable themes, often drawing favorable comparisons to classic mech series and Noriyuki Iwadare's work. While some find the soundtrack spectacular and inspiring, others note it as decent but not particularly remarkable, with occasional lackluster sound effects. Overall, the music complements the gameplay well but opinions on its impact vary among players.

    • “The soundtrack is spectacular in all aspects.”
    • “The basslines throughout the entire soundtrack are splendid—aside from vintage Wishbone Ash (like 'Vas Dis' or 'Handy'), I usually don't hear such high basslines, and it's a real refreshing treat.”
    • “All in all, Warborn has the best soundtrack I've heard in quite a long time.”
    • “What music?”
    • “Oh, there was music in this game?”
    • “Plain soundtrack.”
  • replayability
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability is a mixed aspect for Warborn: while the game offers over 40 missions and a robust map editor plus multiplayer for extended play, the main campaign alone provides limited replay value once completed unless future multiplayer updates arrive.

    • “With over 40 missions, some replayability, a great map editor as well as multiplayer, Warborn offers a lot of value for the price.”
    • “The map editor and multiplayer will offer replay value for those who fall in love with Warborn.”
    • “Hooray for replayability!”
    • “Once you complete the main campaign, it will be difficult to find any replayability in Warborn without future updates to multiplayer, so keep that in mind.”
  • optimization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features well-optimized mech performance where damage resistances vary, but mechs do not experience performance degradation from health loss, emphasizing buffs and debuffs. However, the lack of mech customization and localized damage limits strategic depth in optimization.

    • “Mechs have different resistances to various types of damage and performance doesn't degrade as they lose health, which emphasizes the importance of buffs and debuffs.”
    • “There is no mech customization, not even changing weapons, and no localized damage, or even performance degradation due to damage other than when hit with specific debuff attacks.”
  • atmosphere
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere is richly enhanced by a unique and diverse soundtrack blending rock, metal, orchestral, country, and space western-inspired blues, perfectly complementing the game's Warborn theme.

    • “There's a good blend of rock, metal, orchestral, country, and a genre which I can only describe as 'cowboy bebop-esque space western-inspired blues,' which perfectly befits Warborn's atmosphere.”
  • stability
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, including numerous bugs and a poorly designed UI, which together lead to an unbalanced and frustrating experience. Additionally, the simplistic AI and uninspired story further detract from overall stability and engagement.

    • “Extremely buggy, simplistic AI, terrible UI, unbalanced, and uninspired story.”
  • emotional
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game’s emotional impact is weak, featuring a lackluster story that fails to establish meaningful connections with its characters.

  • grinding
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game becomes quickly repetitive and lacks depth, making the experience feel tedious just a few missions into the campaign despite covering the genre's basics.

    • “It gets all the basics of the genre right, but it simply lacks any depth and becomes incredibly grindy only a few missions into the campaign.”
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70%Critics’ scoreBased on 9 critic reviews
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30h Median play time
30h Average play time
30-30h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

WARBORN is a tactical role playing game with anime and science fiction themes.

WARBORN is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 30 hours playing WARBORN.

WARBORN was released on June 12, 2020.

WARBORN was developed by Raredrop Games Ltd.

WARBORN has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked WARBORN for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

WARBORN is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Wargroove, Codex of Victory, Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest, Forged Battalion, Anomaly 2 and others.