Brigandine Abyss Key Art
Image: Adglobe, NIS America, Happinet

Despite being around since the late '90s, Happinet's Brigandine series of fantasy strategy games has largely flown under the radar, especially in the West. Each one is set across an entire fantasy world, with many factions hiring heroes and summoning monsters to claw their way to power in messy hex-based tactical battles. Four years after the release of the previous game on PC, we're graced with the release of Brigandine Abyss, the latest, with Adglobe (developers of Redemption Reapers and co-developers of the Ender series of metroidvanias) taking over as developers. From the few hours I've played, this one feels streamlined in some respects, but even more maximalist than its predecessors in others.

Thankfully, there's no reason to have played any of these games before. Each one is set in its own world, with its own backstory. Brigandine Abyss opens with a barrage of backstory that makes it feel like you're dropping into the latest chapter in a huge ongoing story, but all of it is new for this latest iteration. The tone of the game is also a little bit lighter and sillier than earlier games, with the painterly, detailed character art of earlier games sadly traded in for clean, slightly more generic anime stylings this time, reminiscent of Fire Emblem, although some of the main characters have big 'My Cool Fantasy OC' energy.

What hasn't changed significantly is the core of the game. As with previous games, Brigandine is split into two halves. A management and strategic layer looking at the world map, upgrading your bases, summoning monsters (the majority of your units), and assigning equipment and creatures to your generals. You can either assign forces to defend, go on quests to gain XP or equipment, or send them off to neighboring territories to fight.

The majority of Brigandine's gameplay is in the combat, though. It's technical, crunchy SRPG stuff. Each battle map is a hand-crafted tactical problem, with choke-points, valleys, unit-slowing forests, and defenses based on the upgrade level of the occupying faction. Each commander (up to four a side) has their own set of combat and utility skills to further buff the monster units they have in tow. It gets complex quickly, with elemental strengths and weaknesses being important. While a purely single-player game, the enemy AI seems relatively capable too, not rushing into obvious ambushes unless really provoked.

Probably the most dizzying aspect here is the sheer scope of the war going on. While the previous game only had six factions in play, Brigandine Abyss is more of a high fantasy battle royale, with an absurd 25 distinct factions butting heads. 24 of them are playable, and one is reserved to play the role of existential threat to everyone else. Six factions have full-length story modes (which the developers estimate at around 15-20 hours each on Normal difficulty), but all 24 playable sides have a smaller campaign in the Mission Mode, each with their own distinct end-goal. While this can be as short as just a couple of battles for some, others are in for the long haul, like the pirate faction seeking six hidden treasures around the map.

One area where Brigandine Abyss is a little smaller and more manageable than its predecessor is a smaller world map. Each of the 24 playable factions begins controlling a single territory (meaning factions get knocked out quickly in Mission Mode), while the villainous Abyssloa Empire hogs the center, controlling four zones initially. There's less ground to cover, and less territory to hold this time, but it does mean that fights are a bit higher stakes. I've only scratched the surface of this one (I've got a half-dozen other tactics games I want to dedicate time to), but it feels like if this one gets its hooks into you, you could be playing it for hundreds of hours.

Brigandine Abyss is out now on Steam for £45/$50, with a lengthy demo available for those who want to dip their toes in the shallow end before wading out into this vast ocean. The previous game, Brigandine: The Legend Of Runersia, is also available for £31/40, and has been known to go far cheaper in major sales. But again, each of these games is a self-contained whole, so no need to start with that.

Thanks to publisher NIS America for the pre-release key.