Tattered Banners Release Date

04 Sep 2026Developer post

Biweekly Update #12: Portraits Upgrade, Origin Window, House Armor Colors

Greetings mercenaries, Portraits Upgrade A core goal of Tattered Banners is building a living world filled with memorable simulated characters. And if eyes are the window to the soul, portraits are the window to character immersion. With that in mind, we’ve been giving character

23 Aug 2026Developer post

Biweekly Update #11: Farmer Origin Enhancements & Faction Relations Window

Greetings mercenaries, Farmer Origin Enhancements The Farmer and Bandit origins are receiving major overhauls over the coming weeks. The goal is to add weight to the starting origin choice, make the opening more theatrical, showcase different playstyles in the world map right out

07 Aug 2026Developer post

Life Post-Demo-Launch, Settings Menu, Banner Emblem, & Rune Stacking Fix

Greetings mercenaries, Life Post-Demo-Launch The demo launch went incredibly well, pulling in 14k new wishlists in just 4 days. Thank you so much for the support, it’s deeply appreciated. We took a bit of time to get back on our feet after that rush. And following the positive re

09 Jul 2026Developer post

Demo is Live! & Changelog

Greetings mercenaries, Demo is Live! The demo is finally live! Play it, let us know what you think, and if you know anyone who loves strategy RPGs and living world simulations, share the news with them so you can both enjoy your exquisite taste in games together. Changes from the

Greetings mercenaries,

Demo is Live!

The demo is finally live! Play it, let us know what you think, and if you know anyone who loves strategy RPGs and living world simulations, share the news with them so you can both enjoy your exquisite taste in games together.

Changes from the playtest include play time extension to 3 hours, backgrounds, unit specializations, item rarity, performance improvements, rendered 3D portraits and initial customization, and more.

Let us know what you think on the Steam forums or Discord. Tattered Banners is still taking shaping, and your feedback determines how it evolves. We're a 3-person indie developer, and for a deep systemic world simulation like this to reach its full potential it needs to be built alongside players. We read every single comment on the Steam forums and Discord, so please let us know what is working and what needs adjustment.

Changelog (0.8.4)

Worldmap:
- Added the Poison interaction (technically it existed since the page launch on Steam, but now it can actually be unlocked).
  - This interaction now requires sneaking and to be usable only at night.
  - Added 'Poison Rival Well' quest.
- The Witch Hut is now implement, and supports trading potions and runes (and only trade in those).
  - As we want runes to be primarily gained via fog fights rather than via purchasing them, the prices of these in the Witch Hut is very high.
  - This means that players can now get potions (none of these potions are new in the game, but in recent versions it was not possible to get potions from anywhere).
- Added new worldmap events.
- Changed when worldmap events occur for a more consistent behaviour.
- Runes and Potions are now part of the world's economy, though only Witch Huts use them at the moment.
- Tavern quest boards now limit how many quests with unmet unlocked interactions requirements are shown at once.
Weapons/Equipment:
- Rarity modifiers:
  - Weapons/equipment can now be Uncommon/Rare, which gives them a special modifier (out of a pool).
  - Flawed weapons/equipment now have special (negative) modifiers instead of a fixed -20% on all values. Flawed items from old save files retain the previous behavior.
  - The chance of getting a high rarity item depends now on where it is retrieved, i.e. there's a higher chance of getting high rarity items from loot than from marketplaces.
- Replaced Immobilizing Stance in Pike with Push Back. The same was done for the Pitchfork
- Increased the damage and range of Pitchforks by 1.
- Replaced Sweeping Attack in Spear with Spear Throw (which now inflicts Slow).
- Set Bounty now grants the bounty hunter +25% damage (stackabled) for the rest of the battle when a bounty target is killed
- Daggers can now be purchased in marketplaces (making it not almost impossible to get one).
Visuals:
- New main menu screen (though this is still an early iteration)
- Removed all the old AI portraits from builds (while they were not used anywhere they were still accidentally included).
- Replaced Firewall excessive placeholder VFX with a less obtrusive (but still placeholdery) VFX.
- Fixed eyebrow specular setting on female characters.
Twitch Integration:
- Implemented Twitch integration support.
- Twitch integration panel is available via Ctrl+Alt+F6. This allows also to toggle on/off features.
- Viewers can name units via chat commands (!name_character).
- During battles there's a chance that special reinforcements will arrive, with viewers picking what will it be.
UI/UX:
- Item tooltips now show when a trader is unwilling to buy an item.
- Item tooltips now show rarity modifier effects.
- Pressing 'F' now ends the turn in battles (in addition to Space). Adding indication about both in the End Turn icon tooltip.
- Added 'next/skip' instructions text in dialogues.
- The player party icon on the worldmap now appears before a banner is created, using the houseless banner icon shown in the starting dialogue. This allows showing the strength of the player party right from the start.
Audio:
- Added 3 new music tracks (main menu, worldmap, battles), which replace the placeholder music we had so far. These are still an early iteration.
- Combat music now transitions into victory and defeat states at the end of battles.
- Adjusted/replaced sounds in several places.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed rumor screen not always showing on unlocking an interaction.
- Fixed house leaders getting incorrect background/specialization/equipment/level.
- Fixed a bug where the rest icon sometimes remained after resting.
- Fixed town indicators not updating immediately when plague breaks out.
- Runes can no longer be assigned to Reaction or Stamina specialization abilities (the fact that they could be assigned was a bug - it never did anything).
- Fixed bug where in Bandit Camp battles the main objective of killing the bandit leader was not shown.
- Corrupted save files no longer prevent the Load/Save window from working.
- Fixed units being able to walk on the campfire in the bandit camp level.
- Fixed bug where a foley SFX was played sometimes during loading or performance spikes.

Original post

06 Jul 2026Developer post

Update #8: 3 days to Demo Launch, Streamer Support, Performance Improvements

Greetings, mercenaries, 3 Days to Demo Launch The time is nearly upon us - Tattered Banners' demo launches July 9th, in 3 days. We're hard at work squeezing in last minute changes for the build, such as... Streamer Support Expansion We want TB to have that sense of "emergent stor

Greetings, mercenaries,

3 Days to Demo Launch

The time is nearly upon us - Tattered Banners' demo launches July 9th, in 3 days. We're hard at work squeezing in last minute changes for the build, such as...

Streamer Support Expansion

We want TB to have that sense of "emergent storytelling". In a way, the common thread between the expanded circle of games in our genre (Battle Brothers, Wartales, XCOM, Mount & Blade, Final Fantasy Tactics, ... Maybe Kenshi?) is only that feeling of a story being woven as your group of mercenaries travel through the world and build up their skills.

We're tackling the emergent storytelling problem from many angles (persistent characters, world events, noble houses with agendas, more on these in the coming months), but one aspect that is perhaps the most elegant is letting streamers and viewers create stories by inserting their characters. If you've watched ChristopherOdd's XCOM videos you'll know what we're referring to, and how entertaining it can be to watch characters inserted by the viewers.

To that end we've set up a system similar to the one in XCOM where the player's units can be drawn from a pool of units that was set up in advance. But we wanted to make it better in 2 ways - make it easy for viewers to drop their characters in through a simple chat command, and make it so characters appear not just in the player's group but throughout the simulated world as mercenaries, bandits, innkeepers, merchants, etc.

The basic idea was implemented earlier this week, and now we've become more greedy (as behooves maximizing strategy game fans) - we're looking to implement ways viewers can aid or harm streamers by influencing battles, such as wandering knights or wolf packs joining the fray, or for viewers to take part in world event choices. Time is short, but we hope to implement the initial system in 3 days for the demo launch.

One idea is adding events with 2-4 choices that viewers decide on. But if that is to happen, the events would need to be very impactful

Performance Improvements

There were complaints during the playtest about performance, especially on the world map while moving at 2x speed. Happy to say performance on the world map has been much improved. It's still not where we'd like it to be, and there's still plenty to be done about it, so there will be more rounds of improvement. But for now, with this fix the world map should stutter less than before.

Imagine this running efficiently

All AI Screenshots Removed

All AI screenshots have been removed from the store. Since all AI in the game has been removed as well, we are very nearly done with this chapter.

While recapturing new screenshots we aimed to include the many developments since the steam page launched - new reactions, new armors and portraits, raid merchant mission improvements, town construction, new UI, specializations, world events, magic statues, and more.

See you in 3 days

- The CookieByte Team

Original post

25 Jun 2026Developer post

Persistent Characters, Death of AI Portraits, Customization, & Streamer Support

Greetings, mercenaries, We are pushing some ambitious changes to the simulation this week as we steady our footing for the upcoming Demo launch on July 9th. World Simulation: Persistent Characters To make the world feel more reactive, many characters in the world are now fully pe

Greetings, mercenaries,

We are pushing some ambitious changes to the simulation this week as we steady our footing for the upcoming Demo launch on July 9th.

World Simulation: Persistent Characters

To make the world feel more reactive, many characters in the world are now fully persistent. They possess unique names, backgrounds, specializations, faces, noble house allegiances, and more.

Short-Term Impact: This helps the world feels more grounded, and opens the door for an idea we had for streamer integration (more info below).
Long-Term Impact: The persistent characters infrastructure gives a lot of room for emergent stories. If you help Bob the merchant gain wealth, he'll steadily grow his financial empire. If you raze Alice's noble estate, she'll become a refugee, get kidnapped by bandits, join them, and eventually rise through their ranks to become a new bandit leader.

A secondary effect to persistent characters is highlighting the world's setting and the war between the noble houses - the realm consists of 10 cities, each led by a lord/lady with different personalities. Those nobles fight for power and set to war against one another. So far there were only subtle hints about the setup, but in the coming weeks we'll be deepening the clarity and impact of the house war.

New Dialogues & World Events

New dialogues were added to differentiate the Rural Folk and City Gang origins, as well as a few World Events. World Events trigger based on the locations you are near, the physical state of those locations, and the backgrounds of members in your company. More of these will be coming soon.

If you travel through a city currently looking for lumber to expand, a Thief in your roster might pop up with a questionable suggestion

The Death of AI Portraits & Character Customization

All AI generated portraits have been completely removed from the game and replaced with live 3D-rendered character portraits.

Beyond the ethical reasons for the change, it also serves as a big step forward for the much-requested character customization feature. With portraits now rendered dynamically from characters' 3D models, enabling customization is one step away of enabling to assign different body parts/textures/visual accessories to units.

Experimental Feature: Systemic Streamer Support

We're big fans of XCOM playthroughs where viewers name and customize the soldiers, and so we wanted to bring that exact same thing to Tattered Banners - but with two upgrades:

Instant Drop-In: Viewers can populate the game immediately via stream integration, removing the need for pre-configured save files.
Global Integration: Viewer characters won't just join your squad, but will be injected into the simulated world as lords, bandits, merchants, blacksmiths, innkeepers, and more.

We’re a 3 person team heavily swamped with deadlines, but we think this system is too cool to not try out. So we're adding an initial version of it before the Demo comes out. If you are a streamer and want to help run an initial test of this feature before the public demo drops, reach out to us on Discord

Until next week

- The CookieByte Team

Original post

06 Jun 2026Developer post

Demo coming July 9th, Specializations & Customization

Greetings mercenaries, Demo coming July 9th We've been hard at work preparing for the upcoming demo launch on July 9th. The playtest provided a wealth of incredible ideas and feedback, and we're working down a ceiling-high pile of improvements to get everything ready. The ambitio

Greetings mercenaries,

Demo coming July 9th

We've been hard at work preparing for the upcoming demo launch on July 9th. The playtest provided a wealth of incredible ideas and feedback, and we're working down a ceiling-high pile of improvements to get everything ready. The ambitious goal is to include full Specializations (more on this below), world events with emergent stories, the beginning of the much-requested character customization, performance optimizations, maybe streamer support, and many QOL improvements.

We're a small 3-person indie team, so implementing all of these in a month will be a challenge. We can't guarantee every one of these elements will be ready on July 9th, but we're pushing hard to give the demo as much depth as possible. What doesn't make it to the demo will be added in the following weeks.

To help get everything ready, a new build has just rolled out on Discord. This update adds/expands on unit background, initial customization, and a major rework to how classes function, turning them into Specializations.

If you want to jump into the build right now and help refine it, stop by the Discord channel to grab a key.

Specializations

Previously classes were structured similarly to XCOM - each class had three skill branches that revolved around a playstyle. For example, the Paladin had branches for buffing and tanking, the Ranger was split between up-close fighting and AoE damage, while the Spearman could specialize in standing still or using puncture to hit multiple targets.

While this sounded good on paper, the practical result was that building units felt bland. The structure encouraged players to pick a single branch and stick with it all the way through, which isn't particularly interesting.

We realized that if each of those branches represents a different element of tactical gameplay, it would be much better to let players mix and match them to discover interesting combinations. And while we're at it, because we've seen players enjoy Reactions, let's have each specialization offer a different Reaction.

This opens up the possibility of building unique units like a Paladin-Pyromancer-Bounty Hunter, or a Necromancer-Berserker.

Today's build introduces/expands on 9 specializations: Leader, Wraithblade, Bounty Hunter, Bulwark, Provoker, Sentinel, Assassin, Protector, and Pyromancer.

6 backgrounds have also become available: Farmer, Shepherd, Stablehand, Thief, Thug, and Poacher.

More specializations will be added soon, and as the discussion evolves on Discord it seems Berserker and maybe Necromancer are up next.

Original post

28 Apr 2026Developer post

End of Public Playtest, 3-Hour Build & Demo

Greetings mercenaries, End of Public Playtest With the recent Medieval festival wrapping up, the public playtest is coming to a close. We want to thank you for your time. Thanks to your feedback via surveys, Discord, and the Steam forums, we now have a ceiling-high pile of planne

20 Apr 2026Developer post

Playtest Begins, New Build, Future Playtest Round

Playtest Begins It’s time to open the gates for a new wave of players. From now until the 27th, all playtesters will be granted entry to Tattered Banners. We do this because we want to hear your thoughts, good and bad. We believe the best way to develop a simulation game like TB

Playtest Begins

It’s time to open the gates for a new wave of players. From now until the 27th, all playtesters will be granted entry to Tattered Banners.

We do this because we want to hear your thoughts, good and bad. We believe the best way to develop a simulation game like TB is alongside the community from an early stage, while being open about feedback, and honing the mechanics and emergent storytelling to perfection all the way through EA and full launch.

So please give us your thoughts. We're reading and responding to everything on the Discord, the Steam forums, and the surveys linked in-game. Your feedback is what will determine how good this game is.

Quick FAQ:

Q: Can I stream the game?
- A: Yes, please do. You can even let us know on Discord so we can watch and learn from your playthrough.
Q: How long is the playtest?
- A: The current build is capped at 2 hours. This gives us the focused data we need to ensure the early game loop feels balanced. You are welcome to replay the intro as many times as you like to test different classes or world locations.
Q: I want more than 2 hours. Will there be longer tests?
- A: Absolutely. See the "Future Round" section below.

(Pictured: An ancient statue of something you may encounter later)

New Build

This build brings several mechanical refinements based on the feedback and QOL fixes.

Gameplay & Systems:

Party Origins: You can now select backgrounds for your party at the start of a campaign. This will be expanded on in a patch soon.
Bandits Hostages: Bandits now target workers and attempt to take them hostage for ransom.
Stat Normalization: Starting unit stats are now determined by their chosen background rather than random generation.
Rank Progression: Reaching Banner Rank 2 now requires recruiting a 4th party member.
Dig Ability: Unlocked for use with workers returning from iron mines.
Pathfinding: Workers now specify their point of origin in their agenda when returning home.
World Map: Added shade statues to the world map (Decorative for now - but usable soon).
Loss Handling: The 'Defeat' popup now includes a 'Load Last Save' button.

Clarity & UI:

Systemic Feedback: The choice wheel now displays whether an action will improve or degrade relations with a House.
Quest Guidance: Added a dedicated popup for the initial 'Create a Banner' quest.
Tactical Awareness: Added indicators for reinforcement spawn points.
Visual Refinements:
- Party strength indicators are now larger/more visible.
- 'New in Inventory' markers are now less obtrusive.
- Banner rank objectives are pinned to the top of the objectives list.
- Text size in popups has been increased.
- The cursor no longer displays a 'sword' indicator when hovering over non-hostile parties.
- Fixed the highlight for the currently selected unit in the tavern.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed several critical bugs causing save file failures and lock-ups.
Fixed a bug where the game failed to run on Turkish system locales.
Fixed a bug where bandit parties were destroyed instead of stationed when returning to camp. (those backstabbing weasels)
Fixed errors related to bandit hostage mechanics.
Fixed the 'Death Defiance' company upgrade not triggering.
General tooltip fixes for inventory and skill tree panels.
Fixed reinforcement/time-limit UI popups interfering with other game windows.

(Pictured: Bandits kidnapping workers as hostages.)

Future Playtest Round

This current round focuses on the initial 2 hours to ensure the core loop is rock-solid. We know that once you see the ripples the simulation creates, you’ll want to see more about how they evolve. We know we do.

Once the first 2 hours are solid, we'll be making 4 hours (or even limitless) builds to push the boundaries of the open-world simulation. The exact timing depends on how this playtest goes, but we expect it to happen soon in the following months.

Because of how Steam's Playtest system works, we aren't able to automatically re-invite players for subsequent rounds. If you are interested in future playtests, please join Discord or follow/wishlist Tattered Banners

All of that can be done on TB's steam page,

View game page

Original post

16 Apr 2026Developer post

Major Playtest Round Begins, New Features, & AI clarification

Major playtest round begins We’re opening the gates for a large wave of playtesters today. We're excited for you to experience the simulated world of Tattered Banners and many new systemic elements - more on those below. If you get in, we truly want to hear what you think works a

Major playtest round begins

We’re opening the gates for a large wave of playtesters today. We're excited for you to experience the simulated world of Tattered Banners and many new systemic elements - more on those below.

If you get in, we truly want to hear what you think works and what doesn't. The best course of action for a game like TB is to show it to the community early and develop together. And we believe TB truly has the potential to become something unique that hasn't been done before in the genre, but that'll only happen if it's developed with open feedback, and honing mechanics to perfection.

So join us on this journey and let us know what you think. We're reading and responding to everything on Discord, the Steam forums, and the survey linked in-game.

New simulation elements

Pictured: A town obtaining enough resources to upgrade and treat itself to brand new walls

Substantial changes and additions have been made to the simulated world. Among them:

Dynamic Upgrades: Towns and buildings now display specific agendas and resource goals. Once they meet these conditions - with or without your help - they will physically upgrade
Garrison Logic: Garrisons now generate parties for patrols, escorts, and manning buildings. Garrisons have upkeep costs, and a well-funded city will spawn tougher guards, while a struggling one will field weaker militia
Labor Cycles: Workers now physically travel from towns to mines and farms. This creates opportunities for bandits - or players - to intercept them
Resource Logistics: Goods produced at locations (farms, mines, etc) stay there until periodically being transported to town. If you time a raid just before a transport, the haul will be significantly larger
The Task Board: Towns now maintain an internal “task board” to prioritize their needs. This system will serve as the foundation for our upcoming quest system, making quests a natural byproduct of the simulation.
Evolving Threats: Bandit camps and wolf dens now possess a hunger for progress, allowing them to upgrade their encampments and spawn tougher, better-armored lieutenants and pack leaders (not entirely in yet, but added in a patch soon)
Smarter Trade Routes: Merchants now more accurately trade goods between towns based on specific local supply and demand, and disrupting them will cause issues for towns

Pictured: Workers commuting to the lumbermill, blissfully unaware of any bandits and wolves

AI Clarification

We’ve heard concerns regarding the "AI Use" disclaimer on the Steam page and game intro, and we want to be as transparent as possible about what we actually mean -

Currently, the only generative AI in the game is about 20 2D character portraits, which helps us gauge the “feel” of the final game. Even though it’s not a huge amount, because we value transparency, we clarified this prominently on the Steam page and game intro, which may have given the impression that much of the game was AI-generated.

Aside from the 20 portraits, everything you see is made by good ol’ humans. We too are fond of humans, and their art. But as a small indie team with only 1 full-time artist, replacing the portraits is a significant task.

That said, we’ve heard your feedback clearly - we are removing the AI-generated portraits and replacing them with hand-drawn WIP placeholders soon. Once that’s done the game will be AI free, the machines will have lost, and the disclaimer will be removed.

Public Playtest

From the 20th-27th, during Steam's Medieval Festival, more people will be given access into the playtest. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time.

You can sign up for the playtest on the steam page,

View game page

Original post

04 Apr 2026Developer post

Playtest Round 1 Beginning, Company Stats, & Evil Fog

Greetings mercenaries! (Initial) Rolling Out of Playtest Round 1 We're excited (and a little scared) to announce that following positive feedback from early Discord rounds, we are officially beginning to grant access to the Steam Playtest pool! We're starting with a small initial

Greetings mercenaries!

(Initial) Rolling Out of Playtest Round 1

We're excited (and a little scared) to announce that following positive feedback from early Discord rounds, we are officially beginning to grant access to the Steam Playtest pool!

We're starting with a small initial wave of participants to ensure stability. Over the next few weeks that number will ramp up until everyone is allowed in. If you haven’t signed up for the playtest yet, now is the time. You can do so via the "Request Access" button on the main store page.

We'll keep you posted in the coming weeks as the playtest picks up speed and ramps up to all the thousands of players who've signed up.

Company Stats

We're introducing Company Stats, a new layer of progression that reflects how you choose to interact with the simulated world.

These stats level up as your company performs different actions and influences the realm. There are six company stats - Warfare, Subterfuge, Trade, Diplomacy, Logistics, & Survival. And two more coming soon (Mysticism & Engineering)

Each interaction on the world map falls under 1 or 2 of these stats, and will provide experience to the relevant skills. In addition, performing certain actions such as sneaking, trading, crafting, and more will improve associated stats.

Company stats will be starting with a simple implementation, and building up from there.

Fog Battles

We’ve updated the environment visuals for Fog Battles. The fog poses significant risk and a unique combat encounter - the fight becomes increasingly difficult the more the player stays, but the rewards equally increase. And if any should accomplish the task of vanquishing all the monsters lurking within the fog, the land will permanently change, lifting the fog, and (in the future) revealing locations hidden beneath it.

Beyond these updates, we are mid-development on major features that will fundamentally deepen the simulation. These additions are still being refined, and will arrive in a stable build for playtesters to experiment with in 1-3 weeks. We can't wait to pull back the curtain on these developments soon, because we think you'll be just as excited. Stay tuned.

Join the ranks: Wishlist & Sign Up for the Playtest

View game page

Original post

03 Feb 2026Developer post

11,500 Wishlists in 7 Days!

Just one week after announcing Tattered Banners , we’ve officially crossed 11,500 wishlists . To say this week has been "overwhelming" would be a massive understatement. Between responding to Reddit threads and aggressively smashing the refresh button on our stats page in disbeli

Just one week after announcing Tattered Banners, we’ve officially crossed 11,500 wishlists. To say this week has been "overwhelming" would be a massive understatement.

Between responding to Reddit threads and aggressively smashing the refresh button on our stats page in disbelief, we’ve had some time to contemplate why the response has been so incredible. Our prevailing theory is that the turn-based tactics genre doesn’t get enough experimental or innovative "new blood." It feels like players are craving something fresh, and we are incredibly grateful you’ve chosen us to provide it.

What's coming next?

In the coming weeks, we’ll be highlighting some features that didn't have enough time in the trailer-sun: dynamic world interactions, worldmap location changes, and varied combat missions.

Additionally, thanks to your overwhelming feedback, we are currently looking at pushing the world even further into full procedural generation. While we always intended to have random locations and factions, we’re now looking at taking that variability up a notch to ensure every playthrough feels unique.

Our goal is to give you an experience that feels truly new by trying out bold ideas in the genre we all love.

Small Development Update: Raid Combat

Work hasn’t stopped amidst the excitement! Here’s a look at a combat type we added features to this week: Raid. In these types of combat scenarios, you’ll need to intercept a merchant, and seize as many of his goods as your inventory allows before he escapes.
This week we added an inventory for your mercenaries to fill with all sorts of goodies. But the more they take, the slower they'll move and fight. A bit of prudence is recommended if you plan on actually making it out alive.

In his haste to escape, the merchant isn't particularly concerned with his bodyguards' well-being.

You can also hitch a ride in his cart, if space is available. He doesn't mind.

Early Discord Playtests

We’re starting very small rounds of closed playtests via Discord. We’ll be scaling these up every week, eventually leading into public playtests. If you want to help us in the very initial phases of the game, come join our community:

Join the Tattered Banners Discord

Thank you all for an incredible first week. We’re just getting started.

Original post

27 Jan 2026Developer post

3,800 Mercenaries join the journey in 24 hours!

We are absolutely floored. 3,800 wishlists in just 24 hours! As a small indie team, this level of support means the world to us. It’s exactly what will allow us to make Tattered Banners the deep, systemic world we've always dreamed of. We’ve been reading every single comment on S

We are absolutely floored. 3,800 wishlists in just 24 hours!

As a small indie team, this level of support means the world to us. It’s exactly what will allow us to make Tattered Banners the deep, systemic world we've always dreamed of. We’ve been reading every single comment on Steam and Reddit - know that we’re listening. We’ll be sharing a detailed roadmap and a deep-dive into our simulation systems very soon.

The "Wartales" Question: We’ve paid close attention to your feedback over the last 24 hours. And as we read between the lines and pick up on some very subtle cues - we have begun to suspect some of you might think the game is similar to Wartales.

Firstly, we’re flattered. Shiro Games did extraordinary work, and if you haven't played Wartales, you absolutely should. But we’d like to clarify that while the two games share a visual aesthetic and certain similarities in roaming the world map, they are substantially different in a number of ways. To name a few:

World Exploration Flow Tattered Banners isn't built around "completing" a region and moving on. Instead, your mercenary company roams a persistent world. You might leave a city today and return weeks later to find it completely transformed by the simulation (see point 2). Every area remains relevant throughout the entire game. If you’re familiar with Battle Brothers, the movement from one city to the next functions similarly to that.
Systemic Changing World Locations in Tattered Banners aren't static points on a map. They can be upgraded, ransacked, extorted, or burnt to the ground. Not just a few locations, but every location has a variety of such possibilities. Because the world is a simulation, these changes ripple: burning a farm doesn't just look cool; it triggers food shortages, which cause famine, which result in refugees, who then become bandits. You aren't just visiting the world; you are breaking and fixing it.
Broad Agency We want to give you a massive "toolbox" for how you interact with the world. You can bribe officials, steal supplies, assassinate targets, lay sieges, or spy to your own benefit. Each interaction is used in different situations and creates different emergent outcomes in the simulation.
The Theme While Wartales is gritty medieval with a hint of magic, Tattered Banners leans closer to "Low-Magic Fantasy" medieval. Think The Witcher. There is more magic, a darker, more supernatural undertone, and an evil fog that acts as a mechanic, and more that we hope to be showing soon.

We hope this helps clarify the vision! We’ll be doing our best to better showcase these differences in our upcoming videos.

Onward to the next milestone!

Original post

26 Jan 2026Developer post

Tattered Banners Announced

We’re excited to finally reveal our next game - Tattered Banners! Tattered Banners is a turn-based tactics RPG set in a living, simulated world shaped by your actions. Players perform a variety of actions - raid, bribe, steal, spy, assassinate, lay siege, and more - and watch the

We’re excited to finally reveal our next game - Tattered Banners!

Watch on YouTube

Tattered Banners is a turn-based tactics RPG set in a living, simulated world shaped by your actions. Players perform a variety of actions - raid, bribe, steal, spy, assassinate, lay siege, and more - and watch the consequences ripple through and change a realm at war.

If you enjoyed the tactical depth of our previous title, Fort Triumph, we think you’ll love where we’re taking the genre next.

We’re a small indie team with a massive vision. If you want to support us, Wishlisting Tattered Banners right now is the single biggest thing you can do.

Join the Playtest & Shape the World

Tattered Banners will be coming to Early Access later this year. In the coming months, we’ll be opening playtests to the public, and feedback from the community is going to be essential in creating the best game possible. We want players to help find the weird, emergent stories that happen when thousands of mercenaries start torching farms and bribing noblemen.

How to join:

Click the "Request Access" button under the Playtest header in the Tattered Banners page.
Eagerly await the next round of testers.
Join our https://discord.gg/3HkWdCF79M to discuss your findings with the team!

More about the Game

There are many systems and ideas we want to talk about, and we’ll be going in-depth on each of them in the coming months. To go a little into the core features -

A Changing World

Everything is interconnected. Torch a farm for a noble’s contract, and you’ll trigger a local food shortage. That creates refugees, who attract nearby bandits. As the bandits grow rich, they field higher-tier units, disrupt trade routes, and even ransack cities.

Dynamic World Interactions

Players can interact with the world by raiding, bribing, stealing, assassination, spying, laying siege and more, enabling a lot of freedom and emergent outcomes

Mission Variety

The intersection of world locations, the simulation's state, and player interactions ensures that no two tactical encounters are the same. A contract to torch a farm plays as a quick hit-and-run strike, while escorting a merchant caravan through bandit-infested territory or storming a starved castle's battlements demand entirely different tactical objectives and outcomes.

Progression Through Exploration

We’ve replaced skill trees with world-driven discovery. New world interactions are learned through exploration, rumors, and manipulating the simulation to certain conditions. For example:

A bandit leader may teach raiding - but only if well-guarded wealthy caravans pass in his area and he needs the extra muscle
A forest witch may reveal how to poison wells should settlements encroach on her land
A mine foreman facing shortages may teach players how to steal supplies to meet production quotas

Players must shape the world into specific states to unlock new interactions - rewarding the player with loot, new missions, and most importantly - a new tool to influence the simulation with.

Looking forward to the exciting road ahead,

- The CookieByte Entertainment Team

Original post

Updates & announcements

Portraits Upgrade

Origin Selection Window

House Armor Colors

Farmer Origin Enhancements

Faction Relations Window

Life Post-Demo-Launch

Settings Menu

Banner Emblem Customization

Rune Effect Stacking Fix

Demo is Live!

Changelog (0.8.4)

3 Days to Demo Launch

Streamer Support Expansion

Performance Improvements

All AI Screenshots Removed

World Simulation: Persistent Characters

New Dialogues & World Events

The Death of AI Portraits & Character Customization

Experimental Feature: Systemic Streamer Support

Demo coming July 9th

Specializations

End of Public Playtest

3-Hour Build & The Path to the Demo

Playtest Begins

New Build

Future Playtest Round

Major playtest round begins

New simulation elements

AI Clarification

Public Playtest

(Initial) Rolling Out of Playtest Round 1

Company Stats

Fog Battles

Simulation Highlight #1: The "Raid" Cascade

A Living Threat

Playtest Update

What's coming next?

Small Development Update: Raid Combat

Early Discord Playtests

Join the Playtest & Shape the World

More about the Game