Ashes & Blood is an fantasy tactics RPG where every battle is brutal, every campaign is different, and the most satisfying victories come from builds the game probably wasn't supposed to allow.
Lead one of three factions through a war-torn medieval world: the Iron Dominion, a semi-industrialized human empire that conquers to survive; the Orcish Horde, driven into frenzy by something ancient whispering in the dark; or the Velkyn, shadow-born remnants of a civilization erased from history. Each plays — and breaks — differently.
Two modes, one campaign.
World Mode — a 4X sandbox where you raise cities, recruit armies, and carve territory across procedurally generated maps with a multitude of different biomes. Each biome shifts resource yields, building options, and faction bonuses — so where you expand matters as much as how fast. And forget ten-turn construction queues: actions resolve instantly. The real constraint are orders — a limited pool of commands per turn that forces you to pick your moves carefully, even when your treasury is overflowing.
Battle Mode — grid-based, isometric tactical combat inspired by Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, sharpened with the grim pacing of Battle Brothers. Elevation, flanking, terrain, status effects, and profession combos all matter. And the battlefield itself is drawn from wherever your armies collide: poisonous swamps, high ridges, pine forests, frozen mountain passes, desert ruins. No two battles share the same ground.
But what truly sets Ashes & Blood apart is its unapologetic embrace of player freedom and broken builds. Want to tilt the map generator toward forests so your ambush-heavy Velkyn force has cover everywhere? Go ahead. Want to stack permanent upgrades on one character until they one-shot an orcish Warchief? That's the point. Each finished campaign feeds a meta-progression system that unlocks new professions, traits, and world modifiers for your next run — so your cleverness compounds. Just don't get too cocky. Ironman is the default mode. The AI plays to win. And undoing a turn costs you.
Dual Game Modes — Seamless transitions between strategic conquest and tactical combat, where every World Mode decision reshapes the battlefield.
Meta-Progression — Finish a campaign and bank permanent unlocks: new professions, traits, map modifiers. Your victories echo forward.
Three Distinctive Factions — Humans, Orcs, and Velkyn, each with unique units, professions, and a tactical philosophy that rewards different kinds of cruelty.
Dual Profession System — Assign a primary and secondary profession to every character. Mix ability pools, exploit synergies, and build units that would be illegal in a more polite game.
Stack permanent upgrades into absurdity. Every level-up offers perks from tiered pools — Common to Legendary. Combine Glass Cannon with Sacrificial Pact and a Regenerating aura, and you've built a one-character army that gets stronger the closer it gets to death.
Ashes & Blood is a sandbox of strategy, designed to be broken by those clever enough to do it.
