by theygamesBrutal tactical RPG Beast now has a new name, announced to coincide with its second big update. The promising strategy game blends the dark fantasy stylings and moral ambiguity of The Witcher and Baldur’s Gate 3 with turn-based, gridless combat reminiscent of BG3 and XCOM 2, and it just got a big update as part of its ongoing development in Steam Early Access. Alongside this final patch for 2023, the team at developer False Prophet reveals the game’s final name – Beast: False Prophet.
Beast: False Prophet is a grim, gritty turn-based RPG set in a dark ages fantasy world. A veteran returning home to his homeland, only to find it now under the grasp of a dangerous prophet-king and cursed by a hellish plague, it’s up to you to save your land and its people. A bestial curse lurking within you offers you the chance to employ the demonic, vicious power of your inner beast against your enemies to great effect, but at what cost?
In its grimdark fantasy world inspired by Carpathian legends, you’ll be faced with all manner of tough decisions, often with no truly good answer, and engage enemies in a mix of fast-paced melee and ranged combat with your party of up to four characters at once. There’s already a lot of promise in the game’s combat systems, and you’ll get even more chances to explore that with this latest update.
Beast: False Prophet’s second major update introduces five new missions across three new map types, with six new enemy types and two new enemy classes to encounter. It also introduces another camp, several additional cutscenes, and a range of extra models to give more variety to existing enemy classes.
There’s an alternative beast mode transformation included, which you can access by investing in the ‘Exercise Beast’ skill tree, and a new ‘Loyalty and Treason’ mechanic will track your companion’s happiness with you, with the potential for them to walk away from your warband altogether if they get too upset.
“You can now finally play the game from start to finish and see our first ending,” False Prophet says in its update notes. “We’ve left no stone unturned in our quest to make Beast an unforgettable adventure. We now hope current and future players will see the kind of game we want to finish developing. As we stand on the edge of finalizing our game, we recognize that our journey has one more chapter of polishing and bug fixing to be done.”
Beast: False Prophet update 2 is out now. To celebrate, the game is currently 20% off on Steam through Monday December 18, so you can get it for $19.99 / £16.79 down from its regular price of $24.99 / £20.99 if you choose to jump in now.
Alternatively, have a look through more of the best fantasy games for plenty of memorable worlds, or explore the best strategy games you need to play in 2023.
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