'Of Flesh and Faith' DLC Announcement

While we’re working on a brand new game, fans of Battle Brothers have something to be excited about right now – we’re happy to announce that Battle Brothers will receive a free DLC called ‘Of Flesh and Faith’ on March 10th, 2022.

The focus of the DLC will be on adding two new origins to Battle Brothers, and thereby two fresh and different ways to approach the game. These two origins – the Oathtakers and the Anatomists – will be the most detailed origins in the game to date. They both come with unique mechanics, new equipment, new character backgrounds, their very own story events, and even a custom-tailored banner each. And because more variety is always nice, the DLC will add more than 50 new events in total to the game!

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Here’s the list of features:

- Oathtakers – Follow the teachings of Young Anselm, fight for righteousness, and swear oaths that confer advantages and disadvantages until fulfilled.
- Anatomists – Further your research even if they shun you for it, dissect the corpses of your fallen enemies, and devise new ways to empower your men.
- New Banners – Hoist two new banners that thematically fit the new origins.
- New Equipment – Dress in style with new equipment that befits your origin.
- New Events – Experience more than 50 new events on your travels.

Alongside this meaty free DLC full of new content will also come a sizable update to existing content. This update will contain a whole bunch of improvements, quality-of-life features and balancing changes. Both the DLC and the free update will arrive for PC on March 10th, and at the same time or shortly afterwards for Xbox, PlayStation and Switch.

Join us next week for our first dev blog on the new DLC and learn everything about the Anatomists.

Dev Blog #145: The Anatomists

Living in the world of Battle Brothers is no picnic. Between nobles for whom you are nothing but a chess piece in their great game, beasts that want to eat you alive, and necromancers that want to raise your corpse once you’re dead, how does one make sense of it all? The free ‘Of Flesh and Faith’ DLC coming to Battle Brothers on March 10th introduces two very different paths that promise salvation from this mortal coil, manifested in two new origins to play your campaign with. This week we’re dissecting the first of these, the ‘flesh’ in ‘Of Flesh and Faith’, the Anatomists. Let’s look inside!

The Anatomists

Anatomists are a group of researchers whose unquenchable thirst for knowledge trumps their sense for decency and their need for social acceptance. Shunned for disturbing the peace of the dead to advance the bounds of scientific knowledge, they’ve been mistaken for necromancers more than once. Theirs is a path to become more than mere men, to conquer life with knowledge about the flesh, paved with the dissection of the fallen. With about all there is to be learned from disassembly of the human body already learned, they now look to you to provide them with new and exotic specimens. Imagine what wondrous insights the study of greenskins could yield! Oh, and a great Lindwurm, imagine what secrets lie but waiting to be discovered behind their scales!

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This intellectual bunch starts with three men of modest talent, but with high starting funds and unique equipment of their own. Because they’re really not fighters, but thinkers, they can never be quite confident going into battle. However, the very first time they manage to kill a specimen of any non-human opponent in the game, they’ll dissect the corpse and create one potion unique to that type of opponent. This potion can be imbibed by any of your men to permanently mutate their body in a somewhat painful process potentially involving the violent discharge of bodily fluids in order to gain special effects. If you’re aware of The Witcher, you should have a pretty good idea of how these mutations work.

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Because defeating any type of opponent for the first time grants you a potion with its very own special effect, the Anatomists have a lot of incentive to hunt down each and every type of opponent in the game – and sometimes as soon as they are able to. To aid you in this, the Anatomists also have access to four different ledgers where they make notes of any opponents already dissected. These are for beasts, greenskins, the undead, and legendary creatures – the latter allowing for potions with particularly powerful effects. Evolving your body by unnatural means is an exceptional affair, which is why it is accompanied by a bunch of new events that tell about the experience. And because a unique origin like the Anatomists should do their tainted business in style, they can also hoist an entirely new and appropriately creepy player banner for their company.

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Join us again next week for our second dev blog about the ‘Of Flesh and Faith’ DLC where we take a closer look at the other new origin that offers a great purpose in life and promises a path to salvation, the Oathtakers.

Dev Blog #146: The Oathtakers

The free ‘Of Flesh and Faith’ DLC coming to Battle Brothers on March 10th will introduce two new origins to the game. We already looked at the Anatomists and their ambition to find salvation in knowledge about the flesh last week, so today we’ll take a closer look at the Oathtakers, who seek their salvation in faith. Let’s head on!

The Oathtakers

Oathtakers are knightly warriors beholden not to liege lords, but to the ideals and teachings of their founder, the late Young Anselm. Though his own time in the world was tragically cut short, death only made him immortal as he lives on as a paragon of righteousness and virtue in the minds of his followers. His teachings provide guidance, and his skull is revered as a holy relic, a provenance of courage in the sea of chaos that is the world of Battle Brothers. To walk the path of Young Anselm is to take oaths to right the wrongs in this world, and even to sacrifice oneself for the greater good if need be. Essentially paladins, Oathtakers are also on a quest to make whole the shattered skull of their founder. All that stands in their way is a nemesis born in the schism of Young Anselm’s death, a heresy which must be found and destroyed.

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This dedicated lot starts their quest with two skilled warriors and good equipment. Uniquely among all origins in the game, they also start out with a company banner right on day one, as well as a relic which replaces the sergeant’s sash. The Oathtakers origin does not have access to ambitions like other origins do, but instead has their very own system of taking oaths.

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Every ten days it falls upon you to choose one from between several oaths that the company should take. This oath will then be active for the next ten days and grant you both advantages and disadvantages, called boons and burdens. For example, having pledged the Oath of Honor, your men will start every battle with confident morale but can not use any ranged weapons or throwing tools. Having pledged the Oath of Vengeance instead, your men will benefit from substantially increased attributes in battle against greenskins, but suffer penalties in battle against other factions.

Once ten days have passed and the oath is completed, you’ll gain a fixed amount of renown. You can gain additional renown by completing an objective that depends on both the oath chosen and the level of difficulty that you’re playing at. For example, with the Oath of Honor you gain additional renown if your men manage to kill opponents in one-on-one fights, without your other men interfering. There’s a total of twelve different oaths in the game, and you can choose the same oath multiple times over the course of a campaign, just not twice in a row.

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Oathtakers are as fashionable as they are dedicated, so they come with their own adorned armor and helmets, and even a brand new and appropriately sacred-looking banner to hoist for your company. Even if you’re playing with another company origin, you can hire Oathtakers as a new character background to get access to their equipment and potentially strong members for your roster. And if you’re playing as Oathtakers, you’ll get to experience a whole bunch of new events along their quest to mend the shattered relic of their founder.

Of Flesh and Faith Release

The ‘Of Flesh and Faith’ DLC for Battle Brothers on the PC has been released into the world! Find it for free on GOG.

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The DLC and accompanying update will also come for free to the Xbox, PlayStation and Switch in the coming weeks.

In order to introduce you to the Anatomists and the Oathtakers in style, we’ve collaborated with an artist, Yuri Gamberoni, to create the very first Battle Brothers comic featuring both new playable origins. Get it by clicking [...] below!

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Enjoy!