While War Mongrels is a very nice looking Desperados-like, and after almost 18 months of extra development, is a mechanically sound and content-rich game, there is only one thing that sets it apart from other games in the genre, and that is the ability to take direct control over your squad and engage in isometric action combat.
While I love RTT games and sneaking around as much as anyone else, being able to take direct control over a character or group of characters and engage in combat with the enemy feels fantastic. I would love to see other games in the genre adopt a similar mechanic going forward.
Image credit War Mongrels - Published by Destructive Creations and developed by Destructive Creations.
At launch, War Mongrels felt like a bad early access title; despite being marketed and released as a fully developed product, many (myself included) felt we had been lied to, and most developers would have walked away from the mess that was War Mongrels. However, Destructive Creations showed remarkable maturity, and not only apologized for the state of War Mongrels took a fine tooth comb to it, fixing over 500 bugs and incorporating quality-of-life improvements and comprehensive controller support in response to user feedback.
And the result of their hard work is that War Mongrels is not only no longer a terrible game but adversely it is one of the best Real Time Tactic games on the market. I would love to see Destructive Creations release another title in the genre, applying the knowledge and experience they earned the hard way due to War Mongrels’ terrible launch and brilliant rise from the ashes.
Image credit War Mongrels - Published by Destructive Creations and developed by Destructive Creations.
War Mongrels is one of the only RTT games and the only Desperados-like RTT game to feature an online cooperative mode. Unfortunately, it does not support cross-play or party invites. As a result, the community almost ignores the feature, making finding open lobbies impossible for players looking to meet new people to play with.
Image credit War Mongrels - Published by Destructive Creations and developed by Destructive Creations.
While War Mongrels is an AA title, it has AAA-quality voice acting, which helps to immerse the player in the excellent narrative and add a sense of gravity and emotion to certain missions and encounters, that would otherwise have been less impactful with poor or no voice acting.
Image credit War Mongrels - Published by Destructive Creations and developed by Destructive Creations.
War Mongrels looks and plays like a more action-focused Desperado’s game. While Mimimi Games are likely to remain the kings of the genre if Destructive Creations can release more games like War Mongrels is right now, they have a chance to share the throne, if not claim it entirely.
Is War Mongrels better than Desperados III? No, but it’s equally good, and both titles have something to offer the genre.
Image credit War Mongrels - Published by Destructive Creations and developed by Destructive Creations.
I must preface this by saying I am not the biggest fan of War Mongrel’s developer Destructive Creations. I find them to be needlessly edgy, and their game Hatred is the perfect example of a game that is frankly sick, and to think that some people have chosen to buy and play it, let alone any developer decided it was a good idea to make, is baffling.
However, in recent years they have started to “grow up” and understand that a PEGI 18 title doesn’t have to be focused on slaughtering innocent civilians for fun. While Ancestors Legacy was pretty dark and violent, it’s a drastic improvement over Hatred. This trend continues to this day, with War Mongrels being on par for most PEGI 18 titles, with a greater emphasis on narrative quality over shock value, which Hatred was known for.
Don’t get me wrong, War Mongrels is set during one of the darkest periods of human history and addresses some pretty dark topics; however, it does so in a tasteful way, and because of this, I have no issue not only covering War Mongrels but recommending it to fans of the RTT genre.
Image credit War Mongrels - Published by Destructive Creations and developed by Destructive Creations.
War Mongrels is a real time tactics video game developed and published by Destructive Creations, it was released on 19 October 2021 and retails for $44.99.
War Mongrels is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
War Mongrels is pretty much dead on all platforms, and I have yet to see even a single game in the server browser; however, that is likely due to most RTT fans preferring to play solo, unlike RTS fans, which are pretty much evenly split between single player and multiplayer enthusiasts.
On average War Mongrels takes between 20 and 35 hours to complete.
Estimated completion times are derived from various sources and may vary based on the skill level of each player.
War Mongrels does not support cross-platform multiplayer.
War Mongrels offers the following matchmaking options:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
War Mongrels is rated PEGI 18+ and contains the following:
War Mongrels had an appalling launch, and for much of the first year of its life, it was one of the lowest-rated titles I had ever reviewed.
However, I am happy to say the developers have managed to turn it around, and War Mongrels in 2023 is far from the broken mess that shipped at launch. Because of this, I can now heartily recommend it not only to fans of the genre but also fans of WWII-era games in general.
