Warlander is a promising 40-player brawler that you can play today

If you’ve been beset by multiple teams in battle royale games one too many times, then it might be time to switch to a game where you have a big team behind you backing you up. Yes, things can go very wrong if your team isn’t up to snuff, but with some loyal friends by your side, you can overturn even the tightest of games.

As the timer counts down and the battle begins, your teammates pour from the main gate, charging towards the frontlines, pushing the fight as close to the enemy base as possible. You fight in third-person with all classes, making both ranged and melee combat viable without changing the controls too much. It feels great to pour over the battlefield, your squad flowing like water over the war zone, and equally, it feels terrifying to see a flood of fighters heading your way as you explore alone.

Warlander is a 40-player battler where you take control of a range of classes to fight back the enemy onslaught. Like most MOBAs, each team has a core hidden deep within their base, and your goal is to defend your core, while also launching an assault on the opponents’. A single player can do heavy damage to a core left unattended, so sneaking away from a big battle to place a ladder and enter the enemy stronghold via stealth instead of force is an option.

Before the game begins you’ll build a deck of five classes, and these are the options you’ll be swapping between in battle. Melee units can often defend themselves while approaching with a shield, while magic classes have incredibly low HP and defense to make up for their potential as ranged powerhouses.

As the battle begins, you’ll be able to vote for what strategy you wish for your squad to adopt. There are three assault squads focused on whittling down enemy numbers and making them fear for their safety, one squad focused on defending your core and arming your castle, and another specialty squad. Each squad actually focusing on their own mission is key to surviving, as anything can go wrong if the base isn’t adequately defended, or if the frontline of battle is too close to your castle.

Battles are huge, making defensive units lead the charge and AoE attacks powerful tools. A unit with a good shield can lead the way for other players, but if they huddle together too much, those spellcasters can make short work on the whole group.

Eventually, players will have to combine their efforts to build fortifications like turrets, vats of oil, battering rams, and even mechanical creations to assault the enemy base. Each base has three entrances which can be broken down by the enemy and built back up by your team. Fortifications take time to build, but like capturing a base, that time can be shortened dramatically with multiple players on the job.

The push and pull of battle is enthralling, as teams push forward and then get whittled back by the onslaught. It can sometimes feel like you’re in a stalemate, and any game that results in a time-out is frankly far too long, but it feels great to be on the battlefield alongside so many other players, dynamically teaming up with and splitting up from players as challenges present themselves.

Combat certainly isn’t the best we’ve seen from large-scale melee fighters. Instead of being a heavy, visceral affair, it’s more akin to MMOs – as long as your hitboxes collide, you’ll deal damage. It feels mathematical instead of instinctual, but in that way it’s certainly similar to other MOBA-like games. In that sense, it might be better to compare Warlander to a large-scale Smite, rather than a “physical” game like Chivalry 2.

But Warlander shows a lot of promise, especially if you have a solid team of friends to play with, and you’ll be able to play the open beta starting today, September 12. To find out if Warlander is for you, make sure to download and play for yourself on Steam.

Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.