The old powers are crumbling. Petty barons fight over dying lands, brigands own the roads, and things best left forgotten emerge after nightfall. For an outcast with a sharp blade and an empty purse, there is always work to be found.
8 More Lives is a turn-based tactical RPG inspired by Battle Brothers. Lead a company of outcast cat mercenaries through a gritty, low-magic fantasy world.
Take dangerous contracts, explore the wild lands, fight brigands, undead, beasts, and stranger threats, and build a reputation - provided anyone survives long enough to enjoy it.
TACTICAL COMBAT ON THE HEX GRID
Battles take place on tactical hex-based maps shaped one-to-one by the surrounding terrain, elevation, and obstacles on the campaign map. Formation, positioning, and timing matter as much as raw strength. Surround isolated enemies, support allies, claim the high ground, and force opponents out of position.
Not every combatant occupies a single hex. Massive creatures can dominate three hexes at once, controlling space and threatening several positions with every attack. At the other extreme, tiny enemies gather in swarms, with multiple units sharing a single tile.
Combat is built around distinct layers of protection. Shields, dodging, weapon blocks, parries, armour, and the flesh beneath it all respond differently to different attacks. A weapon that tears through an unprotected target may struggle against plate, while a precise strike can exploit gaps that brute force cannot.
Keep track of endurance, initiative, morale, injuries, and equipment. A veteran may become unreliable when exhausted. A frightened mercenary can break formation. Winning means understanding what each member of your company can still do - and acting before that changes.
A LIVING, PROCEDURIAL GRITTY LOW-FANTASY WORLD
Every campaign unfolds across a procedurally generated world filled with settlements, roads, wilderness, enemy camps, and opportunities. Decide where to travel, which contracts are worth the danger, and when a promising reward is too good to be true. How you earn your coin - and what you are willing to do for it - is your decision.
Visit cities to recruit new company members, trade equipment, train veterans, and gather work. The world does not wait for you. Companies travel, dangers spread, and events unfold as time passes. A safe road today may become a battlefield tomorrow.
BUILD A COMPANY, NOT A COLLECTION OF CLASSES
Your recruits arrive with different backgrounds, attributes, traits, and personal weaknesses. A farmhand, hunter, deserter, and scribe may all become capable fighters, but they will not reach that point in the same way.
Develop each mercenary through weapon masteries, perks, and stat improvements. Build specialists around their natural talents or reshape unlikely recruits into something greater.
Equip them with historical weapons and layered armour, from spears, swords, shields, polearms, and bows to early gunpowder weapons - and sometimes even a small spark of magic.
There is no universally perfect formation or loadout. Your company must adapt its equipment and tactics to the enemies it expects to face - and survive the enemies it did not expect.
YOU HAVE 8 MORE LIVES - TRY NOT TO WASTE THEM ALL
Your mercenaries are not disposable pieces. They gain experience, form the backbone of your company, and carry the consequences of battle with them.
Wounds, trauma, damaged equipment, and broken morale can turn victory into a costly setback. Rest and recovery consume time and supplies, while every day on the road brings new expenses.
Sometimes the smartest decision is to retreat. Sometimes retreat is no longer possible.
Protect your veterans, take chances on untested recruits, and learn to continue when a familiar face does not return. Cats may have nine lives, but your company only gets one.
Will you become respected professionals, ruthless opportunists, or nameless bones beside an abandoned road?
Take the contract. Count your supplies.
And try to bring everyone home.
THINGS YOU ARE ABOUT TO ASK
Is it hard and fair?
There are several difficulties in the game, and you can fine-tune the hardest ones for your own taste.
Ironman or saves?
Both. We respect your time. Customise your experience with a lot of options.
Seeds, Procedural generation?
Yes, and with a huge variety.
Mods?
The game is built with mods in mind. Not only balance, art, and content, but C# injections are also supported. Modding support will be added later in EA.
Multiplayer, Co-op?
No.
Twitch integration?
Yes, and if you have a suggestion - join our Discord.