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Happy Bastards

Virtue? That’s for suckers. But fame? Priceless. Assemble unruly bastards into a mercenary squad and build your legend through reckless adventuring, bloody fights, lucrative looting, and dirty dealings. Choose your battles, and your allies, in this irreverent open-world tactical RPG.

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Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes
Updated: Jul 16, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer.
Updated: Jul 16, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher.
Updated: Jul 16, 2026Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified.
Search Google: How is Happy Bastards and Clever Plays funded?FundingThe known source of funding behind the game.
Search Google: Who controls the creative direction and IP for Happy Bastards and Clever Plays?Creative controlWho appears to retain creative control of the game.
Updated: Jul 16, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released.

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About the Game

In Happy Bastards, you're a shameless opportunist with all the tactics, and none of the tact. Your goal: become stupidly famous!

Brutal fights and reckless adventuring are an excellent start, especially when your band of happy bastards handles the dangerous work while you sit back and reap the rewards.

Beyond the battlefield, every opportunity is a chance at fame. Dazzle the locals with exaggerated combat tales. Raise the dead for cheap labor. Deliver unlucky villagers to well-paying evil-doers. Bed NPCs for fun and gossip. And scam gullible monsters with lopsided deals.

When fame is the prize, everything’s fair game.

Become famous at all costs in Happy Bastards, the morally-bankrupt mercenary sandbox with tactical combat, RPG progression, and a world that reacts to your actions.

  • Explore a rich, hand-crafted fantasy world in real-time.

  • There is no pre-scripted story; you write your own by deciding where to go and what to do.

  • Every town, hero, and monster faction can be turned ally or foe, and reacts dynamically based on their own goals.

  • Chase fame through adventuring and debauchery, unlocking social opportunities and progression.

  • Recruit procedurally-generated mercenaries, each with their own attributes, quirks and appearance. Then train them into one of 20 classes with skill trees.

  • Babysit your squad in and out of combat, as your bastards argue, cause mischief, and speak their mind. Who said being the boss would be easy?

  • Engage in highly tactical turn-based combat on small battlefields where elevation affects movement, targeting, and combat advantage.

  • Master the unique systems of combat, such as the Tag-Team Swap, letting you rotate combatants mid-fight, and the Command system, a shared pool of abilities to use each round.

  • Survive brutal consequences like injuries, dismemberment and permadeath through unorthodox remedies like grafting and necromancy.

  • Interact any way you want with any NPC, including seduction and recruitment.

  • Capture any monster (or villager) for combat, labor, or the black market.

  • Every mechanic is fully transparent, with all calculations and systems exposed to the player.

  • Experience high replayability driven by procedural systems and emergent interactions.