Wartales Knights of Fardensa expands the core mercenary experience with a new Renaissance-inspired region called Fardensa. Players lead a warband through political intrigue among noble houses, where the ruling Ald Hertoggs maintain power through control of horses and trade routes. The expansion introduces a two-act campaign focused on alliances, contracts, and a path toward knighthood, while a free update adds mounted combat systems available to all players.
Gameplay
The base loop centers on managing a band of mercenaries who explore an open world, accept contracts for income, and handle survival needs such as food supplies and wages. Travel across regions consumes resources and can lead to random encounters or ambushes that transition into turn-based tactical battles. Positioning matters heavily because units act in sequence, and terrain or formation choices influence outcomes like flanking or protecting vulnerable members.
Companions gain experience, learn specializations, and equip gear crafted or looted from the world. Professions like forging or cooking support the group during rests at camp. The expansion layers new mechanics onto this foundation through the free update, which unlocks the Horseman mastery class. Any mercenary can adopt this role alongside their existing class, allowing cavalry units to fight with lances while generating momentum through movement during combat. Horses can be bred at trading posts to combine traits suited to different battlefield roles, and riders risk being dismounted by certain enemies.
In Fardensa itself, players investigate murders, defend or sabotage sites, infiltrate locations, recover stolen property, and navigate crises facing each noble house. Choices determine alliances and ultimately shape which faction gains control at the campaign's end. A separate knightly path involves chivalric trials, taming legendary horses, recovering lost items, and confronting outlaws to earn the Knight title and recruit a legendary companion.
Game Modes
Exploration follows one of two systems chosen at campaign start. Adaptive Exploration scales enemy strength to the warband's current power level, keeping challenges consistent regardless of region order. Region-locked Exploration assigns fixed difficulty ranges to each area, encouraging a more linear progression where later zones present tougher opposition until the group grows stronger.
Combat remains turn-based across all content, with the expansion adding mounted options that integrate into existing troop compositions. The two-act campaign in Fardensa functions as a self-contained narrative layer that players access after owning the expansion, while the political contracts and knight trials provide repeatable objectives tied to reputation and story branches. Co-operative play supports up to four players managing separate squads in the same world.
Key Features in the Expansion
New weapons, armor sets tied to Fardensa families, helmets, shields, oils, accessories, and crafting recipes expand equipment options. Five or six legendary horses become available through exploration and trials, with discoveries that can carry over to other regions. A regional boss and arena champion offer high-stakes encounters, while family-specific armor customizations and a new character title reward progression along the chivalry route.
The free update also brings horse breeding mechanics and additional mastery specializations, new equipment, and armor customization options that benefit every player. These systems emphasize tactical depth by rewarding careful positioning and mount management without requiring players to replace established mercenaries.
Is It Worth Playing?
Wartales has maintained Very Positive reception on Steam with tens of thousands of reviews since its 2023 release, reflecting strong interest in its blend of open-world exploration, tactical combat, and group management. The Knights of Fardensa expansion builds directly on community requests for mounted combat, delivering those features through a free update alongside paid story and region content. Players who enjoy turn-based strategy RPGs with meaningful choices, resource management, and replayability through different exploration modes will find the new political campaign and knight trials a natural extension of the existing systems.
Those seeking fresh tactical layers without starting over can access the Horseman class and breeding immediately upon the December 9, 2026 update. The expansion suits fans of the base game who want expanded narrative depth and new combat variety in a single-player or co-operative setting.
