Fit check
Is Bastard Bonds worth it for you?
We tell you who should skip it, too.
Play it if you…
Good fit- Tactical RPG players who want to manage a group of outcasts rather than control a lone hero.
- Players who enjoy making choices about companions and defeated enemies.
- Players seeking a long RPG with character customization and sprite mod support.
Skip it if you…
Saves you a refund- Players seeking a short campaign may find 40+ hours of gameplay too long.
- Players who prefer light themes may bounce off the mature setting and its focus on criminals, imprisonment, and coercion.
- Players looking for a puzzle game or multiplayer drawing game will not find those formats here.
Our take on Bastard Bonds
Players who want every companion to remain a dependable ally may hit a wall when choices include using people as workhorses or ostracizing them. The same tension appears with defeated enemies, who can be spared, released, or pressed into service.
What is Bastard Bonds?
Bastard Bonds is a mature, quick-moving tactical RPG set on Lukatt, an isolated island used to exile criminals, misfits, and other unwanted people.
Players assemble a party from these outcasts and determine their treatment, choosing between forgiveness, exclusion, forced labor, and earning their loyalty. Fallen opponents may be killed, spared, freed, or recruited for service. Customization includes support for modifying character sprites. The game offers over 200 explorable places, upwards of 1,000 character sprites, an original musical score, and more than 40 hours of play. The objective is to escape Lukatt or bring it under control.
How Bastard Bonds plays
- 01Companion choices
- The group can be managed through trust, labor, forgiveness, or ostracism.
- 02Enemy outcomes
- Defeated enemies can be spared, released, or pressed into service.
- 03Sprite mod support
- Character customization includes built-in support for sprite modifications.
- 04Large game world
- The game includes more than 200 locations and more than 1000 character sprites.
Bastard Bonds compared to similar games
Back to the Dawn also centers on escaping confinement, but its description emphasizes survival, investigation, and a maximum-security facility. Bastard Bonds instead focuses on assembling an outcast band and deciding how to treat companions and defeated enemies. Shogun Showdown emphasizes turn-based positioning, attack upgrades, and deck-building, while Bastard Bonds emphasizes character customization and a broad set of locations.
Bastard Bonds: platforms & release
Is Bastard Bonds worth it?
It is worth it if: tactical RPG players who want to manage a group of outcasts rather than control a lone hero. Skip it if: players seeking a short campaign may find 40+ hours of gameplay too long.
Where can I download Bastard Bonds?
Use the Download Now button on this page: it opens Bastard Bonds's store page, where you can choose how to get it.
What platforms is Bastard Bonds on?
Windows only.
