Right now on GOG, you can get Mordheim: City of the Damned for PC for free. This tactical role-playing game set in the Warhammer universe has garnered pretty good reviews on other platforms like Steam. If you hurry, you can keep the game permanently.
What kind of game is this? In Mordheim: City of the Damned, you have to travel to the eponymous city of Mordheim. There, a comet with two tails has crashed, and the entire city is now engulfed in chaos.
Everyone is fighting each other, ratmen and Chaos worshippers further threaten safety, and everyone is searching for useful items in the ruins: weapons, equipment, and especially the magical and corrupt Morsstones or Warpstones.
What makes Mordheim special? Mordheim is essentially a tactical role-playing game and an adaptation of the Warhammer tabletop. You choose a faction and engage in turn-based combat. The options are:
- the Sisters of Sigmar, warrior priestesses and essentially the precursors of the Adepta Sororitas
- Skaven, which are humanoid giant rats
- Mercenaries of the Empire
- the Cult of the Possessed, crazy Chaos worshippers
- Undead and Witch Hunters as paid DLCs
Your units roam through the city, gather loot, and fight enemies. You need to position yourself strategically, set ambushes, and pursue various strategies to achieve your goals.
You can customize and level up your combat squads. There are heroes and classes for more variety. Through Warpstones and experience, you unlock new abilities and features. You can play Mordheim alone in the campaign or in multiplayer against others.
Until January 28, 2024, the game is free on GOG.com. If you get it there, you can keep it permanently. The DLCs are also currently discounted. Normally, it costs 20 euros on Steam and similar platforms. Mordheim has also been released for PS4 and Xbox One, but this offer does not apply there.
Mordheim is well-received – That’s not always the case with Warhammer
The Warhammer franchise has a controversial reputation among gamers. In fact, the universe is immensely popular, especially because it offers both gritty fantasy and gritty science fiction with Fantasy/Old World and Warhammer 40,000.
However, the creators, Games Workshop, are criticized for overselling their license. There are dozens of Warhammer games in all possible genres, even a visual novel. Many of them are simply… not good.
However, Mordheim is among the Warhammer games that have been better received. On Steam, it recently received a rating of 78% and is therefore “mostly positive.” The undead DLC even has an even better rating.
Players especially praise the tactical gameplay. No other game goes as deep, there’s nothing quite like it. However, this gameplay is also extremely challenging: no mistakes are forgiven, it takes several rounds just to get to grips with the basics. Mordheim is especially a great choice for fans looking for a tabletop adaptation.
If you’re not very into rats and dirty medieval cities, you should check out Rogue Trader. The role-playing game is the latest Warhammer game and lets you dive into the 41st millennium, where war and conflict are omnipresent. While Rogue Trader is not as difficult as Mordheim, it is far more distressing: even the “good” ending is not a happy ending.
