Thorny Times

Thorny Times is a classic tactical RPG/strategy about a mercenary company fighting its way through a harsh fantasy realm.

Explore handcrafted story scenarios, capture castles and villages, manage scarce gold, develop your fighters, and win turn-based battles through positioning, skills, preparation, and squad synergy - not grind or reflexes.

Command a Mercenary Company

Your fighters are not faceless numbers in an army. Each one has a role, equipment, a development path, and a tactical purpose.

Build a compact but powerful squad, combine abilities, cover weaknesses, and adapt your company to the enemies and scenarios ahead. Will a humble novice become a powerful healer or a witch who disables enemies? Do you need a fast archer or a slow cannonier who can break through armor? Every choice affects how your army plays.

Battles as Tactical Puzzles

A strong army does not guarantee victory.

Some enemies can destroy your hero on the first turn. Some are resistant to ordinary weapons. Some require specific positioning, timing, spells, equipment, or ability combinations.

Study the enemy, prepare the right squad, and solve difficult encounters as tactical puzzles. Victory comes from understanding the system, planning ahead, and using your fighters well - not from reflexes or endless grinding.

Castles, Villages, and Scarce Gold

You cannot simply go adventuring and ignore the economy. Armies need money, and money comes from territory.

Capture castles and villages, secure regular income, defend your holdings from enemy raids, and decide when to expand, when to fight, and when to conserve your limited resources. Sometimes victory begins long before the battle itself - with control of the strategic map.

Story-Driven Fantasy Scenarios

Thorny Times is built around handcrafted scenarios with quests, events, choices, and different narrative situations.

Lead a provincial noble’s son on the road to becoming a legendary commander. Investigate a mysterious message found in a chest on the shore. Take part in wars between kingdoms, face magical secrets, mercenaries, monsters, and decisions whose consequences appear not only in text, but also on the strategic map.

Unit Development and Evolution

Every upgrade changes a fighter’s role in your company.

A recruit can become a healer, a witch, a warrior, a marksman, or another specialist. Choose development paths that make your fighters work together instead of simply chasing bigger numbers.

A strong company is not just a collection of expensive units. It is a carefully built combination of roles, abilities, and equipment.

Scenario Editor and Steam Workshop

Create your own scenarios with maps, quests, battles, text events, nonlinear progression, and multiple endings.

Thorny Times includes a scenario editor and Steam Workshop support, giving players tools to build new campaigns, share them with the community, and extend the game beyond the official content.

The original game kept a small but dedicated community for many years, with players creating maps and mods long after release. Thorny Times brings that formula back with modern 2D visuals, a rebuilt interface, support for current systems, Steam Workshop integration, and a renewed focus on tactical battles and campaign-based fantasy strategy.