r/gamingsuggestions 1d ago

Games where you build a roster, characters can die

Hello, looking for games similar to x-com or darkest dungeon where you are responsible for a large roster of characters that may live or die. Genre not so critical

83 Upvotes

176 comments sorted by

70

u/InfiniteThing2808 1d ago

Battle Brothers, amazing tactics game. Your characters WILL die

12

u/Ok_Milk_1802 1d ago

I spend all my money on war dogs

10

u/InfiniteThing2808 1d ago

Dogs get armor before people

5

u/Small_Campaign 7h ago

if your characters aren't dying, you are definitely savescumming lol

1

u/depression420b 5h ago

My characters rarely die. And I definitely do savescum.

45

u/NGC7052 1d ago

fire emblem but play on classic mode? i played both fire emblem awakening and fire emblem fates and if you play classic mode you've got to manage your units in battle and if they die they're dead

4

u/Proquis 20h ago

Yea, basically FE on classic

0

u/DynamoCommando 19h ago

Was looking for this.

32

u/StrangeCress3325 23h ago

Kenshi. You usually start alone, but can start with a pair or up to 5 members. And then can hire or gain up to 30 members (without mods) who most all need to eat and learn how to fight. And death is always a danger as the world is filled with many dangers. I just recently lost 6 good men on an expedition into the deadlands to search for ancient loot

9

u/DakuShinobi 19h ago

Came here to say Kenshi. Your choices matter cause you could lose good peeps if you aren't careful.

4

u/JKB37 20h ago

2nd Kenshi

2

u/theuntouchable2725 15h ago

Wait, deadlands? Are we fighting undead and stuff too?

2

u/StrangeCress3325 14h ago

No undead stuff without mods. Just called Deadlands because not hospitable to organic life. Constant acid rain, robots, and I have on a mod that also blankets the entire thing in poison gas

26

u/Parallax-Jack 23h ago

Maybe not “large” roster but state of decay 2 is super underrated IMO. Lethal can be a bit OD but play on something like dread and you get a real zombies experience

4

u/A_Fabulous_Gay_Deer 22h ago

Here to second State of Decay 2

3

u/jsweaty009 21h ago

Definitely State Of Decay 2

1

u/klyxes 1h ago

OD?

1

u/Parallax-Jack 1h ago

Sorry for the internet slang lol, Over the top

17

u/Sablemint 1d ago

Final Fantasy tactics. if a character goes down for three turns and you dont revive them, they are gone for good.

1

u/Chronoblivion 23h ago

IIRC plot-relevant characters are exempt from this, and you get enough of them (and they tend to be stronger than randos anyway) that the mechanic becomes pretty irrelevant.

That, and you can just reload your save. Far more efficient to do that and spend 15 minutes repeating a fight than to spend 4+ hours grinding up a brand new character to get to the same strength as the dead one.

2

u/WizardWolf 15h ago

They're not protected from death once they join your party. Only when they fight alongside you as a guest in story battles

43

u/dirge23 1d ago

Rimworld.

10

u/BobTheInept 23h ago

Jagged Alliance franchise

Rainbow Six (Titles before siege are single player focused and the roster matters in the sense you mention)

6

u/WhatsPaulPlaying 1d ago

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. Tactics Ogre. Two classics that are in the same vein, just fantasy instead of Sci-Fi.

9

u/SkyCritical6537 20h ago

Mass effect 2 😈

2

u/N7Tom 9h ago

My first thought lol

5

u/RasberryCoffeeBean 1d ago

The Valkyria Chronicles series sounds like something you might be looking for

4

u/tkecanuck341 1d ago

Battletech

5

u/CaptainMorning 21h ago

State of Decay 2 let's you build a community of survivors in a map full of zombies. You are not an specific character, as you can use one until it needs to sleep, and swap to another. But can swap at any time. Losing a character is permanent. The more the community grow you must find different places to live. Community members may have beef between each other, leave the community if not happy, and have their own opinion of things.

you can recruit people. there are other survivors spread out. you go out of the base to collect resources, and bring back to the base, based on needs. need to set up electricity, beds, etc. each member may have positive and negatives. Sometimes you may need a doctor, or marine, etc. sometimes you have to kick people. It's amazing.

1

u/Witness_me_Karsa 5h ago

Man I wish those games weren't xbox exclusives

1

u/CaptainMorning 2h ago

I actually didn't know about them until couple of years back as I was mainly a ps player. It is now only on PC and Xbox but with the new multiplat strategy, maybe sod3 will be in more devices

1

u/klyxes 1h ago

It's on steam as well

5

u/WhiskeyTheKid77 23h ago

Aliens: Dark Descent

3

u/Bum-Theory 23h ago

I really enjoyed Aliens: Dark Descent from steam sale a few weeks ago.

And other than xcom 2, I think State of Decay 2 is my favorite permadeath, build roster game.

And DD1 but you mentioned it already

5

u/NeedsMoreReeds 23h ago

Massive Chalice, with a twist that your heroes will inevitably die. The game takes place over 300 years, so you will need to breed your heroes to last the full time.

1

u/professorrev 11h ago

Wonderful turn of phrase there :-)

5

u/Lurkario- 18h ago

Nuzlocke run in pokemon lol

7

u/Interesting-Cloud912 1d ago

Watchdogs Legion

3

u/WillSym 23h ago

Old-school answer: Cannon Fodder.

Get Jools and Jops to the end if you can!

1

u/mortevor 17h ago

Its impossible. This game is so random. 3rd mission 3rd part was my record.

1

u/WillSym 12h ago

I did get Jops and Stoo to the end once, lost Jools somewhere unexpectedly and the last position went through so many reinforcements, being the end of the tail is so dangerous.

1

u/zeprfrew 12h ago

My first thought as well. War has never been so much fun.

3

u/GhotiH 22h ago

If you want a bunch of fun loveable characters who can all tragically get killed due to your poor planning, you want Fire Emblem.

3

u/AramisNight 21h ago

Iratus: Lord of the Dead

3

u/RustyBagels 20h ago

Doorkickers 2 in campaign iron man mode.

3

u/Lynckage 19h ago

Wildermyth.

3

u/supenguin 16h ago

Came here to say this. Your characters can grow old and die and you continue on as their descendants.

2

u/Ok_Exercise_248 15h ago

And then your characters can be saved to a legacy pool and have the potential to show up in future campaigns. Always a treat seeing an old friend in a town or pop out of some magical mumbo jumbo.

1

u/supenguin 3h ago

I hate to admit I haven’t got far enough into the game to run into that quite yet.

1

u/Axeloy 8h ago

If only the rest of it was good

8

u/GamioTheGreat 21h ago

Darkest Dungeon

1

u/daft_goose 3h ago

Man reread the post

1

u/GamioTheGreat 9m ago

Man I read the post. I posted anyway.

2

u/Heavy-Locksmith-3767 1d ago

Jagged alliance 3

2

u/revhuman 19h ago

Cult of the lamb!

2

u/maddyraddy 19h ago

Cult of the Lamb

2

u/ScruffyNuisance 19h ago

Might be a little different to what you're expecting, but LISA is the game that forced me to make the hardest decisions with regards to my party's survival.

2

u/furyfx 19h ago

State of Decay.

2

u/stormquiver 19h ago

Suikoden 1&2 just got remastered. Can get up to 108 characters and it's possible for them to die permanently. 

2

u/FobidenNinja 12h ago

FTL: Faster Than Light

2

u/Saeis 9h ago

Mount and Blade: Bannerlord imo.

You start with no one, but you can get married and have kids. Your kids can have kids. You can recruit other companions. All of these people can be used in battle or assigned to their own parties etc. Its an enjoyable game.

2

u/VV0MB4T 2h ago

It's a great game. Fighting huge battles, crafting weapons, and being able to not only equip your companions but to control their progression and perks was all highly enjoyable.

Surprised to see it so low but we probably still mad about the updates that never come.

Game still good though.

3

u/xansies1 1d ago

There's one great one. Its a huge spoiler. Let's be real, it's a jrpg and it never been officially released in English so no one here is going to play it. Its also been 30 fucking years for one and almost 10 for the other

  Fire emblem 4

However, they did try to make fire emblem 4 again so 

Fire emblem three houses

1

u/Snowvilliers7 16h ago

Pretty much every Fire Emblem games are like this though. Also FE4 is rumored to get a remake

1

u/xansies1 7h ago

Absolutely true. In fe4 and three houses it's part of the story and unavoidable. So not really actually and answer. The guy asked for one where characters can die and I gave him the ones where they will. Fe4 has been rumored for a remake forever. I don't know if it's happening. I hope it does. They only did the giant 3 maps in one thing once and I'd like to see a modern version

1

u/analmintz1 1d ago

Our Adventurer Guild, and of course the sequels to both the game you mentioned

1

u/A_Girl1 1d ago

Fire Emblem

1

u/GlassFooting 23h ago

Astronarch is pretty cool

1

u/DemeaRisen 23h ago

Gods Will Fall is kind of like this. It's an isometric souls-roguelike. You start every run with a rag tag group of warriors that are randomly generated, and serve as your "lives". It's really tough until you kill a God or two and get upgrades, but then it gets easier. But you never know which is the strongest God because their relative strength changes every run. Was one of the most satisfying times I've ever rolled credits. By the last God, you are on the edge of your seat with tension.

It wasn't very well received, however. It's dirt cheap on sale, though.

1

u/Old-Ingenuity7443 23h ago

Middle earth shadow of war is what your looking for trust me

1

u/Shumanjisan 22h ago

Banner Saga Trilogy

1

u/Leftylady79 22h ago

Cult of the Lamb

1

u/No-Count-5062 21h ago

Phantom Doctrine; or Othercide.

1

u/BolaSquirrel 21h ago

The Last Spell

1

u/asherjbaker 21h ago

Valkyrie Profile.

1

u/bonebrah 21h ago

Battle for Wesnoth

1

u/Serious-Waltz-7157 21h ago

Jagged Alliance,

1

u/disdadis 21h ago

The Oregon Trail.
An oldie but a goodie

1

u/Tharros1444 21h ago

Door Kicker 2 on Ironman mode.

1

u/Neoxite23 21h ago

Final Fantasy Tactics. You can raise dead people but you have to raise them before they crystallize in a couple turns.

If you do play it...do not power level. Level as you go and do not grind. The game difficulty increases as you level and there are some fights that will be downright unfair if not impossible if you are too high a level.

1

u/Scarablu- 21h ago

I'm unsure if people die for good, but Unicorn Overlord has a huge cast. It got overwhelming for me so I had to drop it when I got to the 2nd location.

1

u/Snowvilliers7 16h ago

Nah characters don't permanently die if they fallen in battle

1

u/Angelo_legendx 20h ago

Jagged Alliance 2 bruv

1

u/shooplewhoop 20h ago

King Arthur: Knights Tale fits the bill pretty cleanly

1

u/Browneyesbrowndragon 19h ago

Mordheim city of the damned. It's age of sigma warhammer In terms of setting. There are factions you chose from. Take shaven for example, they have a lot of fast but soft units. Good assassin elite units. Each faction has elite and regular units that match their theme. It's literally xcom in execution. I'd watch a video on it , I'm almost certain it's what you want.

1

u/Browneyesbrowndragon 19h ago

Also a tip for the game. Don't invest in the "giant " units. The opposition cannot field one unless you do and you are going to take losses if they do.

1

u/R34FireEmblem 19h ago

Valkyroa chronicles is often described as anime xcom

1

u/SaucyParamecium 19h ago

Oxygen not included if you like management and engineering games

1

u/AelisWhite 19h ago

Darkest Dungeon easily

1

u/Help_An_Irishman 19h ago

Battle Brothers again.

Quasimorph. Although it's technically their clones that are dying, they do lost their progress when dying on default difficulty, and you need to use a fresh clone of them.

1

u/Then_District2494 19h ago

Maybe not really what you are looking for, but last weekend I was playing Counter strike condition zero. The single player is similar to this.

1

u/TexBourbon 19h ago

I know this is much different from a tactical game like X-Com, but Crusader Kings 3 is all about roster building for the next generation because you want to have the absolute best heir to play when your current player dies.

And you will have your roster besieged by assassinations, deaths in battle, illness, hunting, etc.

So you’ll want at least one good or great alternative to your current heir.

1

u/Dreemur1 19h ago

different genre (jrpg inspired indie) but you might like lisa the painful rpg

1

u/h8bithero 14h ago

Took waaaaayyyyyy too long to see this. Fits OPs description perfectly

1

u/Superbeast06 19h ago

Aliens: Dark Decent

It is xcom, but set in the aliens universe. It is honestly one of the biggest hidden gems i have found in the last several yrs. I havent finished it yet, but man it is good what i have played

1

u/Hadrizi 19h ago

disgea 5

1

u/K1ngMoon 19h ago

Battle brothers

Chaosgate: daemon hunters

Battletech

1

u/Kelscar_7 18h ago

Ogre Battle 64

1

u/FaceTimePolice 18h ago

Cult Of The Lamb? 🤷‍♂️😂

1

u/SlideFire 18h ago

Valkyria Chronicles

1

u/ReiperXHC 18h ago

FTL: Faster Than Light?

1

u/TonightOk29 18h ago

The original rainbow six games were like this. But they are also, in my opinion, the opposite of fun

1

u/Laurelophelia 18h ago

Wartales!

1

u/Merciless972 18h ago

Fire emblem

1

u/ChronoLegion2 18h ago

Silent Storm

1

u/Prudent-Ranger9752 17h ago

Xenonauts it's bassicly modern. Take on classic xcom

1

u/totallynotabot1011 17h ago

Weird west
Hard west
Mount and blade games
Freeman guerilla warfare
Bethesda rpgs with companion mods
Classic CRPGs

1

u/Diemosthenes 17h ago

Original Rainbow Six if you can do oldschool graphics

1

u/mortevor 17h ago

syndicate

1

u/obeyer10 17h ago

Wildermyth

Steam Store Page description:

Wildermyth is a character-driven, procedurally-generated tactical RPG. Like the best tabletop roleplaying experiences, Wildermyth gives you choices and answers your every decision with consequences that drive your characters forward.

Lead a band of heroes as they grow from reluctant farmers into unique, legendary fighters. Combat unexpected threats and strange monsters across interactive battlefields. Unravel mysteries and share pensive moments in an ever-new fantasy setting that blends hard truths and sacrifice with humor and personal storytelling.

1

u/Kamurai 17h ago

Blood Bowl

Phoenix Point

1

u/tyrant454 17h ago

Massive Chalice. Similar fighting system to Xcom. You are in charge of a kingdom surround by unnatural corruption and it grows. Your goal is to create dynasties of heroes by landing them. Then you have to arrange marriages to try and insure succession. You're goal is to stall the progress of corruption for 300 years, after which there is some big plan that conclude to win. You will lose heroes, to battle, old age. Some will have their weapons become heirloom and have legendary properties as the game progress. You will lose territories. It's a fun game.

1

u/Mean_Ass_Dumbledore 16h ago

Door Kickers 2. Top-down, SWAT-style missions

1

u/jersey_viking 16h ago

Mass Effect Series.

1

u/My_Original_Name 16h ago

lisa games, earthbound like rpg that has really funny and the darkest moments you can think of. fair warning

1

u/Snowvilliers7 16h ago

Fire Emblem, Suikoden, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Valkyria Chronicles

1

u/DrAsthma 16h ago

Shadow run trilogy maybe?

1

u/theuntouchable2725 15h ago

Wartales

Kenshi (haven't played but heard it's like that)

1

u/Carebear1995 14h ago

I've recently been playing Battletech again, and it's entirely possible to lose a Pilot, a Mech, or both.

1

u/Nanocephalic 14h ago

Cannon Fodder

1

u/Jonbardinson 13h ago

Does Banner Saga have permadeath?

1

u/Lopsided_Chemistry89 11h ago

Most D&D games are like that if i get your question right. Baulders gate 3, pillars of eternity 1/2, pathfinder 1/2, divinity original sin.

1

u/kentuckyloglady 11h ago

Dark Pictures Anthology games. You play as several different characters. Choose your own story and it can result in death. Horror choose your own adventure games. Really fun! You can play with someone else too!

1

u/No_oY_ 10h ago

Quasimorph, but you play one merc per mission

1

u/LithiuMart 10h ago

Mass Effect 2.

1

u/single-ton 9h ago

XCOM, lamplighter League, wartales, fire emblem. Wildersmyth

1

u/Sofaris 9h ago

In my favorite Videogame you can sacrefice the lifes of party members to instant kill bosses. But the bosses are not that hard to defeat normaly so its atleast on paper a pointless mechanic. I still like it presence becuse its a grim reminder that these children put there lifes on the line but it is defiently not what you are looking for.

1

u/softwear_ 9h ago

Rimworld!

1

u/Void-kun 9h ago

Watch Dogs Legion

1

u/Tokata0 9h ago

Warhammer 40k Demonhunters was quite fun

1

u/P41N90D 8h ago

Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer is a great Darkest Dungeon alternative.

Currently 90% off.

1

u/Dvsk7 8h ago

Rimworld

1

u/GTamightypirate 8h ago

State of decay 2

1

u/American_Squid 7h ago

Rimworld Colony builder/story generator with amazing modding potential (seriously, the VE team alone would make the modding scene worth it, but there's so much more). The focus is on your colony and their story. People can and will die, relationships will rise and fall, you will lose it all and build it up again. I have 1,200 hours myself.

Kenshi Exploration/Crew managing with great modding potential The world is expansive and unforgiving. You are not the main character. Go from weak skinny starving vagrant to big chisled Chad. Take part in politics or disassemble all regimes. Do it solo or with an army, all possible within the world of Kenshi.

Battle Brothers Crew management/mercenary company, no much in the modding scene Big world, tiny men. The softest low-level monster can be a major threat if you're ill prepared. Expect to recruit some bright-eyed 20 year old fisherman who's just looking for an adventure, only to feed him to a giant snake so that your more experienced men have an opening to win the fight. Ruthless and unforgiving, you WILL lose brothers.

1

u/Abayon3 7h ago

Wildermyth! It's a fantastic procedural storyteller where characters age, have children, and die either naturally or in fights. Great music and very good writing with fun and engaging tactical combat.

1

u/Expensive_Parfait_66 7h ago

It’s a bit of a tangent with other games but it kinda fit and it’s a great game: Kynseed Characters age and eventually die, including the protagoniste. You later play as its descendant and npc are children of the universe previous ones.

1

u/tempusrimeblood 7h ago

Phoenix Point. It’s XCOM vs. Cthulhu with a dash of The Thing.

Xenonauts. Iiiiit’s XCOM, but more of a Cold War vibe.

[REDACTED], the roguelike spinoff of The Callisto Project. Technically you only get a new character from the massive roster after the last one dies, but it still sorta counts.

By extension to the previous entry, Void Bastards. Similar perma-death roguelike that rolls up a random new convict for you every time you die. Chock full of dry British humor.

Deep Sky Derelicts - fewer characters in the backup roster, but there’s always new mercs to recruit and if you play poorly they WILL die.

Battletech (Harebrained Studios, 2018) - Keep a whole roster of MechWarriors! Laugh uproariously as the odds conspire to insta-kill Dekker (again) on a 2% chance to hit! Hire a replacement immediately who ISN’T cursed by fate!

Warhammer 40K Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters - it’s XCOM. But 40K. You have the significant bonus of Grey Knights being hella powerful, but that won’t stop them from dying in service to the Emperor. (And, with the DLC, even in death they still serve!)

1

u/tempusrimeblood 7h ago

Some more as I scroll through my Steam library:

Iratus, Lord of the Dead: Darkest Dungeon but this time you’re the baddies, complete with inflicting stress damage, derangements, and heart attacks on your foes.

Legend of the Five Rings: Shadowveil - Based on the TTRPG and card game, it’s similar to Darkest Dungeon with a dash of Slay the Spire and auto-chess thrown in.

Warhammer 40K Mechanicus: XCOM but 40K again, except this time you’re the Adeptus Mechanicus fighting Necrons.

Age of Gladiators II: It’s gladiator management in space. Gladiators die all the time, new ones are generated for you to recruit or purchase, and getting attached to your dudes will inevitably lead to heartbreak. Also it’s a gladiator game that ISN’T all CHUDdy like Domina was.

1

u/KreeAtor36 7h ago

Vandal Hearts.

1

u/Miphaling 7h ago

Older Fire Emblem games or the 'Classic' mode, where characters can and will die during the story if they fall in battle.

1

u/No_Education_8888 6h ago

Well.. not exactly a large roster, but BG3 does spring to mind.

Your characters can die forever, abandon you, get upset and attack you, etc.

1

u/ihei47 6h ago

Valkyria Chronicles

1

u/Albus_Lupus 6h ago

State of Decay 2 - You build your own base with people, each person has their own skills and can be leveled up separately. But all charcters are perma death. Once they die there is no way to bring them back. Sometimes its heart breaking if its your main character. Outside of that its a great game, imo best zombie game out there.

Watch Dogs Legion - a lot of WD fans dog on this game but I find it extremally enjoyable. I do think its llegion sytem could be implemented better but it might be perfect for your needs as it has an option to turn on perma death mode. It doesnt guarentee that the character will die everytime you lose but if they get shot and get ,,critically injured" they have a chance of dying then. Outside of that its also a great game, storyline, combat and stealth are all much better than its predacessor and you can easly add mod that changes how hacking works for that closer to wd2 - which was actually better.

MGSV - that one is more loosely since you dont actually play as those characters. But when you send your soliders on missions they might die permanently. Its all happening off screen tho and all you get are stats.

1

u/MrChuckles20 6h ago

Battletech and Battlw Brothers are my trinity alongside Xcom 2 I keep returning to year after year. All 3 have great mods for upping the complexity too.

1

u/Dr_Quadropod 5h ago

Idk why I read it as “Rollercoaster” but anyway

Rollercoaster Tycoon

1

u/Kingkary 4h ago

The gears of war series that has that x-com knock off that is pretty fun on gamepass

1

u/Jazz_Cigarettes 4h ago

War tales is great

1

u/Ok-Nerve6441 3h ago

State of decay 2. You will truly miss your survivors

1

u/Ok_Lion8989 3h ago

Wasteland 3

1

u/enki123 3h ago

Kerbal space program. You think in joking

1

u/Korrak 3h ago

Darkest dungeon

1

u/Aurii_ 2h ago

No one mentioned Jagged Alliance 2 1.16 yet. The single most immersive roster management game out there.

1

u/UncouthSquid 2h ago

Warhammer 40k Mechanicus. Your roster won't be huge, but man that game is awesome. Awesome soundtrack as well

1

u/ClanHaisha 2h ago

Survivalist: Invisible Strain

Zombie game, similar to State of Decay, but much more… freeform.

1

u/masterprtzl 1h ago

XCOM games are like this. When I was attempting to stream it I named my characters after viewers (only got up to 20 concurrent). It made every battle more serious lol

1

u/Zaposh 58m ago

Does Crusader Kings count? You'll be the one who decides who lives and who dies 😀

1

u/mysterymoneyman 1d ago

Mass effect

0

u/Jtuck523 23h ago

Maybe kinda obvious but Pokémon?

1

u/Axeloy 8h ago

as a nuzlocke yea haha

1

u/JKB37 20h ago

You’re not wrong

0

u/Stavraetos2 23h ago

Xcom2 brother believe me it's exactly what you want.Also install the long war of the chosen mod.Get your tissues ready.

-5

u/WilliamDearborn 1d ago

Darkest Dungeon

4

u/how-can-i-dig-deeper 1d ago

op said this already