Wanderburg, the castle-tank bullet heaven, rolls into early access on Steam

Wanderburg, a bullet heaven roguelike that puts players behind the wheel of a modular medieval castle mounted on tank treads, launched into early access on Steam today. Developer Randwerk's game lets players roll a Frankensteinian hybrid of a fortress and a war machine across battlefields, sucking up sheep and cattle to grow stronger while blasting rival strongholds with cannon fire.

The game follows the template Vampire Survivors popularized: players start with a single weapon, such as a cannon, and defend against waves of enemies as they level up. The twist is that leveling expands the castle itself. New modules attach to the mobile fortress as players progress, ranging from building parts like a barracks that spawns allied troops to weaponry such as a giant hammer that smashes enemies to one side. Wheel configurations can also be swapped, including an option to replace them with legs, which gives the structure a bouncy, top-heavy gait.

Growth comes from several sources, including hoovering up livestock, terrorizing fleeing villages, and destroying rival fortresses. The core loop is in place for the early access release, but Randwerk has plans to add more content and make adjustments based on community feedback over the next six to 12 months, according to Rock Paper Shotgun.

GamingOnLinux's Liam Squires-Hand, who received a review key, described the game as a blend of Mortal Engines and Howl's Moving Castle turned into an explosive indie title. He tested it on a SteamOS Steam Machine running Proton 11 and reported strong performance, rarely dropping below 100 FPS at 2560x1440 resolution. He praised the visual design, the variety across unlockable regions, and the bosses, each with unique attack patterns. One encounter that stood out to him was a Trojan horse enemy that only revealed its nature when viewed from the side.

Squires-Hand noted that players start with limited choices and must play a fair amount to unlock more module options, but once unlocked, runs let players pick between a wide assortment of upgrades. Runs involve collecting coins to level up, expanding the castle, and defeating bosses in each region to unlock further territories.

The early access release comes as the bullet heaven genre continues to produce new interpretations despite its relatively recent origin. Rock Paper Shotgun's Oisin Kuhnke, who had not yet played the game, said he was not sure whether Wanderburg improves on the formula but liked the concept of a modular castle tank. The game is available now on Steam.