RefX7 Games

First Word From the Road

I'm a solo developer, and Free Company is the game I've been building: a medieval mercenary tactics RPG set at the turn of the first millennium, A.D. 997. You raise a company of sellswords, take contracts across a living map, and fight tactical battles where formation, ground, and facing decide the day. Not just who has the bigger numbers. It's the game I've always wanted to play, made with a lot of heart and a little history.

This is my first post here, so it's part introduction and part progress report. Because the company has been anything but idle these past weeks. Here's what's been taking shape on the workbench.

The big one: co-op is coming together. Raise a company with a friend, split the bands between you, and take the field together. Each of you drawing up your own line in turn before the fighting starts. It's been a deep piece of plumbing to get right, and it's the thing I'm most excited to put in your hands.


Formations have been rebuilt from the ground up. Your captain now stands at the heart of the band rather than off to one edge, so a formation wheels cleanly instead of scattering your men behind the leader. March a band across broken ground and it keeps its shape the whole way instead of twisting at every bend.

Facing is yours to command too: set which way a band will stand while you're plotting the move. Scroll to turn the line, watch it swing on the map, and commit where and how you want to fight, all in one order. High ground has been rebalanced so a charge uphill into massed bows is punishing but no longer an instant grave.


Full controller support and a proper Steam Deck experience are in active development. Glyphs, on-screen keyboard, the lot. More on that as it lands.


The map should feel busier and less predictable now. More work to take and more bands to hire across the holdfasts and towns, jobs with more variety in how they play out. Alos, not every contract ends in blood. Some resolve at the negotiating table, or with a garrison that stands down rather than fights. When you do win a fight, the field now pays: spoils, scaled to who you beat.


Burnt villages actually smoulder now instead of showing bright squares. The muster board tells you what you're buying before you pay. The contract board stays open so you can line up several jobs at once. Clearer battle readouts, a proper sound when a contract's done, and text you can actually read. Dozens of these, the polish you only notice when it's missing.

I build in the open, and I'm always listening — so if you're reading this early, thank you. Pull up a chair, and welcome to the company. More soon; the company doesn't rest, and neither do I.