The Berlin-based duo Randwerk and Sidekick Publishing have launched Wanderburg in Early Access. In this survival-like/rogue-like game, players control a mobile fortress that devours and destroys everything in its path, growing in size as it goes.
Drawing inspiration from Mortal Engines and Howl's Moving Castle, Wanderburg is an open-world roguelike game in which players control a mobile fortress that devours – or rather, destroys – everything in its path. Starting with a small fortress, they begin consuming fields, small houses (which can also move), sheep, trees, and anything else that gets in their way. This grants experience points, and as the fortress levels up, it can be expanded with modules or further upgraded. Not only can the stats and existing weapon systems be improved, but new modules such as flamethrowers, cannons, mortars, wizard towers, archers, battering rams and explosive mines can also be installed.
Wanderburg © Randwerk and Sidekick Publishing
The progression system strongly resembles games from the Survivor-style genre, except that in addition to automatic attacks, each large module has an active ability that can be triggered at the touch of a button. However, this has a number of charge and a cooldown. For example, the cannons have a broadside and the mortar has stationary area-of-effect damage. Controlling the vehicle is surprisingly smooth and intuitive, particularly when it comes to quick evasive manoeuvres or precise timing. However, it takes some getting used to the fact that larger enemies can pull their own fortress closer the nearer you get to them, making escape more difficult.
The game blends fantasy with absurd technology, and players quickly encounter other fortresses of destruction. These fortresses are also armed and challenge players with weapons ranging from the utterly bizarre to bullet-hell mechanics. Waves of enemies periodically appear while players chase moving treasure chests or blow up stationary fortresses. Nearby health pickups are also conveniently highlighted with arrows. As is typical of the genre, upgrades are available in quality tiers and enable wildly varied damage and synergy effects.
Wanderburg © Randwerk and Sidekick Publishing
There are also regular encounters with large boss enemies whose special attacks must be countered or dodged. Once a boss has been defeated, the player's fortress receives a major upgrade, making everything bigger. This is why the camera automatically zooms out further. Then the devouring tour continues. Once enough bosses have been defeated in each biome, the player can move on to the next one and face new enemies. Throughout the game, players collect silver, which can be spent to unlock new options between runs - however, the prices for unlocking are a bit on the high side. These include vehicles, artefacts, modules and captains, which broaden strategic options and introduce variety, right up to game-breaking combinations. Fittingly, the sound and music are by Tumult Kollektiv.
Selecting the next biome and selecting a module in Wanderburg © Randwerk and Sidekick Publishing
Wanderburg is the second game from Randwerk, a German game studio organised as a workers' co-operative. The founders met at university and worked together on their first commercial game, Abriss – Build to Destroy. Initially launched in Early Access, it was then released as a full version in partnership with publisher astragon Entertainment, including on consoles. Randwerk is supported by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the De:Hive Institute Berlin. In mid-2025, Wanderburg was announced, generating over 70,000 wishlist entries within 1.5 months. Following several playtests and a demo, interest grew steadily until Sidekick Publishing came on board in February 2026. Sidekick is a German indie game publisher that emerged from the creative agency Instict3. The team specialises in bringing indie titles to market using strategies that integrate community engagement and influencer collaborations. Its portfolio includes titles such as Deadly Days: Roadtrip, 9 Kings, Megaloot, Terrascape, Gambonanza, Monster Mash, and Cards & Cannons.
Wanderburg launched on 8 September 2026 in Early Access on PC and costs €14.99 (with a 35% launch discount). Randwerk and Sidekick Publishing expect the game to remain in Early Access for around six to twelve months. This may change depending on development and player feedback. "The game is fully playable and already includes the core loop of rolling through different biomes across multiple difficulty levels, consuming villages and fortresses to expand your castle, and experimenting with different builds," they say. The plan is to expand Wanderburg during the Early Access period by adding more content, variety and polish, while improving the existing systems and balance based on community feedback.
With a peak of 8,834 concurrent active users on Steam, Wanderburg was the second-strongest game launch by Sidekick Publishing to date, behind 9 Kings (13,905). However, 9 Kings launched in Early Access in collaboration with Hooded Horse.
Wanderburg is an incredibly engaging survival-style game with fresh ideas and enormous, all-consuming fortresses. It can only get better during the Early Access period.
