In Heads Will Roll: Downfall, the smartest way to win is to lose on purpose

A medieval war saga fought in tactical turns, where every defeat still counts for something — though its text has yet to reach Portuguese.

Winning by losing on purpose

Losing pays off too, and the Heads Will Roll: Downfall community figured that out early. One player, writing in September 2024, laid out the page's most celebrated strategy: win the first battle, sell everything you're carrying, then throw the second on purpose. The game turns that discarded money into experience, so anyone who repeats the loop walks onto the battlefield with a veteran's body and reflexes — without having actually won a thing.

The story wraps that mechanic around a war the protagonist never chose: an infantryman sent by the English king to crush a rebellion in Scotland, trying to clear his name of a crime he didn't commit. The turn-based battles weigh physical attributes, skill with each weapon, fatigue, wounds and how much the armor covers — a weapon's type and length count too. Whatever survives the slaughter becomes raw material: poisons, medicines, gear and crossbow bolts, all crafted from what you loot off the ground. Away from the battlefield, you choose between duty and the heart, courting a woman the protagonist pursues without deserting his post — and his fellow soldiers' loyalty shifts with every decision, helping you or leaving you isolated.

The combat system is a reworked, improved take on the first Heads Will Roll, built by 1917 Studios and published by Valkyrie Initiative. The game reached the store on October 13, 2023, and its GOG listing is still flagged as early access.

The difficulty that becomes a habit

Among the fans, the favorite complaint is an ironic one: the game is too hard, and that's exactly what keeps them coming back. In September 2025, one player summed up the highest difficulty as the perfect fix for anyone who loves strategy games. Another, writing in December 2024, is blunter about the setting: they like text-driven stories set in the Middle Ages, and point to that medieval ground as the thing that holds them.

A June 2024 comment frames the game as a leaner preview of the franchise's bigger entry, a chapter that teaches the system to anyone who later takes on the series' main title — and praises the plots told across the campaign, calling them excellent. It's the feeling of returning to the field better prepared, even while carrying the same scars, that makes you open another battle instead of switching the game off.

No translation, and no mercy for beginners

On the other side, two concrete complaints. In October 2025, a Polish player reports that the difficulty everyone calls easy chokes anyone who builds a crossbow shooter: there aren't enough arrows to craft bolts, ammunition runs dry fast, and you're left paying a premium for ready-made ones. Build that kind of character and you feel the squeeze first — and the player suggests you have to lose a few times just to grasp how the system works.

The most recent write-up dates from August 2026: a Brazilian player repeats the same line twice to leave no doubt — the game still has no Portuguese version. It's the newest gripe on the page, and the most pointed one for anyone deciding whether to install this after arriving from Blog do Clairo.

For those who don't mind losing to learn

If you like systems that demand repetition — lose, retune your gear, try again — this is that kind of game, driven by a story of war and betrayal that sustains the grind instead of getting in its way. Anyone without the patience to learn wounds, fatigue and armor coverage the hard way runs into the same complaint as the Polish player and gives up in the opening battles. If you don't read English comfortably, the barrier shows up right at the story's first moral choice. In this game, losing well is a skill — one that simply hasn't been translated yet.