As Ledgerbound begins, overworked insurance specialist Rayna is in a bind. The Regulators – the world’s strongest trio of heroes – are all dead, killed by an unknown force. Whatever that means for the world, it’s dumped a more immediate problem on your head. You see, the Regulators were your top clients, and had Cosmic-level coverage; after all, no-one could possibly defeat them. But someone did, and now Heroes United Life Group is faced with a payout it can’t afford, one that will send the company under and leave you at the mercy of its ominous Shareholders. There’s just one way out.
If you can defeat the foe that brought an end to the Regulators, you can prove that they went into the fight unprepared, and deny the insurance claim. Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially when you don’t even know what you’re up against. But that’s the framing for Ledgerbound, a turn-based RPG that feels like one big tabletop adventure. It’s got a massive heart, some genuinely snappy humor, and a real penchant for raunchy dialogue and innuendo (although developer OmniMegaSuperCorp is careful to note that there’s never any “explicitly visible sexual content”). This is a game for adults, not an ‘adult game.’
Rayna starts her investigation by attempting to recreate the fatal battle, which serves as a tutorial of sorts, but it’s all to no avail – every path you pursue still leads to failure. Fortunately, your co-worker Jazz has an idea. Jazz is a dragon-lady, the boss’s daughter, and HULG’s head of Human Resources, despite being the company’s biggest walking HR violation herself. She’s also voiced by Stephanie Kerbis, the actor behind Deadlock’s Vyper, who’s bringing that same drawling exuberance to the table here. She’s overbearing, annoying, and I can’t help but love her.
“HR is back, baby, what-what!” Jazz exclaims, bursting into the room with double finger guns. “You. Me. Date – at the scene of the crime. Wham! Problem solved.” She’s a little overzealous about it, but the theory is sound – we’ll do some on-the-ground investigations and try to find out what’s been missed. Here’s where the adventure starts, and soon our crew is joined by a rag-tag bunch of miscreants, including the dishevelled Hobknob (Todd Haberkorn) with his bag of rats, and regal cat Prince Avarice, voiced by Matt Mercer with such glee that I can hear the grin on his face in the booth.
Comedy in games can be extremely hit or miss, but so far Ledgerbound is mostly landing. That’s just the start of its charm, however. Everything is wrapped up in the insurance framework, with your abilities and equipment all tying into the corporate vibe. Characters level up through a range of promotion paths, while equipment comes in the form of ‘swag’ and ‘liabilities,’ with the latter often applying very powerful effects that come at a cost. The Quota Collar, for example, boosts your damage by 20%, but warns, “A blood payment is due at the end of each turn. Your own, if necessary.”
The combat uses a triangle-style set of strengths and weaknesses (red beats green, green beats blue, blue beats red), but other factors on the battlefield can amplify or reduce this. You’re also encouraged to complete bonus objectives for additional ‘shareholder value,’ and replaying missions to hit that 100% gets its own special presentation where the characters are replaced by hand-drawn placeholders, and Rayna imitates everyone else’s speech patterns. It’s such a fun twist that it’s almost worth revisiting fights just to see it.
Between battles, you’re contractually obligated by the Heroes’ Guild to take a rest stop, but Jazz informs you that HULG is fairly slack about following this rule. You’re free to spend your downtime doing extra work or bonding with your companions, but be mindful of managing your burnout level, or you’ll start to face some serious penalties. Oh, and if you do start to fall for someone on your team, you’ll need to ensure you fill out the appropriate HR forms to assert that everyone’s on the same page.
To reiterate, Ledgerbound is also extremely flirty. It’s not constant, but it is frequent; “Think three out of five peppers for our #Booktok fans,” the developer notes. It’s also not across the board; while some heroes swear a lot and others lean more into sexual humor or flirty jokes, others are sweethearts who keep things as clean as a whistle.
The voice cast (described by OmniMegaSuperCorp as “a talented cast of actors who kept saying ‘wow, this is the horniest thing I’ve ever done'”) brings it all to life, and you’ll likely recognize plenty of them. While I don’t want to spoil too much, given the story-driven nature of the game, I’ll say that I never expected that a shareholder meeting could leave me feeling quite so flushed.
Ledgerbound is out now on Steam, with a 10% launch discount available through Thursday August 20, meaning you’ll pay $26.99 / £24.07. You can find it right here.
Since launch, OmniSuperMegaCorp has already introduced some new quality of life updates. There’s now a setting that dramatically reduces both the effects of burnout and the time costs during rests, if you’re more invested in the story and combat side of Ledgerbound and find those parts to be more of a frustration. The latest patch also adds windowed mode, the ability to dismiss summons, and improvements to some voice line timings to ensure the jokes land to their full potential.