Bronzebeard's Tavern 2 Demo Hits Steam as Sequel Adds Campaign Mode
The sequel swaps the free, endless format that built its audience for a paid campaign with a publisher, a test lead artist Darren Contreras says will prove the studio's worth.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
Bronzebeard's Tavern 2, the sequel to the free New Zealand student project tavern sim that drew over 1 million players, is in development by Mermaid MenZ Games. It trades the endless single-tavern format for a campaign tracing the young Bronzebeard and his family. A demo is live on Steam for gamescom 2026. The studio, funded by voluntary DLC purchases and government grants, is in the final stage of securing a publisher.
The core loop still runs on cooperation and controlled chaos. Players dash and dive to cook and serve, and the sequel adds tossing food to teammates or throwing a teammate holding food across a table. The cooking system uses one main ingredient per region, branching into up to about 10 dish variations, plus a drink-making element for orders.
Customer NPCs got denser too. In the goblin residential area from the demo, character types grew from 2 in the previous game to about 10, with quirks like drink-only patrons and repeat orderers. A named troublemaker, the Frog Rider, brings his own rules each session. The art shifts from the darker original to rounded, colorful, friendlier visuals.
Mermaid MenZ Games funded development through voluntary DLC purchases and New Zealand government grants, and is in the final stage of securing a publisher. The demo is live on the Steam store page for gamescom 2026.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.