The worst part about playing mostly indie games is that you can be frothing-at-the-mouth in love with a game, and you can't talk about it because all you'll get is blank stares by people who have never heard of it.
What was the name of that indie strategy game where there are no menus you mentioned a bit back?
I suspect you're thinking of Fae Tactics, allowing for definitions of "a bit back" spanning roughly two years – the last time I mentioned Fae Tactics in the context of discussing its context-sensitive approach to action selection was in July of 2020!
I play a lot of games, but some of my favourites include games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem. As a kid, those games gave me a lot of freedom in creating my fictional team of supernatural-power-wielding friends. And enough strategic importance that big number isn't always better (though it does plays a part).
Here are 5 strategy RPGs (I don't know how else to categorize them. Tactical RPG? Turn-based tactics?) that I played in the last year that I think y'all should play.
this one's a long one, folks.
Battletech
Played exactly a year ago today, I had a blast playing Battletech. enough to almost make it into my top 5 of 2023.
This game was my first interaction with lore from this universe and it felt like a pretty good jumping on point. It certainly helped when I played MechWarrior 5 at the end of last year. Narratively, this game kinda rocks. You've got a well-introduced main character and their nemesis and a long hill to push your rock up until you fulfill your goals.
strategically, the game is great. the main campaign quests it throws at you are pretty rad and sometimes does require knowing exactly what to do and with which units (and making sure you've got those units with you on drop).
What I really love about Battletech, and subsequently MechWarrior as a whole, is the mech customization. Unit optimization? Whatever you wanna call it. I liked scavenging for parts to make a mech, then equipping it with my most deadly weapons only to lose those weapons in combat. great times.
Wasteland 3
I didn't know what to think when I started played Wasteland 3. For me (I'm heavy into fantasy than sci-fi), it was pretty out of genre, setting-wise. it's post-apocalyptic modern and set in America (I really think it's important to point out that it's set in America). and it's not typically what I'm out to read.
what I did read was an incredibly written experience and really awesome narrative decision making along with solid mechanics. it was kinda cool to see my actions have consequences (which I looked up constantly because I knew what kind of game I was playing), like helping out a guy in Act 1 only for them to come back in halfway through Act 2.
and the skill tree was most impressive. for most of the game, it gives your team members well-defined roles, which I appreciated. and having narrative options tied to those, while I think is standard, was pretty nice considering I had to talk to NPCs with multiple characters to get what I wanted.
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos
If you're more into Dungeons and Dragons rather than guns and mechs (like I am), here be the Dungeon of Naheulbeuk.
This one is more a classic one-to-one to Dungeons and Dragons and functions as a big dungeon crawl with an inn in it. meaning the combat mechanics were fleshed out and familiar for me! so it was pretty simple but the rooms do a bit to keep players on their toes with environmental hazards.
the story is straightfoward: get to the Dungeon Master so they can leave. oh but wait! the stairs aren't working! guess we'll take the long way around~! overall, the dialogue was pretty hit-or-miss (more misses with the comedy for me though).
Fae Tactics
Fae Tactics was a pretty big surprise in a lot of ways.
as another one of my honourable mentions for games I played last year, Fae Tactics has solid gameplay and story.
I actually really liked how the story plays itself out. you get bits of non-linear progression with every main quest you complete, meaning you can do most of the game in any order you want. I did do everything in my first playthrough, so it was cool to see different parts of the story connect, and the epilogues that I got in the end. and how the story evolves from one goal to another and how it resolves conflicts is pretty interesting!
moreover, I thought the dialogue for this game was pretty aight. it matched the mood of the game as well as the characters. it knew when to be serious and when to try to be funny.
mechanically, this game is less about customizing your team and more about completing combat with what you have, until you reach maximum upgrades (where you've got pretty obvious choices). capturing your own fae during battle is actually really important since it gives you more options moving forward.
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
This was one I've wanted to play but only recently got the chance! One of this year's first games for me, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga felt pretty good to play.
outright, the narrative I think needs some work. it's not the best, but it gets the job done. it's easy enough to follow and enough characters to like to get you through the game. surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, I didn't like the main character's arc, though it does make a little sense in hindsight.
the best part about this game was the gameplay, for sure. creating an army and commanding it was so fun. there's so much you can do because of the freedom the game allows you in your units. there are items to change affinities, upgrade stats, give your squads more capacity (that's a big one), and so on. additionally, having a maximum 9 units (on average it's more like 6-8 units) per squad was creatively engaging.
one of the biggest things is the fact you can class promote/demote at will. the resources are only allocated and never go away, and you really notice it when you get the tech upgrades that reduces resource costs. and I think the game made the right choice in setting the strongest unit type (dragons) aside for in-combat stores only.
in battle, the strategy was pretty straightforward. the game often relies on sending reinforcements for increased difficulty. but otherwise, the maps provided pretty interesting problems for players to solve. and by the end game, you're commanding up to 20 squads per turn, which is kind of insane.
to recap!
Battletech is a great starting point into MechWarrior lore while being an awesome tactical game.
with a wildly different setting from the rest, Wasteland 3 provides the most dynamic narrative of the bunch with solid strategic gameplay to pair along with it!
for D&D lovers, The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos is pretty aight, especially if you don't have the funds for newer titles.
Fae Tactics was a surprise hit that strategy/tactical RPG fans will love!
and lastly, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is robust in tactics and will get you thinking about the best army composition.
Here's to more tactical games in the future! in fact I already have more lined up-
