Tactical Breach Wizards

Where DLC?

I thought this would be just a little puzzle game with a cool theme to it but I was so wrong! Everything about this game shines! The artstyle is very interesting and appealing, the music is great, the gameplay is fantastic and the story is incredible. The puzzles are fun and interesting but the rewind system, along with all the interactions you can do, makes it all click for me. I rarely feel "stuck" as if I cant find a way out of my current situation I can often rewind a little and see an answer or I can check how an enemy will react to my actions which is crucial for keeping the flow of the game. Another neat feature, puzzle games also rarely have a difficult system but I am very happy that they executed it quite well here. Honestly I did not expect there to be any story other than a vague reason to clear some rooms but NO, the story connects all of the above so well I am amazed. The scenes with the crew are not only breaks from the puzzles but enjoyable in their own right, the dialogue and characters are very witty and to the point, never overstaying their welcome. The story beats you unlock by completing levels feel even more rewarding than beating a hard puzzle! An absolute gem of a game! Well worth your time and money.

So good. My only complaint is that the dialogue is a bit too quippy for my tastes, but the characters are endearing and the narrative goes to some really unexpected places (good way). The levels in the main story do feel a bit like the devs were pulling their punches in terms of difficulty, but for that there is a fairly decent level editor and workshop support (it also has some great custom difficulty options that don't gate achievements).

I really enjoy Tactical Breach Wizards. The charaters are likeable with interesting depths, the story moves along at a good pace with some interesting turns, and the gameplay is fun, with a lot of space for experimenting with each characters' varied skillset. Art: 3/5 Visually, TBW is simple. Characters are low-poly and don't even have mouths, which may hinder your ability to attach to them if you like to see your characters emote. But it serves the purpose of the game well. Maps and enemies are clear about what's dangerous and what your goals are. Music: 2/5 TBW's soundtrack never stood out to me in a way I remembered. But I'm pretty sure I liked what I heard. Gameplay: 4/5 TBW is a very forgiving puzzle game, more than a military tactics game. It encourages you to mess around and find the optimal actions rather than force you make life or death decisions. You're able to rewind after every action you take which means you never get caught off guard by a misclick, or missing something in the game. Each character comes with their own totally unique skillset that you can modify as they level up. TBW does a good job of introducing new enemies, hazards, objectives, and allies throughout its campaign, so you're never bored. Story: 4/5 I was surprised by how much thought each of the characters was given to their own worldviews. The story is interesting and the world of TBW got a lot more out of "military wizards" than I initially thought it would. It takes its somewhat silly premise and plays it completely seriously, without killing the charm and wit of its story and characters. Replay Value/Longevity: 3/5 Once you've beaten the main campaign, TBW offers a collection of bonus challenges. It's not the most replayable game, if that's what you're looking for, but I'd say it's well worth its full price. This score may change if I ever replay it on a higher difficulty though.

boii this game is pretty damn good

Turns out Tom Francis can write a pretty good techno-thriller. The Frozen Synapse-esque foresee/undo works a lot better with a determinstic grid, too, and almost completely solves the Firaxcom "well I stopped my single movement action a square shorter than I could have, and it turns out I *can't* hit from there", like fast, intentional savescumming. And then the abilities and levels are absolutely joyful to use and combine. There are some clever tricks you can pull with them that cause one of those evil little satisfied chuckles that you just hit a power spike and ruined some mook's day. Dall, in particular, is amazing once you realize some of the stuff "shield-bash charge character who can tele-swap" can pull. The final act pushes you to really start running with that, and it's great. There's a good set of cosmetic-only mostly-for-the-fun-of-the-challenge optional challenges on levels, and they're a great puzzle that feels fun to solve. Some of them still baffle me, and I wonder if I need different perks to pull some new trick I haven't realized. I don't entirely love the levelling-unlock side of things, where you can swap them about (although with *finite* undos, which seems weirdly harsh in such an experimentation-friendly game), but never quite know which will be most useful for the mission ahead. The important ones come set from story progression. And it's a good story, with excellent writing, excellent characters, excellent treatment of the powers and roles in a map-trotting PMC-chasing thriller thing. My only grouse is that while you can go back and replay missions, and get the *intro* dialogue to them again, you don't get to revisit any of the outro or intermission ones. It's a ton of fun, but I'm not really inclined to replay the whole thing over again to re-see the cutscene I half-forgot where I accidentally took a several-year gap in my playthrough. Or explore some of the other dialogue options. But the defenestration trilogy has ended strong. Every part of this is just a great example of its craft: the gameplay design, the writing, the artwork, the soundtrack (absolute top-tier operators operating). 25 hours well spent, and it costs fewer euros than that.