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by Mischief Maker 08/25/2025, 4:39pm PDT |
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As per popular request, here are several tactical games I like, in no particular order.
Steamworld: Heist 2
Phoenix Point ruined X-Com for me by adding simulated projectile aiming instead of abstract dice rolls. Steamworld Heist 2 ruined Phoenix Point by actually being fun and accessible with pleasing visuals. The ship combat isn't very good, but it is over with quickly so you can get back to the good stuff.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Fuck Age of Wonders 4, Planetfall is the apex of AoW design with radically different faction design and crazy secret techs to synergize with them (Planetfall's equivalent of schools of magic). But the thing I think I love the most about Planetfall compared to other 4X games is how units in armies are a specialized piece of a greater whole. Whereas other AoW games are about getting a giant doomstack of Tier-4s and ROFLstomping the map with it, Planetfall tier-4s tend to be super support units that enhance the rest of your lower-tier army units.
Mortal Glory 2
About as barebones as production values get, but fantastic gameplay under the hood. It's a gladiator sports management game about training a squad of monsters and climbing the ladder to achieve fame and fortune. One of my favorite mechanics in just about any game is the ability to push enemy units into one another. Mortal Glory is a game all about sending your enemies flying, usually into a pile of explosive barrels causing a multi-blast chain reaction that wreaks half the enemy line in one move, or manages to wipe out half your own dudes other times. Death is not permanent unless you turn that on.
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
We all know it and love it. A spiritual sequel to Star Hammer 2: The Vanguard Prophecy. It's a WEGO naval battle game in 3D space taking place during the first cylon war before the Ron Moore series starts.
Kingsvein
The spiritual sequel to Voidspire Tactics, Kingsvein is a really really good Final Fantasy Tactics clone that thankfully trims a lot of the meta and just makes it about the job system and building the exact kind of characters you want to try. It takes place in a weird underground world populated by sentient rock people but it's not any weirder than Hollow Knight. |
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