Tactics games is a subset of turn-based RPGs where the battlefield also needs to be included in decision-making. This is due to the fact that tactics games involve players moving their units around the map to establish the best position against opposing units.
Having another mechanic to take note of gives tactics games further depth because players can’t just expect to win by placing all their units in the frontline. Oftentimes placing the right unit on the critical space means winning or losing the battle. That said, here are some tactics games that put players’ mettle and strategic thinking to the ultimate test.
8 Othercide
Othercide is a Lovecraftian-inspired tactical game from Lightbulb Crew and Focus Home Interactive. Players command a group of Daughters across various stages to accomplish objectives. Each Daughter has specific roles: Blademaster, Shieldbearer, and Soulsinger. These represent the melee, defense, and ranged support, respectively.
What makes Othercide difficult is in its unforgiving combat system. Daughters spend action points to access and execute moves: spending too many action points will leave them exhausted and will take them longer to gain their turn. Players can’t heal their Daughters conventionally as well: the need to sacrifice one Daughter of equal strength to the one they want to heal.
These mechanics, along with the randomly-generated combat stages and enemy locations make this game one of the more difficult tactics titles in recent years.
7 The Banner Saga Series
The Banner Saga series tells the story of two characters whose tales diverge or not, depending on the player’s choices. The games take inspiration from Nordic mythology, and have a fun and engaging cast of characters to acquire between the three games.
Gameplay-wise, the games’ Strength and Damage mechanic provides a challenge for players since the units’ Damage relies on how much Strength they possess. Strength gets sapped the more hits units take, and the less Strength units have, the less powerful their Damage becomes.
Keeping this in mind is essential during the later stages, since terrain as well as the surprisingly expansive enemy types will have players plan out the best means to strike and come out on top.
6 Wild ARMs XF
Wild ARMs XF, also known as Wild ARMs Crossfire, is the tactical game that came from the Wild ARMs franchise. This game veers off from its previous titles in terms of gameplay by adding tactical elements.
Keeping to its Western theme, Wild ARMs XF continues the root-n-tootin’ aesthetic of the Wild West: characters predominantly have ranged weapons to take out enemies in the map. Ranged weapons deal damage from further distances, but the further away enemies are, the less reliable they become.
However, the game’s objectives per stage can get frustrating because most of the time, the odds are too stacked against players. This leads to a huge chunk of the game being a trial-and-error kind of problem-solving.
5 Into The Breach
Into the Breach is one of the more self-contained tactical titles. Players take control of mechs and some establishments as they battle against huge monsters whose goal is to destroy as many buildings and wipe out civilians as possible.
Each unit has their own moves and attacks, and it is up to players how to command them in the battlefield. In most cases, having mechs take damage is much more important since the player’s health relies on how many civilian structures the monsters have not damaged or destroyed.
Adding to that is the rogue-like elements of the stages and building locations. Players will have to adjust accordingly when to defend civilian buildings and take out monsters while keeping in mind which map hazards are in place to further swing the battle for or against their favor.
4 Tactics Ogre Reborn
Tactics Ogre is widely considered as the title that paved the way for tactical games like Final Fantasy Tactics. Outside of Japan, Tactics Ogre is less famous than Final Fantasy Tactics, but it still holds a strong fanbase nonetheless.
Its recent remake, Tactics Ogre Reborn, gives much needed quality of life updates to the beloved game. It’s now easier to check whether ranged attacks can hit targets thanks to the revamped trajectory viewer; new skills have been added to some classes which allow for follow-up moves that deal devastating damage.
However, the inclusion of a party-wide level cap ensures that players can’t over-level during main story battles. This was done to keep the story battles challenging and make players use team composition, terrain knowledge, and unit abilities in an even playing field.
3 Final Fantasy Tactics
One of the games synonymous with the tactics genre, Final Fantasy Tactics gives players a taste of what Squaresoft, now Square Enix, can do when tasked with venturing into a different genre. Granted, RPGs and tactical games aren’t too far off, as far as mechanics are concerned, but each have their own set of mechanics that help separate them apart.
In Final Fantasy Tactics’ case, it’s the usage of the grid movement system along with the utilization of map terrain. Square Enix learned what works and doesn’t from Tactics Ogre, and they refined the elements that worked in this title.
Gameplay-wise, strategy and team composition plays a huge factor in completing missions. Choosing the best jobs for units is essential since each job has particular skills that can tip the scales to the player's favor. Power leveling is an option here, but note that enemies outside story missions scale with the player’s current party level. Permadeath is also in the game, but it is a bit more forgiving as players just need to revive said units before their death timer runs out.
2 Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a direct sequel to Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance back in GameCube that is available in Nintendo Wii. This title follows the storied Fire Emblem franchise with its high fantasy and medieval swordplay motif.
Similar to other Fire Emblem titles, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has permadeath, and once a character dies, they can never be resurrected, unless players fancy starting a new game altogether. Characters can level up, but the stats that level up is random, so it can be a grind if players wish to boost specific stats for their character. Players who want their favorite Fire Emblem characters get strong often resort to replaying random fights just to get their characters leveled up the way they want to.
For those who have a copy of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on GameCube, they can transfer some key units to the Wii. That said, this game’s difficulty ramps up right from the onset: most players will rely on the mid-battle saving feature more times than not.
1 XCOM Series
Unsurprisingly, the XCOM series is hands down the hardest tactics games. This vaunted series puts a clever spin on the tactical games by adding a cover-shooting mechanic. Given that players command a squad of well-trained soldiers across various urban and jungle maps to fight off an alien invasion.
XCOM is notorious for having permadeath that players will feel when they lose their ace soldier during their playthrough. This, on top of the unforgiving RNG that players will be undergoing during battles will make them feel like the game is against them at times: soldiers who have weapons training usually become unreliable when trying to hit aliens in the battlefield.
In order to get through XCOM’s daunting missions, players have to plan out exactly what their moves will be, arm their soldiers with the best weapon loadouts and pray that the RNG gods will favor them once the shoot around commences.