Summary
For only being a few years old, the PS5 has built up quite a library of tactical RPGs. One of the biggest was released in 2023,Baldur’s Gate 3. Players could customize their character and then recruit others to join their team like Gale and Karlach.
Another good example isMarvel’s Midnight Sunswhich also gave players a customizable avatar who could then interact with famousMarvel heroes like Blade and Iron Man. Those two games are good Western-developed tactical RPGs for the PS5 but there have been some good ones from Japan too. Let’s take a look at what they have been brewing overseas over the past few years.
This game was originally released on the PS1 in Japan in 1997. It took almost three decades to get thisFront Missiongamein North America but it finally did on the Switch in 2023 followed by other consoles like the PS5 in 2024. Reviews forFront Mission 2: Remakeweren’t that high on aggregate sites like Metacritic as many reviewers dinged the menu system and other faults. It’s the type of series either players are going to be into customizing their mechs to a wild degree in menus or they are going to dislike it.Front Mission 2: Remakeis a better game than most think, adding a deep level of strategy to typical tactical RPGs by giving players that wealth of features for their mechs.
The DioField Chronicleis a hybrid of tactical RPGs and RTS games. Players typically don’t have a lot of units going into battle, but they have many enemies. On their turn, players can move hero units freely without a grid and perform several actions from abilities to attacks. Such abilities usually have a range of power, and putting characters in the right position to do the most damage can be finicky. It may not have been a sequel toFinal Fantasy Tacticslike most fans wanted from Square Enix, butThe DioField Chroniclewas still a solid and challenging tactical RPG that hit most of its marks.
There have been a lot of spinoffs post-Persona 5.Persona 5 Tacticais the latest and it might be the last, changing the art style to a more radical, cute form. The story involves The Phantom Thieves being pulled into another world that is being taken over by an oppressive army.
Characters can move freely during missions, within an allotted area, and then they can issue commands once they stay still. There are combo attacks too, so positioning is a big deal in this game which adds to the strategy factor. There haven’t been a lot of tactical spinoffs in the widerShin Megami Tenseiseriesand this definitely ranks up there.
The Last Spellwas a smaller indie game that combined a lot of genres into one. The game takes place in a post-apocalypse wherein cities across the wasteland are trying to hold back zombie and other monster invasions from snuffing out the last mages who can defend the realm. Players can deploy a random assortment of heroes, who change from run to run, to fight back the terrors of the night through grid-based gameplay. It’s a tactical RPG along witha tower defense gameas players can create fences and turrets before battle along with a roguelike as everything is randomly generated. It’s a three-way mashup that works well but is challenging beyond belief.
Live A Liveis a combo RPG too. It’s played like a traditional turn-based RPG wherein players can initiate combat by running into monsters while exploring. In battle, players can move around a grid and positioning does matter. For a game that was originally on the SNES, this recommendation is a remaster,Live A Livewas forward-thinking with this combination of battle systems. It’s also a wild RPG in that players go through separate campaigns from a Western to a caveman adventure which were all seemingly separate narratives. However, once all stories are completed, a new campaign will open up to tie up loose ends.
These games keep getting progressively wilder and they started at an eleven.Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtuelessis the latest entry which is the first to theme the underworld as a feudal version of Japan. There are ninjas, samurais, cherry blossoms, and the whole nine yards.
Settings aside, what fans love about this series is the DEEP customization options. They can create characters, shape their faces, give them classes, and so on. Besides playing through the campaign in grid-based maps, players can alsoplead with a demon courtto unlock features or dive into item dungeons to make said items stronger. It’s a lot to take in, but fans are used to it by now.
Tactics Ogre: Rebornis a remasterof the 1995 SNES original,Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. It’s more like a remaster of a remaster because the game has been re-released on more systems than one can count. At its core, it’s a lot likeFinal Fantasy Tacticswhich is not bizarre as the director, Yasumi Matsuno, worked on this beforeFinal Fantasy Tactics. Players can form parties, equip their soldiers with gear, and change classes before combat begins. There are mages, knights, and even other races like The Winged Folk who can gain huge territorial advantages in battle by flying and shooting arrows down from above.
Unicorn Overlordis a return to whatVanillaware does best: make RPGs. Their last game was 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and while it reviewed well, it was more of a light novel than an RPG much to the dismay of fans.Unicorn Overlorddoes some interesting things specifically for the tactical genre. Players can explore a semi open-world and take on side quests along with capture territories. Once engaged in battle, players will form units based around one hero and then they will attack automatically on their turn. The music is triumphant, the characters are colorful, the art is gorgeous, and there’s a reason why this 2024 hidden gem keeps coming up as fans really do want to sing its praises.
