Summary
Tactical RPGs have seen a resurgence recently, with series likeFire Emblemreturning to form and several indie spiritual successors to series likeFinal Fantasy TacticsandTactics Ogre. However, more often than not, players see these games attached to linear narratives. While they may have open-ended campaigns, missions tend to lead players along a set story path.
There are a number of tactics RPGs that have gone for a non-linear approach to storytelling and gameplay, though. From tabletop campaign-inspired tactics RPGs, to open-world player-driven stories of survival, there are tactics RPGs that go for a much different take on the genre than linear JRPG-style narratives. These are the best tactical RPGs with non-linear story paths.
The originalKing’s Bounty, aclassic grid-based RPGfrom the early 90s, is often cited as the game that inspired theHeroes of Might & Magicseries. While the series saw a few later successors, it never really gained the popularity of the series it inspired. 2021’sKing’s Bounty 2was a valiant attempt to restore the tactical RPG franchise.
Players take the role of savior. Being thrust suddenly into managing troops on behalf of their kingdom, they have to push back hordes of monsters while also dealing with a fractured society where every other nation is now a potential enemy or ally. While retaining the grid-based tactical RPG battles the series was known for, the game also opts for third-person open-world exploration, which aids the non-linear narrative and free-form adventuring style, even though it is a little basic.
Expeditions: Vikingadds a real-world historical flavor tothe tactics RPG genre. Players take the role of a Viking chieftain, leading their clan on raids, building their village, making alliances, and managing their troops. The tactical grid-based battles are competent, they’re grounded in real-world combat, so there are no flashy special moves or spells, but they’re not the real draw of the game.
The open-ended exploration allows players to raid and trade all around Brittania while building their Norse home. That means making various allies or enemies of the factions in the land, groups like the Picts or the Angles. This adds a free-form, choice-driven element to each campaign and the choices a player makes will determine their own story, as well as how their campaign eventually ends.
3Fae Tactics
Player-driven Tactics JRPG
Fae Tacticssticks to the JRPG aesthetic of manypopular tactics RPG seriesbut goes its own way with a non-linear story that players can approach in any order. The core concept is that the magical and human worlds have been brought together in an event that has caused problems for both realms. Conflicts have arisen between various groups of humans and fae creatures as they’ve been forced to live together.
The player is cast in the role of a young magical girl who works with various fae creatures and humans as allies to resolve these conflicts. The game is open-world and allows players to approach the regions and their various issues in any order. The world and characters have a colorful and vibrant style, and there are plenty of different ways to customize allies' abilities in battle. Interestingly, the turn-based combat used a menuless system that feels a bit more active than a lot of tactics RPGs.
Fallout Tacticsseparates itself from both the original isometric RPGs and their first-person successors with a tactical squad-based RPG system. While the game does away with a lot of the deeper NPC interactions and heavy dialogue of the otherFalloutgames, it still gives the player choices about how to act and resolve missions. There is cumulative karma tracking, and this affects the ending of the game and the player’s endgame choice.
The squad-based gameplay emphasizes choice, and it can be played in one of three ways. There is a simultaneous turn mode, a squad-based turn mode, and a fullturn-based modeakin to the isometricFalloutsystem. While it’s more linear and less open-ended than the main seriesFalloutentries, there’s still abundant player choice here for a tactical RPG.
The models and environments ofBattle Brothersmay be simplistic, but the depth of its tactical battles and open-world procedural campaigns are nearly unrivaled. The player is the leader of a mercenary company, tasked with supplying the men, taking charge of their tactical battles, and guiding their exploration of the open world.
To contextualize the game for players who haven’t experienced it, the procedural campaigns play out a little like theMount & Bladeseries, with the player traveling around the map to fight, loot, trade, and gain recruits.Combat is played out in turnswith grid-based movement, range and line of sight play a big part in combat, and positioning mercenaries effectively is a key part of the tactical game.
Battle Brothersgameplay ramps up as the player’s power grows throughout the campaign, with dynamic late-game threats like an all-out war between regions or encroaching greenskin hordes. The tactical depth and variety on offer in its campaigns make it a highly replayable and enjoyable tactics RPG.
Wartalesis a darkly themedtactics RPGwhere players lead a band of mercenaries through a morally gray world. While it features the similar open-ended gameplay of building and equipping a mercenary company toBattle Brothers, where that game strays into whimsy and irreverence,Wartalesdoubles down on the gritty fantasy-realism of its setting.
Not that the game takes itself too seriously. Outside the turn-based tactical combat, players will spend a lot of time in their mercenary camp, getting to know the personalities of their group, and there’s enough dark humor to raise a wry smile.Wartalesis all about developing this mercenary company and helping it grow, and the tales players will make for themselves along the way.
A relatively simple-seemingclass-based character systeminWildermythgives way to varied tactical RPG combat over multiple runs of its procedurally generated campaigns. Character roles essentially work out to melee, ranger, and mage options, but there’s a huge amount of variety in how players can progress within a campaign that makes multiple runs feel highly varied, despite this apparent limitation.
That’s mostly thanks to how the game handles its campaigns and character progression. A story inWildermythessentially plays out like a tabletop game, with the player characters thrust into procedurally generated scenarios along their adventure, where player choice makes a huge difference in how the scenarios progress and resolve.
While players will start to recognize patterns for the scenarios after a few playthroughs, there’s enough choice within them to keep players engaged for multiple runs. Half of the fun lies in seeing what permanent effects certain resolutions will have on the player characters and their run. It can also be played with a group of friends, with each player controlling an individual character, which adds an extra dimension to the choice and consequence gameplay.
