Tactical Breach Wizards deftly blends deep tactical gameplay that rewards experimentation with sharply-written dialogue and characters bursting with personality
By Alessandro Barbosa@CaptionBarbosa on August 19, 2024 at 10:00AM PDT
In a world where a large enough portion of the population has access to a magical ability of some kind, it’s easy to envision how that might affect their career path. The military would make great use of those able to see into the future or others that travel along a different plane of time, making for the ultimate espionage tools. A surgeon who isn’t burdened with the risk of losing a patient on the table could be invaluable for some of the most complex and dangerous tasks in a hospital room, while an adept pyromancer could find honest (or incredibly dishonest) work in a variety of fields. Tactical Breach Wizards has a lot of fun toying around in this space, thrusting together a renegade party of regular, but magically capable, heroes in a globe-spanning adventure that is supported by an engrossing turn-based tactics system that rewards smart thinking and creative experimentation.
The adventure starts with Jen, a plucky witch who gets by as a loose-cannon private investigator. Her latest job gets her involved in a wider conspiracy involving a wizard mafia, a presumed-dead spec ops agent, and a war-torn nation with a valuable resource ripe for exploitation by capitalist countries. It sounds like a checklist for any number of po-faced Tom Clancy novels, but the tongue-in-cheek approach to deconstructing such stories is what makes Tactical Breach Wizards’ lengthy campaign such a joy. It does rely too heavily on occasional exposition dumps to catch you up on why you’re moving from one locale to the next, but it’s otherwise lifted up by its endearing cast of protagonists and villains alike, with their consistently entertaining banter quickly establishing itself as a highlight.
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Jen might be the de facto leader of your party, but she isn’t the only one with a personality you’ll likely fall in love with. Zan is a retired military man whose entire career hinged on his ability to see just one second into the future, but was hamstrung by his inability to act on this clairvoyance during critical moments. He’s a grizzled but often bumbling war veteran, doling out strategic prowess in one scene while defending his inability to keep a cohesive dossier system during the next. Banks, on the other hand, is a skilled surgeon who happens upon the ability to resurrect people, which makes her a target for some nasty people involved in all manner of illegal activities. She’s viciously blunt in comparison to Jen and Zan, but equally playful at times, even if it’s just by poking fun at Jen’s insecurities or pointing out the sheer ridiculousness of the mission they’re on.
This trio makes the initial cast, but it’s expanded on with new members and memorable villains that further flesh out a sharply written script. Tactical Breach Wizards allows you to spend a lot of time with these characters, and it’s impressive how much personality is imparted by each of them through text alone. I consistently looked forward to the brief exchanges between party members in between each level, most of which could definitely have taken place anyway but behind the door of a room filled with enemies. It balances the demanding tactical action with flairs of levity at the right moments, peppering in some fourth-wall-breaking moments but never overusing any one element either. Tactical Breach Wizards knows that it’s both funny and endearing, and therefore this self-awareness feels earned.
At times when they’re not engaged in conversation, your party is energetically blasting through barriers using vibrant spells. Tactical Breach Wizards might initially seem like your standard grid-based, turn-based game. It places great importance on where your characters stand, how effectively they use their turns, and the interactions between numerous magical abilities. However, it distinguishes itself in how concise the combat segments are. Each battle is confined to a small space, usually wrapping up within a few minutes and just a few turns. This game is less about prolonged warfare, like in XCOM, and more about quick, strategic exchanges similar to those in Fights in Tight Spaces or Into the Breach, mixing aspects of both to create its unique tactical gameplay.
The game ensures that every action executed during your turn will have the anticipated effect. For instance, Zan possesses a skill akin to the overwatch feature from XCOM, yet it lacks the uncertainty of missing an enemy crossing his path. Tactical Breach Wizards also provides foresight into enemy responses to your tactics before your next move, clearly showing potential damage and changes in the game arena. If a turn doesn’t unfold to your satisfaction, there’s an option to rewind to its start, though you must accept the consequences once you commit to the outcomes of your actions.
Tactical Breach Wizards brings together a group of ordinary yet magically endowed heroes on a worldwide journey driven by a compelling turn-based tactical system that values clever strategy and inventive trial and error.
This less severe style invites you to experiment in ways you may not experience with similar games in the genre. It’s engaging to explore every strategic advantage each turn can offer, revisiting seemingly minor choices that could have significant ramifications. This freedom allows you to deeply understand how your team’s diverse abilities work together, alleviating the need to learn solely through failure. Challenges remain, however, as each level presents itself like a compact, standalone puzzle that demands inventive solutions. Neglecting potential threats such as unblocked reinforcements or poor target priority can lead to difficult situations. Yet, the game challenges players without leaning on frustration as a learning tool, keeping the experience of orchestrating a successful strategy both rewarding and enjoyable.
The strategic complexity of each battle is enhanced by the diverse abilities your characters gain as you advance through the game. Each team member brings unique class-based skills, with new additions evolving as the storyline progresses. Jen, a versatile witch, offers a powerful chain lightning attack that targets multiple foes simultaneously and a beneficial passive ability permitting movement post certain actions. In contrast, Banks specializes in support, capable of reviving fallen allies, deploying debuffs with a long-range sedative, or launching an attack with a luminous skull.
Zan utilizes his military expertise, wielding an arcane-enhanced rifle for distant attacks, and deploys decoys to double strike enemies targeted by your team during a turn. These initial abilities, upgradeable through earned experience perks, exemplify your offensive toolkit. The game dictates your team’s makeup based on the current level, encouraging the continuous innovation of tactics with varying character combinations, thereby avoiding repetitive conflicts.
Engagements may involve igniting foes with magic fire or orchestrating multiple targets for a powerful shield bash where the successful use of environmental elements is crucial. While most skills inflict damage, they often push adversaries around the battlefield. This knockback can turn windows into deadly weapons if enemies are strategically maneuvered through them, highlighting the critical interplay between causing damage and controlling enemy positioning.
This dynamic is intensified when enemies collide with each other or are shoved into explosive settings impacting nearby opponents, revealing the game’s rewarding nature as you uncover efficient strategies for clearing the board before adversaries act. However, positional choices for your squad at each turn’s end are vital, as enemies can forcefully remove your characters from play. Often, comical situations arise when a seemingly perfect strategy results in your team being disastrously displaced during the enemy’s retaliation.
Varied enemy types and stages with fewer windows mean you cannot always use the same tactics repeatedly. Larger foes introduce complex buffs such as armor to reduce damage, gas masks to ward off knockback effects, or total immunity from being forced out of the map. Detailed explanations of each resistance and immunity appear when hovering over an enemy, yet the mixture of numerous effects can complicate understanding how to defeat them. For instance, the shield-bearing enemies introduced midway through the campaign resist knockback and standard damage, significantly weakening Banks’ sedative. Their overlapping buffs initially obfuscate how to dismantle them, and their sudden appearance adds unwelcome spikes in difficulty. However, they don’t appear often enough to disrupt the entire campaign, and the option to skip frustrating levels helps maintain a comfortable gameplay pace.
Playing according to your preferences extends to optional campaign content, with unique bonus objectives tailored for each party member in every level, and additional combat puzzles and survival challenges unlocked as you advance. Completing this optional content rewards points for purchasing cosmetic items for party members, not additional experience for upgrades. This approach keeps tactical engagement optional and prevents essential campaign progression from hinging on power levels, minimizing potential frustration over being too weak to advance in the story.
Yet, frustration may be difficult to avoid if you play Tactical Breach Wizards using a controller. Assigned buttons aid actions like rewinding turns or switching between team members, but using an analog stick as a cursor makes selecting abilities and targeting enemies cumbersome. Despite spending much time playing on the Steam Deck, the superior ease of using a mouse and keyboard highlighted that they are the intended input methods, leaving a longing for a more refined control scheme than what minor adjustments in settings can provide.
Content shortage isn’t a problem as it was with Suspicious Development’s earlier success, Gunpoint. Tactical Breach Wizards is the studio’s biggest and most ambitious project, with the prolonged development period proving worthwhile. It embraces classic elements of the tactical turn-based genre while removing many barriers to entry, preserving the excitement of crafting and executing a perfect turn. Paired with an engaging cast characterized by sharp and amusing dialogue, the game consistently tempts players to dive into one more battle after each satisfying victory.
