With Fire Emblem: Three Houses finally releasing by the end of July, Switch owners may be in the mood to dive into some tactical-strategy titles to hone their skills before succumbing to the dread permadeath Fire Emblem is famous for. Whether their more cartoony and light-hearted, or gritty and soul-destroying, the Switch is host to a selection of titles you should check out if you consider yourself a veteran tactician, or simply in-need of a good introduction to the world of the painstakingly vexing tactical-strategy genre.
1 – Wargroove
Published & Developed by: Chucklefish Games
Wargrovoe fills in that empty void left by the absence of the popular tactical series Advance Wars, which saw its first entry on the Gameboy Advance in the early 2000s. If you’re looking for something that might be more akin to the Gameboy Advance Fire Emblem, Wargroove may be the best choice, giving you command of armies of knights, mages, wyvern riders, and archers, before we lose hundreds of hours to Nintendo’s new Harry Potter x Game of Thrones tactics game later in the month. It certainly shares visual similarities with those GBA Fire Emblem and Advance Wars titles, with a likewise bright and colourful, cartoony approach, with humorous writing and memorable characters.
Even better, outside of its 50+ hours of single player content, there’s also the opportunity to create your own maps, with campaigns and stories that can be shared amoungst friends and enemies alike.
2 – Disgaea series
Published by: NIS America
Developed by: Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.
Disgaea has been a staple SRPG series since it’s debut on Sony’s Playstation 2. Now the series can mostly be enjoyed on Nintendo’s hybrid console, with Disgaea 1 Complete and Disgaea 5 Complete readily available, and Disgaea 4 Complete+ to be released later this year. Why the second and third entries in the series have been skipped over is a mystery, and whatever the ‘+’ means in 4 Complete+ I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, but talk about a non-linear release schedule.
If you’ve never picked up a Disgaea game, it’s one of Nippon Ichi’s most popular franchises, with anime and manga spin-offs, taking place in the Netherworld. The series is well-known for its challenging gameplay, cynicism, humorous dialogue, ridiculously high stats and levels, anti-heroes, and Prinnies – sort of like depressed-looking penguins with tiny batwings and peg legs. It’s a little disturbing that they’re also oddly upbeat…
If you want something to really challenge your superior tactics skills before diving into the world of Fódlan, any one of the Digaea games currently available on the Switch will be worth picking up. Thankfully the remastered port of the first entry is available, so it would probably make sense to start there, though judging by the order they’ve rereleased on the Switch so far, don’t expect to be able to play them in any sensical linear order on your favourite hybrid any time soon…
3 – Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Published by: Ubisoft
Developed by: Ubisoft Paris
So this was somewhat of a surprise hit, to say the least. To many it sounded like a horrible idea. Rabbids? Those annoying Minion-esque Ubisoft pests that plagued the Rayman series, crossing over in the world of the Mushroom Kingdom? Outrageous. And yet, for those who gave it a shot, it actually turned out to be a surprisingly charming title, with excellent gameplay and humorous writing. Where Rabbids in the past had been somewhat annoying, relying on poor potty humour and silly noises that got tiresome rather quickly (much like Despicable Me’s Minions), in Kingdom Battle, they seem to work much better, parodying familiar inhabitants of Mario’s favourite jumping ground, including Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Piranha Plants, and my favourites, Rabbid Yoshi and Luigi.
As can be expected, the plot is somewhat absurd: a young Mario fan has created a devise called the SupaMerge helmet, with her robot assistant Beep-O (who acts as your guide throughout the game), which can merge two objects into one. However, when a group of pesky Rabbids arrive in their Time Washing Machine, things (un)predictably go haywire and chaos ensues, leading them to invade the Mushroom Kingdom. Teaming up with their Rabbid counterparts, it’s up to Mario and his allies to form a team and traverse the familiar, if distorted, kingdoms we all recognise, defeating corrupted Rabbids and undoing their mess.
But wait, you’re probably wondering: where’s the jumping and the platforming? Well in this outing, Mario has taken inspiration from the popular cover-based shooter tactics series, X-COM, and opted to take up futuristic firearms, with unique character abilities ranging from healing, ground-pound, and long-range drone-based weapons, to take down the Rabbid threat. And yes, this is a Super Mario game we’re talking about, as in the infamous ‘Jump Man’. What’s so impressive about this title, though, is how despite introducing a totally new gameplay style to the series, everything about the visuals and the integration of the Rabbids and tactical gameplay still feels recognisably Super Mario, with a charming soundtrack to boot.
With Ubisoft taking the creative reigns for this one, while it may not be as challenging as Fire Emblem, it’s still worth following Mario’s example by jumping into and exploring this new, fresh take on the Mushroom Kingdom.
4 – Banner Saga Trilogy
Published by: Gearbox Publishing
Developed by: Stoic
Utilising a gorgeous hand-drawn art style inspired by Norse mythology, Banner Saga is yet another excellent fantasy tactical RPG to grace the Nintendo Switch, and even better the entire saga has been released in one package which is also available physically. The first entry follows two playable characters whose paths inevitably crossover, with an interactive story that hinges on the players’ decisions, as well as their strategic fidelity while fighting a warlike race, the Dredge, who have issues with humans. As all orc-like races do…
Critically praised for it’s art style, combat, and story, players have noted similarities between it’s turn-based combat with the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics and Shining Force, both of which had served as inspiration for the game itself. If that’s not enough to pull you in, the games developers include Alex Thomas, Arnie Jorgensen and John Watson, who had previously worked on BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic. Coupling a beautiful aesthetic with the political intrigue of Game of Thrones within a Norse inspired world, not mention bundling three games in one, Banner Saga Trilogy is an easy recommendation for tactical-strategy RPG fans.
5 – Bad North
Published by: Raw Fury
Developed by: Plausible Concept
What better to follow up Banner Saga’s land of Norse mythology than more Vikings? Though this time, you’ll be defending your home island from Viking invaders in the real-time strategy title, Bad North. With the king dead at the hands of the aforementioned invaders, it’s up to you to take up the mantel and man the defences, with far more focus on survival than past entries on this list. It’s less tower-defence, and more along the lines of those defensive siege moments from the Total War series. With charming visuals juxtaposing against the brutality of survival and the bloody realities of war, along procedurally generated islands, taking advantage of upgrades to train your small island militia into a fearsome band of seasoned warriors is a must if you hope to defend your island kingdom.
While you’re at it, give Last Kingdom a watch, since we seem to be in a Viking-Saxon mood.
6 – Valkyria Chronicles series
Published & Developed by: Sega
Moving several hundred years away from the age of Vikings and Saxons – in an alternate 20th century wartime Earth no less – is the Valkyria Chronicles series. Recreating the tactical-strategy RPG genre with its own unique system called BLiTZ (Battle of Live Tactical Zones), this system utilises an over-map view of each combat zone, giving players the ability to view the positions of deployed units, visible enemies, as well as objectives, before changing into a third-person perspective to move characters into strategic positions in real-time combat.
The world feels fleshed out, with heavy emphasis placed on the story and characters, crafted with beautifully animated and stylised graphics and cutscenes, making use of Sega’s CANVAS graphics engine to give the visuals an animated pencil and watercolour painting effect. Although set within the fictitious steampunk continent of Europa, inventively named and based around real-world Europe, the world of Valkyria Chronicles feels grounded and familiar, yet vibrant and imaginative – almost along the lines of Steamboy (2004).
Both Valkyria Chronicles and Valkyria Chronicles 4 are available on the Switch, with the former being a digital only title and the latter having both a digital and physical release. Furthermore, Valkyria Chronicles 4 can be enjoyed on its own, without playing 2 and 3, as it takes place during the same timeframe as the first game. If you enjoy anime-style characters with a creative, intuitive tactical gameplay style, then you must give either or both entries in the Valkyria Chronicles series a try.
