this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
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Looking to ask for people's favorite tactical RPGs because I have played a bunch but never really gotten into any. XCOM, Fire Emblem, Disgaea, Advance Wars, Fallout, etc.

Looking to see what other people love so I can convince myself to try something new or try something again.

Out of what I've played, Into the Breach was my favorite. Very dense, and the positioning is really important. The only one I actually finished.

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[–] Menschlicher_Fehler@feddit.org 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you enjoyed Into the Breach, take a look at Tactical Breach Wizards. Not much of an RPG, but the combat is similar to ITB. Not as difficult though.

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

For some reason I read Tactical Breach Wizards and thought of Sexy Battle Wizards, and I just thought, that's a cool recommendation but why here?

[–] ChocoboEnthusiast@leminal.space 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just for the story, FFTactics. That story twists so much it makes Cables envious.

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Job system is fun too, just unfortunate the later Heroes stomp over created characters

And the music is incredible

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[–] HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

UFO: Alien Invasion.

A free, open source reimagining of the original XCOM games.

https://ufoai.org/

[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Shining Force is a classic. Basically Seva's answer to Fire Emblem.

Wargroove is pretty good too. Kind of like Advance Wars, but in a more medieval fantasy setting. From an indie dev with pixel art. My only real complaint is one I have with all modern "retro pixel art" style games: the "pixels" can move by much smaller increments than themselves. I wish games that used that style would align everything, including animation, to the fake pixels. It looks kind of busy and messy imo. It doesn't bother me enough to ruin Wargroove though.

Banner Saga was pretty good. It's a combination of tactical RPG with mostly text-based choose-your-own-adventure style elements between battles. Still haven't played the 3rd one, but I enjoyed the first 2.

[–] picnicolas@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Loved Shining Force since I watched my brother and his friend play all night after renting it from Blockbuster in the early 90s! I’ve played 1 and 2 a few times over the years and always had fun.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What's the one in the picture? Also, how do I read alt text on Summit?

[–] isyasad@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Picture is of "Front Mission" (1995). I've never played or heard of it, tbh it is just taken from the Wikipedia page for tactical RPG.

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Front Mission was pretty fun, and it looks like there's a remaster available that shines it up a bit. I don't remember much about the plot, but you build and outfit a squad of mechs, and you can specialize them for guns, or melee, or rockets or what have you.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

Ooh, thank you. It looks cool.

[–] Donjuanme@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

My favorite series is disgaea, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people, it's over the top game breaking silliness.

Chroma-squad is often overlooked, but captures a lot of what name 90s trpg's great and improves on the formula quite a bit.

The absolute best trpg imo is "bionic dues", I feel like it you enjoyed into the breach you should definitely give bionic dues a shot, it's such a different style of game,

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Jagged Alliance 2 (especially with the 1.13 mod) is the most ludicrously detailed tactical RPG you'll ever find. It can be a nightmare to actually play until you spend many, many hours learning all its systems, but nothing else comes close immersion-wise. You can customize every mercenary's loadout down to individual weapon attachments, capturing different parts of the map gives bonuses that actually make sense (like being able to ship in weapons once you've taken the airport), you can train militias to hold onto captured sectors for you, and you can even use the in-game internet to send flowers to the main villain.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

Yeah, I really liked JA2. The UI is pretty elderly today, though.

I haven't been very impressed with some of the subsequent attempts to revive the series, though I still haven't gotten around to playing Jagged Alliance 3 yet, and that has much better scores than some of the intervening releases, like Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. If you haven't tried JA3 yet either, you might consider taking a look.

EDIT: Oh, wait, yes I did play it, because I remember the intro mission that they have screenshots of.

https://shared.fastly.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1084160/ss_0edc29526ad201a59357234cd77a34a5ba507208.1920x1080.jpg

collapsed inline media

I don't recall finishing the game, though. I should go back and see what my status in that game is. Thanks for making me think of it.

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[–] augustus@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I love Tactical Breach Wizards, which is somewhere between Into the Breach and Invisible Inc (also amazing).

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[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

Advance Wars, of course.

I haven't seen any mention of "Steamworld: Heist", yet. It's a very different sort of game engine, but scratches the same itch.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

X-Com - UFO Defense and TFTD are definitely my favorite. Fallout 1&2 are a close second and I've been meaning to play through them again. Ogre Battle is a distant third, with Front Mission right behind it.

[–] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There's a reason why oldschool X-Com players kept coming back to the games despite technical issues like the Groundhog Day bug. (Thank all applicable deities for OpenXcom solving those issues, though.)

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Absolutely loved both of them! I think UFO Defense was the first pc game I played on our first 486. It was one of the first games I ever successfully hacked.

Not sure how many people know, but there's another game from Gollop, Rebelstar Tactical Command for Gameboy Advance. It's part of the Rebelstar series dating back to the ZX Spectrum. It plays pretty much the same as the original XCom games.

[–] Jaeger86@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wasteland 3 is really good, baldurs gate 3 kinda, darkest dungeon, Valkyrie chronicles 1 & 4

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[–] De_Narm@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, above all else.

That being said, Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 1 and 2 are awesome. They combine SRPGs with the usual SMT combat - I don't think I've found something similar yet.

You move around like you would in any other SRPG, then you can attack enemies in range to enter normal turn based combat - however, at most, you can only play out 2 full turns before combat ends. Afterwards the next unit moves. Each unit represents a squad of up to three characters you will be batteling with, usually a human and two demons. Depending on your squad, you may have different movement, range and abilities.

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, above all else.

Yes. The day is full of moments. (Relevant Penny Arcade)

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I lamy FF Tactics a little bit. And it was okay (I was pretty young) but when advanced ears came out. Hooooo my god k was hooked. I was always on my Gameboy every chance I could get.

[–] Cityshrimp@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

Another good one that’s more recent is Triangle Strategy. Positioning is important. Great story. Very similar to FFT but FFT is better overall. Still a great game and more modern.

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 5 points 2 weeks ago

Not my all-time fav, but I like it a lot and it's kinda slept-on: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars for the 3DS. It's got a lot in common with X-COM -- heck, Julian Gollop was even the producer on it.

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Oooh, I got you OP. If you liked the dense micro-maps of Into the Breach, check out Bad North. Defend small islands from waves of invaders with limited troops. Not an overly long game, but very satisfying for what it is.

[–] Metostopholes@midwest.social 5 points 2 weeks ago

I'm a weirdo, so Massive Chalice.

It has a strange high-concept premise where you are an immortal ruler defending against a monstrous army that only attacks every decade or so. Any surviving individual squad member will only be able to go on a handful of missions before aging out, so you are also managing familial bloodlines to birth new soldiers, while controlling for genetic and social traits that get passed down. I love the uniqueness and big ideas. It's far from perfect, but you asked for favorite not the best.

[–] memphis@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Tactical RPG's are my favorite genre of games, and Tactics Ogre (not Ogre Battle) in any of it's many iterations is my favorite. No game is perfect but it does so many things so, so well. Matsuno's magnum opus. The latest version, Tactics Ogre Reborn added high quality voice acting which I really love.

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[–] abs_mess@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

I'm playing Last Spell right now, isometric base defense game. Lots of viable ways to play, but later missions become a slog if you don't plan out hero builds. A run takes 5-10 hours, but rounds take 20 minutes. Emphasis on crowd control and positioning.

Darkest Dungeon is nice if you want a break from isometric stuff, dungeon crawler, emphasis on team combat and resource management.

Creeper World III if you want to try RTS style, lots of community maps.

Tactical Breach Wizards, Come in through a window, throw everyone else out the window. Silly, but fun.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

Laser Squad, playing couch hot-seat is what sent me down this path.

I really liked Jagged Alliance 2, Afterlight and especially X-COM: Apocalypse. Apocalypse had such radical departures from the first two Ufo titles, which did not make it very well liked among enthusiasts, in particular the real-time battle mode. But the game had such fun mechanics and steep difficulty curve, I really enjoyed the challenge of it, as opposed to getting another Enemy Unknown clone that was TFTD.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

FFTactics like others was my favorite.

I quite enjoyed into the breach.

I bought a couple of tactics like games on steam and they all dont seem to be fun to me. I guess I like to grind a bit on fair but punishing tactics titles.

[–] wirelesswire@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

My favorite is the original Final Fantasy Tactics, hands down. I also liked XCOM 1, Advance Wars, Ogre Battle 64, Unicorn Overlord, Fire Emblem 3 Houses, and probably a few others I can't think of right now.

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

I like the disgaea series not only because of the deep systems involved, but also just because gameplay is so snappy. So many SRPGs are slow as molasses in terms of interface. I also really enjoyed Unicorn Overlord recently.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Just can't beat The Shining Force games. Can't.

[–] Lembot_0003@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Commandos was super cool. But I suppose it is too difficult by modern standards. Not a RPG though...

[–] codexarcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Commandos to me is the start of a different lineage of real-time tactical stealth games, which goes on to include Desperados, Shadow Tactics, and Shadow Gambit (yes, most of those were made by the same team).

Outside of the OGRE-alikes (FO Tactics, FF Tactics, Disgea, and so on) some other options for tactical games that are a little different:

  • Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - sort of a 4X game mixed with tactics, or like Homeworld with a lot fewer units
  • Myth: The Fallen Lords (and sequels) - classic pre-Halo Bungie titles that mix RPG and strategy. Somewhat defining for the RTS genre too.
  • UFO: Aftershock and sequels - a series that tried to revive XCom before Firaxis rebooted it. Not as good, but pretty interesting and fun, a little easier than old school xcom but not as polished as the newer ones.
  • Cannon Fodder - a UK classic, very arcadey but very fun and lighter than all these other "serious" games
[–] Lembot_0003@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I remember Cannon Fodder. It was rather difficult as I remember. Nice game... Do we have a remake?

[–] tal@lemmy.today 3 points 2 weeks ago

Cannon Fodder - a UK classic, very arcadey but very fun and lighter than all these other “serious” games

It has that iconic theme music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASTLGt_9vbU

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago

Baldur's gate 3

[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Fallout Tactics remains my favorite Fallout.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Tuned Heart - PC-9801

Koudelka - PS1

Jean D'Arc - PSP

XCOM 2 - Steam

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Syndicate from 1993. Don't know if that fulfills the "RPG" part of Tactical RPG but it's definitely worth a play.

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[–] RandomStickman@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago

Currently playing Tactical Breach Wizards. It's not really "hardcore" the way XCOM is, which suits my lifestyle right now.

[–] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Wargroove is very good.

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