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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

I feel like it had RPG elements with the soldier upgrades and equipment. There was progression in what your characters could do. This game was amazing, I'd love a remake of this with some small graphical and quality of life improvements.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yes! I loved playing this game on our old 486.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

There was an old one on the first sega console controlling different knights on a board. It was the first game of its kind i played but could never remember what it was.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Tuned Heart - PC-9801

Koudelka - PS1

Jean D'Arc - PSP

XCOM 2 - Steam

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago

UFO: Alien Invasion.

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

https://ufoai.org/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I rather enjoyed Gears Tactics a few years ago.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I really enjoyed it as an XCOM combat-ish game that felt like there was work done to make it feel like it belongs in the Gears Of War universe. It's not infinitely replayable because the campaign has mandatory side-missions that are generated from a limited template and begin to feel stale once you've seen all the templates, and by the endgame you have so many special abilities unlocked in your squad that it kind of drifts away from any semblance of feeling like combat tactics and into a puzzle game about min-maxing abilities to combo chain them together (this opinion might read a little oddly but if you've played enough turnbased tactical games you notice many game riding this line, with some going extreme one way or the other). It is worth a sale price though if you need a turn based combat fix.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Not my fav by any means, but I've really been enjoying the Kriegsfront Tactics demo this week.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Fallout Tactics remains my favorite Fallout.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, above all else.

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Baldur's gate 3

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Most people don't see it as a tactical rpg but: Baldur's Gate 3

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My favorites are probably the Disgaea series and related games (Makai Kingdom, Phantom Brave) and Tactics Ogre. I also like Tactics Ogres more popular little brother, Final Fantasy Tactics.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Disgaea was a bit too edgy and weird for me. And Too. Much. Uninteresting. Dialogue ! Fire emblem games have the same issue.

Tactics ogre looks cool ! (Does it suffer from the issue stated above ?)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Disgaea and like are intentionally non-serious and funny. If the humor doesn't do it for you in the slightest then it's not for you sadly. I do have to say that once you get hooked on the series, all the other games feel like their mechanics are overly simplistic though.

And no, Tactics Ogre is all serious and very very good.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yey, thanks !

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks for this rec, it looks delightful!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Ooh, thank you. It looks cool.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 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.

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