Reverie Knights Tactics offers the traditional play of turn based style of combat with a linear style of story telling. When we look back at the turn based style of combat several prominent titles would come to mind: XCOM , The Persona Series, and more. With a fresh title like Reverie Knights Tactics, it would be more appealing to those who wants a more casual take on the genre that isn’t too demanding yet challenging enough not to make it a breeze. As it is said, Reverie Knights Tactics would play out as your typical turn based combat genre. For this title, 40 Giants manage to breathe life in a way that the combat feels decent. Not just relying on a “by the numbers” style of combat. With both it’s simplistic combat and a decent length of story telling, this game is one of those titles that is worth a look due to its nature.
For its setting, the game is set on a fantasy world of Arton where the elf kingdom of Lenorienn is under siege by the hobgoblins. But this isn’t the typical brutes of other fantasy themed games, but rather it is the story of goblins rising up to their oppressors. Which is in itself a unique take on the traditional setting wherein the hobgoblins are purely the bad guys. Here they have a significant reason for doing this. But enough of that socio commentary on the uniqueness of the initial setting. You play as Aurora and your quest is to find the lost expedition that was tasked to catalogue the knowledge that was lost during the invasion of hobgoblins. Over the course of your journey, you will meet other adventurers who joins you in your quest.
Starting with Aurora as the initial and the protagonist of the story, she offers an array of offensive and defensive skill for the right situation as she is a sorcerer. Then comes Brigandine as your first companion from the get-go. She acts as the team’s tank, able to soak up damage and deliver an equal amount of pain provided you can get up and close to the enemies. Along the way, Fren would join your quest serving as the guide and speedy fighter of the group. His specialty would be the quick blows. Personally, he is my go to guy for close combat. Lastly, comes Hellaro. The groups power mage that serves as a major buff to the team. I can’t count the number of times his decoy manage to save me from sticky situations. Added to this, any attack made by Hellaron siphons the enemy’s mana onto him. But, be warned, he is the literal tank of the team which only allows him to move half as Brigandine.
For its combat, the game follows the traditional turn based tactics that allows you to perform two moves or move twice the distance. While you can move and choose an attack, you can select the direction to face while it is the enemy’s turn. What this does is boost your defense a bit and opens up an opportunity for a backstab damage. That is right, with proper positioning you can give an extra oomph to your opponents. Added to this is the variety of environmental hazards and other obstacles that could aid or hinder your progress. How?
For one, there are some trees that could shoot poison from four directions in one hit. Then there are traps that could instantly kill an opponent on contact. Spikes that if you have been pushed to it will give you a bleeding debuff. And that is where the brilliance of this game shines. All characters in your party has the ability to push enemies a tile or two which will add more variety of ways to tackle every combat. Added to this, if you are able to position every available party members adjacent to the enemies, you can perform a party attack. This will consume 1 AP token but will guarantee a flashy and highly damaging move to perform once done. This might be a bit wasteful but this adds a specific flavor to the game that you just warrant the troubles.
The art direction used by 40 Giants for me is somewhat ok. Don’t get me wrong, the world building and character sprites are not bad. But what I want to point out is the camp art and your party’s portrait seems to be pulled from CDI Philips’ take on Zelda. I may be exaggerating but personally the out there kind of style is a bit off. Luckily, most of the time you might not need to go back to the camp that often. But that would be my personal critique for their style. Not that it would hamper the experience since the art style in general is quite pleasing. The way the world is presented is also a reminder of those old Sunday cartoons we used to watched.
Overall, with a combat mechanics that isn’t just a “by the number” type of scenario. Reverie Knights Tactics is one of those titles that might not have the biggest impact but those who give it a try will find many things to enjoy. The story isn’t that convoluted, the mechanics isn’t reliant to equipment stats which provides a better outcome. The way the overall game difficulty is also gives a levity that won’t punish you so much, but neither would hold your hands.