Magic-infused military tactics game Tactical Breach Wizards adds a supernatural twist | Games

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We’re only halfway through the year, but Tactical Breach Wizards is already a contender for best video game title of 2024. Both ridiculously ridiculous and patently practical, the game’s name nicely reflects the intent of this magic-infused, turn-based tactics game. Commanding a SWAT team of wizards battling through puzzle-like scenarios with guns and spells, Tactical Breach Wizards blends decade-old jokes with a desire to solve the problems endemic to the genre that inspired it.

“This comes from playing a lot of XCOM, especially XCOM 2,” says Tom Francis, director of Suspicious Developments and creator of the acclaimed titles Gunpoint and Heat Signature. “I love the game in a lot of ways, but it’s also incredibly frustrating because so often you misunderstand or don’t understand the rules, and end up losing irreplaceable soldiers or suffering devastating losses.”

Francis wanted to create a tactical game that focused on encouraging experimentation rather than punishing players. His solution was to let players rewind their turns to try new approaches to each situation. But the game still lacked a theme to accompany the concept. So Francis recalled a conversation he had while working as a journalist at PC Gamer: “We were joking that it would be really interesting if there was a serious military game like Call of Duty. [where] The people were all in tactical gear, but some were just wearing robes and hats.”

Thus was born Tactical Breach Wizards, combining Francis’s rewinding ideas with a variety of characters who are more like magical police, from freelance storm witches to riot priests, each with their own unique abilities to experiment with in different ways. One example is the Naval Seer. Blessed with the ability to see one second into the future, the Seer can also throw time-boosting grenades that provide bonus actions to teammates. Another is the Necro Medic, a necromancer who heals characters and replenishes their “mana” by killing and resurrecting them. “She rewinds your body, your body goes back to how it was an hour ago,” Francis says. “When she resurrects you, you get your mana back.”

According to Francis, these characters first appeared as puns, but gradually became central to the game. In fact, Tactical Breach Wizards doesn’t have the free-form structure and base building of XCOM, but instead has a linear story that explores each character’s personality and motivations. “I wanted to know who these characters were,” Francis said. “They each feel like they have a story.” He likens the storytelling approach to Mass Effect 2’s loyalty missions, saying, “To me, that was the most interesting thing about the game.”

Additionally, the Tactical Breach Wizard storyline, according to Francis, ” [on] Unlike works like Tom Clancy or Call of Duty, the game also aims to subvert the authoritarian morality of such fiction. “I don’t like those stories, there’s not a lot of criticism or self-examination,” he says. In Tactical Breach Wizards, the characters you command aren’t state enforcers, but thugs and outcasts battling a coalition of elite organisations, including religious military dictatorships and private military companies. “I didn’t want them to just be soldiers in a national army,” he explains. “You need a compelling reason to commit acts of violence.”

Tactical Breach Wizards has been in development for six years, which is a big investment for a small team. Luckily, you don’t have to be a naval seer to notice the positive signs. The game is high on Steam’s “wishlist” charts, and Francis says the recently released demo has been met with positive reactions from players. “There are some people who laugh when you say ‘Tactical Breach Wizards,'” he says. “I knew those people existed, but I didn’t realize how many there were. I’m very happy.” [that] A lot of people understand that.”