Imagine a classic plot that you might find in one spy story or in a military fiction novel: a group of agents and/or members of the special forces he must stop an opposing team before it can carry out its plans to conquer or destabilize the world. Now, add the fact that all these characters are magicians and you will get a pearl of the indie gaming panorama: Tactical Breach Wizards.
The game is developed by Suspicious Developments, already known for Gunpoint And Heath Signaturewhich in its productions aims to mix elements of action and strategy with a pinch of humor and irony. Specifically, Tactical Breach Wizards he is strategic turn-based which offers the same gameplay as the famous one XCOMbut with a peculiarity that distinguishes it from other competitors in the sector. In fact, from the beginning to the end of each round, players have the possibility to cancel any move and go back. A very interesting feature, this, which allows you to experiment with bold plans and perfectly combine the abilities of the various characters, making the “save scumming” a real mechanic of the game.
The setting of Tactical Breach Wizards it is inspired by the contemporary, in a world that has already gone through four world wars and where a certain number of people possess the most varied magical abilities. The team of protagonists is initially composed of Zan Vesker, a Navy Seer capable of seeing into the future, and from witch of Storm Jane Kellen, who works as a private investigator. After the first missions, the group is joined by the necromedical Dessa Banks, whose main ability is to heal fallen comrades by shooting them in the head with a revolver, and then “rewind” their time by an hour, nullifying all wounds. Over the course of the 10-12 hours of the main campaign, two other characters join the team, each equipped with a set of well-researched abilities and capable of combining perfectly with those of all the others.
In addition to the gameplay, Tactical Breach Wizards also shines from the point of view of writing. The dialogue scenes between one mission and another are dotted with well-measured pills of information on the setting, full of particular details such as “the tactics of the anti-tank monks in the fourth world war”. All the characters have well-defined personalities, with flaws and insecurities treated much better than you would expect in a strategy game and tackled (literally) directly in special “dream levels”.
The conversations between the team members are full of irony, scenes bordering on the absurd, breaking the fourth wall and even touching moments, with twists that arrive unexpectedly and contribute to enriching an excellent product which, on Steam, has garnered praise practically unanimous with 98% positive reviews.