After only a month in Early Access, a new tactics game, Crimson Tactics: The Rise of the White Banner, has been released as complete as of September 5th. Heavily inspired by classic turn-based tactics games, Crimson Tactics is set in a high fantasy medieval world rife with political strife.

The inspiration is immediately obvious in the game's aesthetic. The artwork is of high quality, with the polished look of a typical JRPG-style game. The battle maps use the familiar isometric view, though they can be zoomed out to give an overhead view of the entire battlefield. The audio is reminiscent of similar games, though, as is typical for games with long, drawn-out battles, the music can get tiring after a while.

The class system used in Crimson Tactics includes a variety of options and abilities which are par for the course for the genre. New classes unlock as the plot progresses, and the ability to change class is dependent upon how many opponents of that class you have defeated. The game includes a mount system (mainly horses), though its function is mostly as an upgrade to a unit at the cost of deployment of an extra unit.

Varied Difficulties, Complete with AI Options

The game offers a Tactics Mode (smaller parties; shorter battles) as well as a Strategy Mode (larger parties; longer battles). The five difficulty settings range from Story to Nightmare with an extra option for the game to automatically adjust the difficulty level as you play. The difficulty settings cannot be changed once the game has started, so you'll have to restart the game to try a different one.

The difference between difficulties doesn't feel extreme past the first part of the game, mostly because efficiency in leveling plays a big part in gameplay. Since experience points are divided amongst all participants at the end of the fight, any underleveled units will remain weak throughout the battle. Fortunately, the game is fairly forgiving when it comes to death. Units killed in battle aren't truly dead until they've been killed three times. They still get a share of the XP when you win, giving some leeway for battles that go wrong.

If you don't want to manage every single aspect of combat, there's an option to individually select "Enable AI" and choose the behavior type for each team member, allowing them to duke it out on screen while you sit back and watch. The AI isn't particularly brilliant and generally won't make better moves than you would, but it can save you some time if you've built your characters well. As long as you upgrade between battles and level evenly, it's possible to play through the whole story without ever directing the combat personally.

A Familiar Tale Told Again

If you're a fan of classic tactical RPGs, the plot is nothing new. After a brief prologue of our big bad guy overthrowing the king, you gain control of the main hero, a regular knight working under a duke. Disgusted from witnessing continued acts of corruption and injustice, he breaks off and joins with a band of rebels striving to make the world a better place. All of this is told through dialogue stylized to match the medieval theme, which could be a positive for some, but skippable for others.

One aspect of the plot that is a little frustrating (and can be hard to avoid in games like this) is the way it affects battles when an enemy has to live. Several battles require defeating a specific opponent, and most don't allow you to finish that opponent off. You need to stand aside and wait (sometimes multiple rounds) for the opponent to slowly make his or her way across the field and off the screen. After that, most battles revert to defeating all opponents. Since nearly all of the combat revolves around humans (with a few undead mixed in), most of whom have the same ability selection you do, there isn't a whole lot of variation to the battles.

Some Awkwardness with Some Promise

Though the gameplay itself is typical of a tactics game, the user interface feels slightly clunky. Targeting enemies involves clicking through multiple menus and the post-battle summary includes the slow listing of every item collected in battle (whether you went out of your way to pick it up or not).

The shop system is also awkward since there are level and class requirements for equipment and you can't see how many of an item you already have when purchasing in the shop. This means a lot of back-and-forth between the try-and-buy, shop, crafting menus, and your inventory when optimizing equipment purchases.

My biggest complaint about the game is that there is no mid-battle quicksave option, which seems like a huge oversight for the type of game that involves long, intricate battles. I had to make sure to schedule my play time so I could complete each fight without interruptions.

The developers were very active throughout Early Access, making regular updates to fix bugs and balance issues as they focused on finishing content to complete the storyline. They've stated that they intend to continue to polish the game post-release, but updates have been less frequent and it's unclear how many of the game's current issues will be improved upon. For now, the game is considered to be complete as is, with some remaining bugs yet to be squashed here and there.

Quick Reference:

Crimson Tactics: The Rise of the White Banner is a turn-based tactical RPG set in a medieval world.

Best played with an empty schedule.

Strengths:

• Beautiful artwork reminiscent of JRPGs of old.

• Decent versatility in playstyle options.

Weaknesses:

• No mid-battle saves.

• Lack of variation in battle goals.

• Mediocre plot.