Summary
- Arcadian Atlas is a new tactical RPG that embraces the genre's history while also seeking to carve its own path.
- The game draws inspiration from classics like Final Fantasy Tactics but offers a unique class and skill system, as well as other features to carve out its own identity.
- Arcadian Atlas is joining the tactical RPG renaissance soon and is worth checking out for fans of the genre, especially Final Fantasy Tactics.
- Acadian Atlas' Taylor Blair attributes this tactical RPG renaissance to age: those who played and loved them as children as now adults making similar games.
The past few years have seen a resurgence in tactical RPGs, and it doesn't appear to be slowing down. Games that defined the genre are seeing remakes, and new games are entering the field all the time. One of those new games, Arcadian Atlas, aims to embrace that history while seeking its own place in the growing landscape of the Tactical RPG genre.
In the world of Arcadia, a divide between a queen and a princess has led to a civil war, with the downtrodden rallying to the princess to fight against the entrenched queen. Princess Lucretia Belneive, the last heir, is declared illegitimate by her stepmother, Queen Venezia. Factions supporting both have taken arms. That’s the backdrop against which heroes Vashti Dahlman and Desmond Rhines find themselves, and against which the artifact known as the Atlas awakens. Influencing all of this is the genre's history, including Final Fantasy Tactics, and an attempt to be something new, The Best War Games recently learned in an interview with Twin Otter Studios' Taylor Blair.
Peasant rebellions, civil wars, affairs of royals and nobility, and magic relics sleeping in perilous proximity to the conflict all form a fairly familiar backdrop to fans of the genre. In broad strokes, the game resembles the elder statesmen of the genre like Final Fantasy Tactics and its successors from Square Enix.
While Arcadian Atlas doesn’t shy away from that comparison, it also is more than just a love letter to a beloved classic.
“We’re all huge fans of Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s the only PS1 disc I still own, and our entire team spent countless hours in it growing up. There are many aspects of FFT we’re happy to hold up as an influence, but we also wanted to carve our own path with a very different class and skill system (something that owes a great deal more to Ragnarok Online and, strangely, Diablo 2), and the story is far more focused on the core characters and their development as the world crumbles around them.”
Final Fantasy Tactics, in particular, is in the spotlight during the current revitalization of the genre given extensive rumor and speculation of an upcoming announcement for a remaster, but it isn’t the only reason for the current revival of the genre. Games like Diofield Chronicles, Persona 5 Tactica, and Tactics Ogre Reborn have all been part of an overall TRPG rising tide in the past several years, most notably in 2022. And of course, franchises like Disgaea and Fire Emblem have continued to build the genre over the years.
When it releases, Arcadian Atlas will join that renaissance. Bair has his own perspective on what brought about the current era of TRPGs like Twin Otter’s own. The reason is simple: people who loved classics like Final Fantasy Tactics are able to create their own games now, and tools like Unity–which Atlas is built in–have made that ability more accessible to everyday creators.
“The resurgence often seems to correspond with age–those of us who grew up playing some of the classics of the genre like Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics are now adults, seeking out a creative way to express ourselves. So you see those influences start to seep in as those who were once players are now developers and have the chance to pay homage while crafting something new and adding their own special mark on a genre they fell in love with.”
Of course, the influences for Arcadian Atlas run far deeper than just two icons of the TRPG genre. The art, in particular, is influenced by Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana, as well as other SNES and original PlayStation titles. Those games, as well as Final Fantasy 6, also influenced the character design Twin Otter employed.
Growing beyond those inspirations, though, is how Arcadian Atlas defines itself as a landmark on the growing map of TRPGs. Laying traps on a battlefield, choking off checkpoints, and making strategic decisions between classes form the backbone of a multi-layered strategic “playground," according to Bair. Beyond that, four base classes can be promoted toward different specializations, with further skill trees in each tailoring units to specific playstyles. And, of course, there’s ample side content in the game to build the world and keep players busy.
Arcadian Atlas releases July 27 on Steam.