Summary
- Tactical RPGs combine strategic combat with roleplaying elements, requiring a careful balance of team composition and resource management, leading to unique gameplay flavors.
- Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, Front Mission 5, and Battle Brothers offer complex tactical RPG experiences, emphasizing team balance and making strategic decisions crucial for success.
- Divinity: Original Sin 2, Darkest Dungeon, and The Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky The 3rd provide challenging tactical RPG gameplay, with strategic combat requiring puzzle-solving and thoughtful team composition.
Tactical RPGs are a subgenre of roleplaying games that focus more on turn-based, strategic combat and the use of the right units for the right tasks. Sharing common traits with real-time strategy games, and often bringing in other game mechanics such as survival, exploration, and map control.
8 Best Tactical RPGs About War, Ranked
These tactical RPGs challenge players with strategic combat, war-driven stories, and meaningful choices that shape the battlefield.
However, tactical RPGs also rely heavily on features that come from the roleplaying side of their parentage, with the player needing to level up units, choose skills, and manage their core team. Overall, they represent a fun melding of gameplay elements that give in-game combat a completely unique flavor. They are also great games for people who prefer to set the pace of gameplay, as combat takes place turn by turn. The games on this list are ranked on how tough they are overall to learn. This can vary from simply being very complex simulations, to the need to micromanage every aspect of the game. However, primarily the ranking is driven by how difficult it is to put together the right team of units, with the right skills, to handle specific tasks as a unified whole.
8 Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Inspired By Final Fantasy Tactics
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
- Released
- April 30, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- 6 Eyes Studio
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Genre(s)
- Tactical, RPG
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is a modern take on the tactical RPG genre, which openly admits that it took a lot of inspiration from previous titles, most notably Final Fantasy Tactics. The game can become incredibly complex, as the player must choose from dozens of different classes and hundreds of skills to build a balanced team.
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Tactical RPGs are lots of fun, thanks to their game mechanics. Here are some titles that also feature outstanding, complex stories.
In fact, learning how to build complementary, synergistic teams is something that every Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark will have to master in order to do well in this game. This is doubly true when it comes to boss encounters, as the team makeup can make the difference between an easy fight and complete failure.
7 Front Mission 5: Scars of the War
Tactical Mech Warfare
Front Mission 5: Scars of the War
- Released
- December 29, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Platform(s)
- PS2
- Genre(s)
- Tactical RPG
Set shortly into the future, Front Mission 5 is a game that follows a very recognizable tactical RPG formation, but with a bit of a twist. Namely, in the fact that the player controls mechs, known as Wanzers, rather than biological troops. This makes unit progression very different, as the player needs to choose from a vast array of weapons, and Wanzer parts, to build a unit while keeping an eye on weight, mobility, and power.
The storyline is noteworthy, as player agency is a large part of the game, and depending on choices made, the player will work through different branches of the main plot. As tactical RPGs go, this is one of the more challenging ones to master.
6 Phantom Brave (PC)
Asian-Inspired Tactical RPG
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows
- Released: 2016
- Developer: Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.
- Genre: Tactical RPG
Phantom Brave is very heavily inspired by Asian culture, with manga-style graphics and cutesy animations. Unfortunately, there is a demographic of gamers that will miss out on an excellent tactical RPG, simply because they cannot engage with this aesthetic.
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In these games, players must not only make strategic decisions, but make them fast.
The reason Phantom Brave made this list, is for the interesting summoning mechanic. Units have to be summoned to objects on the game map, and only stay summoned for a set number of turns. The result is a battle system that requires the player to think ahead and decide when best to summon specific units to achieve their goals.
5 XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen
Saving Humanity From Alien Domination
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, macOS
- Released: August 29, 2017
- Developer: Firaxis Games
- Genre: Turn-based tactics
XCOM 2 is a great tactical RPG, but it is the War of the Chosen DLC that really makes it fantastic. Adding a whole new depth to the strategic gameplay, including befriending other alien factions, and having to defeat each of the three Chosen.
Tactical gameplay is exceptional in XCOM 2: With War of the Chosen, with the player needing to ensure that troops are positioned properly during combat. A single mistake can lead to a total team wipe and a failed mission, which will have a negative impact on the strategic situation on the world map.
4 Darkest Dungeon
Tactical RPG Meets Roguelike
Darkest Dungeon
- Released
- January 19, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
Darkest Dungeon is a game that manages to bridge genres in a way that results in something unique. The game relies heavily on roguelike mechanics, which at first glance, doesn’t seem to fit well with tactical RPG elements. However, it has been done so well that it makes the game both fun but also challenging.
Rather than leveling up units in the normal RPG fashion, they gain traits in a roguelike way, and this includes negative traits such as fears and other quirks. Because of this, no two playthroughs will be the same. The dungeon crawling is tough, as the player needs to defeat some very dangerous bosses using limited resources.
3 Battle Brothers
Mercenary Management Game
Battle Brothers
- Released
- April 27, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Overhype Studios
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Genre(s)
- Indie Games, Tactical, RPG, Strategy, Adventure
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Battle Brothers can be a brutal game at times, as the player attempts to manage and improve their team of medieval mercenaries. This brutality includes permanent injuries and even death of key units if the player makes a mistake.
During battles, the player has to take a lot of variables into account to do well. This includes the reach of the weapon a unit is using, how much stamina they have left to use, and the state of their equipment and armor. The game does a great job on a strategic level, requiring the player to fund, feed, and equip their mercenary band, whilst tackling some very tough events such as fighting undead hordes.
2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Tactician Mode Transforms The Game
Divinity: Original Sin 2
- Released
- September 14, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
Readers may be forgiven for being surprised to find Divinity: Original Sin 2 on this list. However, playing the game in tactician mode converts it into a very challenging tactical RPG game. Combat and encounters require the player to solve a puzzle, on how to best use the game map and its features to achieve their tactical goals.
8 Best 16-bit Tactical RPGs, Ranked
For players interested in 16-bit Tactical RPGs, these games deliver the strategic combat they've come to know and expect from the genre.
Party synergy is a huge consideration, which can be tough to master at first, due to the open-ended class system leading to highly specialized characters. Building a character that doesn’t work well in a team is not an option, as this will lead to the player being handicapped significantly during the toughest battles.
1 The Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky The 3rd
One Of The Most Challenging Tactical RPGs
- Platforms: GeForce Now, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
- Released: June 28, 2007
- Developer: Nihon Falcom
- Genre: Role-playing Video Game, Adventure game, Strategy Video Game
Despite its somewhat odd name, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd derives the top place on this list due to the significant challenge it can pose even the most experienced player. Combat in this game requires the player to juggle a whole host of variables, and also use tricks such as positioning and turn-order manipulation to gain an advantage.
Team composition is a major consideration in this game, as buffs and debuffs are not simply useful, they are a requirement to do well in the toughest fights. The dungeons in Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd can be grueling, and making sure to take the right team in to get the job done is crucial.
8 Best 32-bit Tactical RPGs, Ranked
These tactical RPGs left their mark on the 32-bit era of gaming. Here's how the best of them rank up overall today.