Fae Tactics is a solid game, delivering players a fun, thoughtful adventure with enough unique combat and visuals to justify spending time with it.
Fae Tactics is a turn-based strategy RPG set in a mysterious, magical, and dangerous world. You join the world as Penoy, a young woman with her animal crew, and one goal in mind. Find her mother. The world is in a state of chaos and major conflict. Man and magical beings (known as Fae) have collided after the Element Gates’ seal was broken allowing the worlds of Fae and mankind to collide and exist together. Lives were lost, destruction and tension run rampant, threatening to destroy everything. While it seems most Fae can be hostile toward the player and their party, it is possible to befriend and help them as you move through the narrative.
The gameplay is surprisingly fast for being turn-based. Once players engage in combat, there are no menus to be seen. This is great because battles can go super smoothly and, at times, pretty quickly depending on the number of enemies in an area. Leveling up and upgrading your party is a simple task. Adjusting traits for party members is as simple as adding points to the offense, defense, or special abilities. To evolve and build up their own combat skills, players should mostly focus on traits, spells, and summons.
Spells are just what they sound like: abilities meant to assist you in combat. They range from direct attacks on enemies, healing, or expanding your range of movement in battle. The cooldown periods for spells vary and can be a bit of a burden at times. The variance between a healing cooldown and an attack cooldown feels a bit unbalanced. Summons are the ability to bring Fae into battles. As players progress by leveling up and encountering Fae, you gain access to having them help you in battle. While in battle, Fae are more expendable as compared to the core party members. While losing that core member can really hurt your battle, losing the Fae doesn’t have as major of an impact on your overall battle. I found myself just using them as either aid for the main group or to rush in and attack enemies first.
Combat and rounds themselves are incredibly fun. The strategy you choose is what sets you up for success or failure. The turn-based style helps players plan ahead moves and when your spells should be used. Other than that, it’s pretty straightforward and simple.
Boss battles are different from traditional encounters and change how players engage in combat. In boss battles, no one from the main party can fall, including NPCs that have previously joined. I also found myself having trouble selecting characters at times in a battle. At times I found myself having issues selecting a character to heal manually as they were on the far side of another character. This was also an issue with attacks in the same way against enemies. Here is where a mechanic to rotate the map would have been useful for battles.
The story itself left me wanting more. It often evolved at a slower pace and what story that was delivered felt slow and wasn’t as intriguing. The amount of story I did play through, along with the lore and combat in the game kept me interested enough to keep me going.
Fae Tactics has a striking color palette with visuals that are enjoyable to take in. It may not be the most breathtaking and gorgeous game available, but it is a world that should please most when they dive in. I normally don’t focus on character design, but here it’s something I want to point out. The art style behind the Fae and human designs are unique and sublime. The Fae look, unlike anything I have seen before in a game. They felt completely original and that was something that pleased me throughout the game.
While Fae Tactics could get easily looked over and story progression feels slow at times, it is still a fun play for anyone. Combat progresses and becomes increasingly strategic, which can be frustrating at times but also engaging and slightly addicting. Leveling up and evolving characters are simple enough for anyone to understand, but also allows for various modifications to your playstyle and strategy. Visually, the game may seem simple but the character designs and enjoyable atmosphere make it a very cool game to look at. While there are some issues with combat, selecting characters, and small bugs with the camera, it does not take away from the experience. Overall, Fae Tactics is a solid game, delivering players a fun, thoughtful adventure with enough unique combat and visuals to justify spending time with it. Fae Tactics is out on July 31st for PC.
