Symphony Of War is a Steam hit perfect for Fire Emblem fans

There was a lot fascinating strategy RPGs this yearbut one of my favorites so far is Symphony of War. It’s been climbing the charts on Steam for the past few months, and with good reason. From a distance it looks like a different one fire sign tee. Up close it does enough interesting things to stand alone and I really recommend you try it.

Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga quiet came out on Steam in June and it has been collect positive reviews since. Developed by an indie team called Dancing Dragon Games with a history of RPG Maker projects, it’s a military drama filled with tropes about civil war and demonic threats. But you can pretty much ignore all of that. Beneath the predictable storyline and airbrushed character portraits lies a deep strategy game that’s hard to put down. Personally, I think it’s even better in the strategy department as triangle strategy.

Make no mistake: Symphony of War is old school. While more recent entries in the fire sign Series have deepened Visual Novel Elements and Relationship Mechanisms, it focuses almost entirely on renovating the nuts and bolts of classic grid-based battles. What works so well is this Symphony of War nails the basics while also adding plenty of new folds for fans to dig into (especially those who have also been digging last years Dark Deity).

The biggest thing is that every single unit represents an entire squad made up of multiple types of fighters. Perhaps there are some knights in front flanked by pikemen, while wizards and archers rain death from behind. When two units move side by side and knock them down, a mini-turn based skirmish ensues. Mages in the background cast fireballs and healing spells, while knights in the foreground deal melee damage. The fight is spread out over two rounds, with the attackers getting the first round and the defending side getting the second. Some fighters can only attack in the first or second round, while others occasionally get caught in a bonus round. The action is easy to follow, yet leaves plenty of room for customization.

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More subtle levels of complexity are added through unique fighter bonuses and an extensive research tree. Mounted combatants may charge first without retaliation. Infantry grants defense bonuses to nearby units. And archers can, of course, attack from afar without being subject to counterattacks. These and other statistics can then be expanded and magnified by researching new technologies. Instead of leveling up specific units, expand the overall capabilities of your army.

In this way Symphony of War forces you to think like a at times 4X Strategist while playing like a traditional JRPG enthusiast. Instead of customizing a single party and fighting your way through a dungeon, you build a small army out of them and take on an entire battlefield. Completing missions faster and capturing enemy units and buildings along the way earns you extra cash and points, which you can then put back into gearing up your various crews. Just a few new tweaks and the decades-old JRPG tactical formula feels fresh and modern again in 2022.

A few other games have also recently taken hybrid approaches to tactical RPGs. The Iron Oath and Songs of Conquest both come to mind. The former is a roguelike with combat taking place on a hexagonal grid. The latter also features a hexagonal battlefield at the service of map exploration and city-building, closer to a 4X game. They’re really promising games in their own right (and still in Early Access), but neither focuses so much on exploring the depths of leveraging small perks so one group of animated sprites can wipe the floor with another.

Symphony of War is far from a perfect package, but it offers one of the meatier and more innovative takes on the tactical RPG formula I’ve come across in years.