
And of course, if the character is a Gelfling female, she can always opt to spread her wings and fly. Some classes can use special jumping abilities to get from place to place. Some areas can only be reached by special mobility powers that some characters can equip. With a bonus granted to attacking or defending from the high ground, it’s always good to be the tallest combatant on the battlefield. Maps often present lots of different levels of height to them. The first is the verticality present on most maps. This is because of two particular design choices. When the player gets to the individual missions in Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics the game greets them with unique maps whose design greatly affects the strategy of the missions. This creates a natural transition between the easier tutorial levels and the main bulk of the game. As each character’s memories are completed they join your mini army permanently.
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Since these memories represent the earlier moments in the series they are used to introduce the player to the various mechanics of the game. Through this use of telepathic communication, Aughra brings herself up to speed on what has been transpiring around the planet. The story for Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics picks up with Aughra mind fasting with various Gelflings across Thra. Especially as mission objectives weren’t revealed till my units were deployed leaving me wondering if my team would work out. This variety led to its own kind of tension. Instead of being limited to clear the field of enemies, or defend this point missions, I found myself having to gather items and flip switches, among other tasks. This freedom found me often using my characters more like a resource, and made for some interesting situations. With no penalty for losing characters developer, BonusXP frequently presents the player with situations that leaves them knowing someone isn’t getting off the map alive. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics bucks this trend completely. Since the developer doesn’t want to create situations where the player must lose characters the situations on the field can become fairly limited. While this creates a lot of tension during play, it can hamstring game design. This kind of game is known for punishing players for every character lost. Games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses and XCOM are perhaps the most iconic of this style of game.

Over the last few years, it’s felt like the trend in turn-based strategy RPGs has been solidly in the “lose as few characters as possible” mindset. Players will be leading bands of Gelflings through rich strategy filled stages on their journey to release their lands from the yoke of the Skesis’ tyranny.

By following the storyline of the recently released Netflix series, this game takes players back to the world of Thra. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a turn-based strategy RPG published by En Masse Entertainment and developed by BonusXP.
