Rob reviews Live By The Sword: Tactics on Steam...
As the name suggests Live By The Sword: Tactics is a game about "tactics". Across its ample playtime, you'll lead your party through plenty of grid-based environments, whilst tackling the enemies in front of you. It's chock full of in-game lore, a fairly robust story, and a great mixture of new and classic mechanics. So, why do I feel conflicted?
To begin with, Live By The Sword: Tactics is one of many titles that live in Steam's Early Access program. What this means is that while the game is playable, the folks over at Labrador Games are continuing to tweak and add to the game. While Live By The Sword: Tactics shows plenty of potentials, it's not quite reached them...
The game begins in a forest where a father had brought his two sons to train them on some basic survival skills. Acting as the game's tutorial this section teaches you the fundamentals of the game as if you're two youngsters. For those who've played any tactical RPG this section is pretty basic and at times does feel a little condescending - especially when it quizzes you on what you've just learnt. However, it's also a double-edged sword, as for a newcomer the slow pacing works well to ease you into the different ideas at play.
As the tutorial ends, you're then taken a few years into the future. Much like in any RPG, the two characters you controlled in the tutorial are now all grown up. Now a pair of knights, the duo have gathered a group of other heroes who travel the land keeping the peace. Thankfully this isn't the bulk of the narrative, and simmering away in the background war is brewing. Spurred on by the current Kings lack of control, bandits and other vagrants roam unchecked across the kingdom. In an attempt to make things better, the protagonist's group heads out to stomp down on the dissent. The rest of the narrative is pretty self-explanatory and surprisingly plays it fairly safe.
The gameplay to Live By The Sword: Tactics is very reminiscent of every other game of the genre. Each area is divided into a grid, with your party and the enemy taking turns to outwit each other. Characters all have their unique moves and skill, which also have their range (measured in blocks), and cool downs. As such you'll have to think tactically and utilise each party member correctly if you stand a chance of winning.
With the game being focused around team-based skirmishes, combat plays quite a large part in what you'll be doing. While combat does have its weaker areas, overall it's pretty enjoyable. Attacks have a bit of weight behind them. Tank characters are hit with the finesse of someone who'd wield a large weapon, whilst sorcerers produce a light show of spells. The downside to this is that you rarely see it. As the game is turn-based it slows the tempo down considerably. Enemies take quite a while to make their moves, and when the entire team are in the queue, it can be a little frustrating.
To make this worse, some of the attacks and spells are not as balanced as they should be. While nothing is overpowered, the accuracy and cooldowns of a few could be upped and lowered. It's nothing too complex, and naturally will be ironed out through the Early Access stage.
Aside from its vast story mode, Live By The Sword: Tactics has a few others available too. 'Adventure' is the best of these extra modes, which somehow adds a roguelike element to the game. Here, you're able to select your starting position on the map, to then branch out. The challenge is that once a party member has died, they remain dead. As such you'll have to carefully plan each move phase to ultimately keep the team alive.
The other interesting mode is one that considerably ups the tempo. By this I don't mean that it makes the game faster - it makes it incredibly challenging. Here Tactics are the name of the game. Aside from being considerably more difficult, there's also a myriad of extra challenges that need to be beaten too. While some are easier than others, if you're a terrible tactician - this mode isn't for you.
Finally, there's the bog standard skirmish mode that has you tackle a single battle. It's nothing to shout about and does exactly what it says on the tin.
All in all, Live By The Sword: Tactics isn't a bad game - it's just not very good either. As such I'm sadly stuck firmly in the middle. While there was a stack of things I enjoyed - ascetic, character designs, level design. It's ultimately let down by a lack of refinement and balancing.
However, it is clear to see that Labrador Games have a great passion for Live By The Sword: Tactics to succeed. And while I may be giving it an unfair rating, let's come back in a few months and see what's changed.
Who knows, we may just have a hidden gem on our hands...
Rating 6.5/10 (For Now)
A code was kindly provided for this review
Live By The Sword: Tactics is available now and can be purchased via Steam
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