Tacticon is the event organized by Firesquid and Hooded Horse that showcases everything the Indie scene has to offer in terms of strategy and tactical video games. Panels and Talks, Demos, and awesome discounts. This year, there’s a lot of great stuff, and these are the titles I’m going to try this weekend.
The first game I want to try is The Way of Wrath, a survival strategy game that puts players in the shoes of a tribe leader during the Bronze Age. You won’t believe it, but I’ve been following this title for years and have never managed to play it at any event because my old computer would crash at startup. Now I have a new computer, and I think I can finally see what this Strategy RPG, which mixes management mechanics with a tactical combat system, has to offer.
How can you not be impressed by Knights in Tight Spaces!? It’s a new installment, or rather, a new look for the folks at Ground Shatter, who are reimagining the dynamics seen in their previous title, Fights In Tight Spaces, but with a medieval twist. It’s a combat system where players have to think through every move and card to resolve fights on mini maps and adapt to the enemies’ telegraphed attacks. The visual impact is fantastic, and the animations are just as impressive.
Another very interesting title is Zephon. I had briefly tried a demo some time ago, but now I want to give this 4X Strategy game developed by Proxy Studios, the team behind the massive Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, the time it deserves. It takes players into a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by robots, cyborgs, and eldritch horrors and it looks awesome.
Another game I want to try is Mars Tactics. Guys, this is one of the most interesting strategy games currently in development, pitting workers against capitalists in the middle of a war for control of the red planet. It’s essentially a strategy game in full XCOM style, where you manage a base, advance production and research, create new weapons, conquer critical points of interest, and much more. Maybe it’s the graphic style, or maybe it’s the common appeal of having a base to manage, but Mars Tactics really attracts me.
Switching completely in genre and setting, I have to try Vultures – Scavengers of Death because, first of all, it attempts to do something we don’t often see, which is to mix a tactical combat system with pure horror game mechanics and also because it’s abundantly retro for my tastes. I’ll let you know what I think about it next week.
These are the titles I’ll prioritize before the end of Tacticon 2024, which will ends on July 22nd. Obviously, these are my choices either because I haven’t tried a particular title yet or because I really want to see the progress that’s been made for some of them. But go check out the Event Steam page, and you’ll see that there’s a ton of great stuff, even some great real-time strategy games.
