Tactical Breakthrough Wizard proves that there is no substitute for the dopamine rush you get from throwing three guys out of a window at the same time. Aside from window defenestrations, Tactical Breakthrough Wizard is a surprisingly deep turn-based strategy game that has some of the best writing I’ve seen in a game this year.
The world of Tactical Breakthrough Wizard is very surreal – similar to our own, with similar problems, but different in its collection of nations, politics, and traditions. Magic is real, too. You control a squad of warlocks, wizards, witches, clerics, and druids, whose talents and skills make them uniquely qualified to work in various branches of special forces. Instead of Navy SEALs, you have Navy Seers, and instead of boring regular medics, you have necromancers who can raise the dead. I’d love to dig through an encyclopedia or sourcebook for Tactical Breakthrough Wizard; it’s so good.
The larger plot is like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, if he had also gotten a copy of The Silmarillion. There are plenty of coups, paramilitary groups and conspiracies that reach all the way to the top. The stakes are high, but the story doesn’t take itself too seriously and always knows when to lighten the mood and take your foot off the gas.
The plot for Tactical Breakthrough Wizard is good, but the professional exchanges between your teammates are truly a work of art. Before entering a room, your team assesses the tactical situation, makes astute observations, and usually breaks the tension with subtle jibes between each other.
However, the relationship within your squad isn’t just based on jokes at each other’s expense. Between missions, you have the opportunity to have optional conversations that add an extra dimension to each character. Even without these extra dialogues, the design of each squad member tells you a lot about the person. Zan, the retired Navy seer, conducts himself with stern professionalism, while Jen, your resident witch, always flaunts her private investigator badge and lugs around a collapsible broom on her back.
Beyond the character development and world building, the humor of Tactical Breakthrough Wizard also extends to the gameplay elements: While my necromancer can’t heal injuries, he can bring people back from the dead, which means he has to put a bullet in the skull of anyone he wants to help.
Moment-to-moment gameplay Tactical Breakthrough Wizard is clearly inspired by other classics of the turn-based strategy genre, especially Into the breach. The action usually takes place in a single room, allowing you to take in the environment and its dangers at a glance. These can contain various elements that offer unique tactical opportunities. Before you enter a room, you are clearly shown what your enemies will do and in what order events will occur. By eliminating the random number generator, gameplay becomes a tactical puzzle with knots that you untangle through clever placement and execution rather than luck.
As opposed to Into the breachHowever, the missions in Tactical Breakthrough Wizard are presented linearly, with some optional challenge missions becoming accessible as the story progresses. Each mission must be completed with a specific squad, and there are no branching paths to speak of. While part of me wished the story missions gave me the freedom to choose my own squad, I was ultimately grateful that the decision was made for me. I’m not sure I could look a member of my team in the eye and tell them they need to warm the bench while I send their friends into danger.
The variety of skills associated with each squad member can be daunting at times, but their versatility gives you the freedom to achieve some unexpected results when used correctly. You also have the option to see how events unfold before committing to your actions. If you’re not happy with the outcome, you can undo any action up until the start of your turn and try something else.
If this all sounds extremely lenient, that’s because it is. By default Tactical Breakthrough Wizard has virtually no consequences for your actions, but a series of difficulty sliders allow you to make your experience even more challenging. However, the game always allows you to skip a particular mission without receiving penalties or missing story highlights.
This flexibility encourages experimentation and can lead to real aha moments. For example, the revive ability not only allows you to restore the energy of your teammates, but also brings unconscious enemies back and forces them to attack their former allies.
While there are always multiple ways to achieve your objectives, the margin for error can sometimes be extremely slim, especially when attempting to complete a mission’s optional objectives. Completing these, however, grants certain characters additional confidence, which, just like in real life, is the currency required to wear increasingly plainer outfits. The outfits confer no tactical bonuses and are purely cosmetic, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go the extra mile to allow my necromancer to wear a pink skeleton hoodie.
Each new mission gradually grants new abilities and eventually brings new team members into play, giving you a larger catalog of tactical options. However, you’ll also be forced to deal with a wider variety of enemies that not only take more damage, but also introduce new intricacies to the tactical puzzle. One bad guy in particular – we’ll call him Greg – will automatically return fire on your team if they injure one of his friends. I know Greg is just doing his job, but Greg is responsible for more frustration in my game than anyone else. Greg can go to hell.
Between missions, participating members gain experience that they can use to upgrade their skills, which can drastically change the utility of certain team members. For example, Jen can gain an ability that allows her to move after using her magically charged stun staff. Combined with her broom-breaking ability—flying out an adjacent window and kicking down another anywhere on the map—Jen quickly became the MVP of my team.
The extensive single-player experience tells a coherent, dense story, and there are plenty of optional challenge cards to test your courage after the credits roll. Tactical Breakthrough Wizard also launched with a fairly intuitive map editor that allows players to create their own missions. The amount of content available at launch is plentiful, but if I could wish for one addition, it would be some sort of non-linear campaign.
Games like XCOM and Into the breach offer many narrative moments, with decisive moves and the chance to win despite impossible odds. However, the conscious narrative style is reflected in Tactical Breakthrough Wizardcombined with its excellent sense of humor and punctuated by its satisfying gameplay, make it a fascinating experience for any fan of the genre.
Tactical Breakthrough Wizard was released for Windows on August 22. The game was tested for Windows using a pre-release download code provided by Suspicious Developments Inc. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These have no influence on editorial content, but Vox Media may receive commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. More information on Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.
