Tactics Ogre: Reborn review

Many remakes feel superfluous. But Tactics Ogre was a highly influential tactical role-playing game that exposed the genre’s potential. Reborn offers several incremental upgrades while preserving the qualities that made the original so remarkable.

1995’s Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was undoubtedly ahead of its time. Narratively, the game eschewed the formulaic quarrels between good and evil. In its place, designer and writer Yasumi Matsuno drew inspiration from the thorny intricacies of the Yugoslavian dissolution. Once a single, Southeastern country in Europe, dissenting groups across the region fell into strife, fueled by repressed ethnic tensions.

Similarly, Tactic Ogre envisions hostility between a trio of factions, following the death of a tyrannical king attempting to maintain a truce. From the aristocratic Bakram, the Galgastani who dominate in number, as well as the marginalized Walister, each culture occupies different areas of the Valerian Isles and has its own ambitions. Ogre follows the point of view of a newly reformed resistance, focusing on a trio of its members.

Instead of dispensing a long-winded backstory at the start of a new campaign, you’ll steadily learn about things like the rhetoric used to justify genocide as well as thwarted attempts of rebellion. As such, it can make Ogre’s early hours feel like starting a series in the middle of a season, as unfamiliar names whiz by. If this is your first time playing the game, get ready to feel bewildered.

But give Tactics Ogre: Reborn a few hours and the context eventually becomes comprehensible. Additionally, the title provides players access to the Warren Report, an in-game database of stats, lore, news, and profiles of characters that you have met. Reading the reference work even reveals new event scenes and can unlock new locations, incentivizing your learning.

And while the geopolitical intrigue is captivatingly complex, Tactics Ogre doesn’t neglect an intimate view of conflict. Progressively, players will witness war’s effect on individuals, depicting everything from hotheaded power grabs to demoralization from unrelenting attrition. The concept of a war hero isn’t a universal one, Matsuno reminds us. While some might celebrate a person’s bravery, others will lament the bloodshed, likely renewing the cycle of violence.

Gratifyingly, individual motives have sophistication, with Ogre’s extended cast realistically reacting to the events around them. There’s also intricacy in the depictions of allied relationships, with protagonist Denam and his sister Catiua having a bond that shifts from supportive to quarrelsome. Like in real life, grudges occasionally remain unresolved, bringing a sense of authenticity to Ogre’s storytelling.

Yes, Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a remake of a remake, with roots stretching back four console generations. But the source material was smarter and more nuanced than most of its role-playing peers. This is a title with an expositional sophistication that rivals many contemporary RPGs. In execution, that means that you’ll frequently face the consequences of your decisions. Order a unit to assault someone from their own clan too many times and loyalties will waver- potentially leading to the dissertation of your most trusted units.

Matsuno ensures you aren’t some aloof general merely moving units around the battlefield. The set-up spurs you into caring about Denam and Catiua, as well as Denam’s lifelong friend, Vyce. Those who played either the original, the PlayStation or Saturn re-releases, or the PSP remake probably know about Tactics Ogre’s branching narrative, with a key decision sending players down two diverging (lawful and chaotic) paths. Later, a subsequent choice forks the chaotic route, before converging again.

Your initial verdict significantly affects others, leading to some fascinating causalities. But Reborn is a bit reluctant to confine players to a fixed path. Beyond backtracking to a previous save, completion extends the ability to return to major events during a subsequent playthrough. Likewise, in combat, you can revise your last two moves, ensuring that one of your essential unique units doesn’t lose all their health. In that situation, you have three turns to revive them before they are permanently lost.

Alongside 1995’s Front Mission, Tactics Ogre’s turn-based, isometric-perspective battles helped establish some of the conventions for the tactical role-playing game. Tactics Ogre: Reborn contributes some shrewd modifications, but wisely maintains the basic formula of the original release. Mostly, the changes help streamline some of the game’s more menial tasks. You can keep up to five distinct teams in the reserves, deploying them for different conditions, which is far better than team micro-management. Pleasingly, players are privy to a scouting report detailing the unit and environment types that you’ll face, so you’ll never enter a fracas ill-equipped.

Several tweaks to combat make the game less grindy and help negate the lack of any easier difficulty settings. As such, you won’t have to worry about statistical building by grinding through random encounters. Here, you can enrich units through a training mode, auto-battling until they reach their level cap. With Reborn, enemies drop tarot cards of different colors providing perks like stat upgrades and a multitude of buffs. The result is a robust challenge that rarely seems overpowering, as well as battles that tend to be a bit less time-consuming.

While Reborn’s mechanical treats are welcome, some will undoubtedly take issue with the remaster’s visuals. Certainly, portraits exhibit rich detail and the game’s isometric environments convey nostalgic charm. But a rather drab visual filter has been applied to the game’s battlefield sprites, resulting in some unsightly blurring. While I should be grateful that the developers didn’t try to duplicate Disgaea 6’s approach and render characters in polygon form, part of me wishes Square-Enix tried to apply the HD-2D visual style that worked so well in Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and Live A Live. On the upside, the title offers full Japanese and English voice work, with both teams of actors offering proficient performances. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a dub this much.

Just like the original game, Tactics Ogre: Reborn doesn’t make an affable first impression. From a wealth of mystifying lore to battles that play out at a dawdling pace, the game might not immediately grab you. But soak in the sophistication of the game storytelling, which studies the complexities and consequences of war, and you’ll likely become absorbed by the game’s worldview. Despite being a remake of a remake, Reborn’s lessons remain as relevant as ever.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.