Telepath Tactics Review

From Valenka

Going into Telepath Tactics, it’s worth mentioning off the bat that the game is more or less the work of a single person and that in itself is a massive accomplishment. Telepath Tactics is the latest project from developer, Sinister Design, and it is a turn-based strategy RPG set in the Telepath RPG universe. From what I understand, the single player campaign is easily comparable to the style set in motion by Fire Emblem—I’ve never played it, so I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that I’ve been quite immersed in the medieval fantasy setting of Telepath Tactics and having one hell of a time, so good luck getting me out of it.

It’s a tactical experience on a grid-like battlefield where positioning your small army is just as important as strategically determining their actions during their turn. Telepath Tactics also features a permanent death mechanic, depending on what difficulty setting you select, which requires even more tactical planning—losing some of your best soldiers early on might make a battle or two down the road near impossible. The battles themselves are grand in scale and length and weigh on the side of challenges as you determine the best plan of action for dominating the enemy, even when you’re outnumbered. I’ll admit that I lost the second battle maybe five or six times before I really sat there and planned both my attack and defense. Perhaps it was my arrogance, going into a turn-based experience when I’m accustomed to real-time and thinking the same rules applied. Regardless of the reason, I had a tremendous amount of fun and had to continuously tell myself, “Just five more minutes…”

The battles are truly interesting and enjoyable, allowing you to employ a variety of abilities including spells, traps, environmental hazards and even on-the-field healing to keep your party members in the fight longer. It all feels very well-orchestrated and everything works in harmony together; nothing really feels out of place or unbalanced. For someone with minimal prior experience with turn-based RPGs, I found myself really enjoying the experience even when I would rather be button mashing and delivering vast amounts of damage with two daggers in a matter of seconds. Telepath Tactics is simply well done.

Telepath Tactics’ narrative is certainly interesting, that’s for sure, but the one downside is the amount of dialogue to continuously click through that can be a little overwhelming if not slightly irritating at times. The dialogue itself is decent and a good enough read, but having to click through a number of dialogue screens just to replay that last battle you were defeated in does weigh in on the side of annoyance. Fortunately, a skip feature is something that could easily be implemented in an update.

http://i.imgur.com/lQmtH7V....

While there is no online multiplayer, Telepath Tactics does employ a two to six player hotseat multiplayer feature as well as a map editor that allows you to create your own campaigns, new characters, items and more. The lack of online multiplayer might be a disappointment for some, but the ability to essentially craft, create and modify to your heart’s content may just be a redeeming supplement.

Some may find the overall presentation very basic and nothing to shout about, but one has to remember the history behind the game. When I first loaded up Telepath Tactics and experienced it for the first time, I pursed my lips and gave a nod of approval, noting aloud, “This was all done by one man? Impressive.” The amount of care and effort that went into Telepath Tactics is really crystal clear and it’s a tremendously enjoyable experience.

Telepath Tactics is available now on Steam, GOG and directly from Sinister Design.

Day 13 | Sinister Design