Parents' Guide to Fae Tactics

Tactical role-playing games have long been held in high regard by fans for mixing the character development of a role-playing game with the tactical thinking of a turn-based tabletop game. Fae Tactics tries to carve out its own space in that genre by offering fans a nostalgic look and feel. The story isn't particularly deep, but it's engaging enough to keep players' interest. The game does try to toss in a few new quirks to try and stand out. Although the pieces come together well enough when the action starts, there are some frustrating limitations to overcome.

One of Fae Tactics' most hyped features is what the developers call it "menuless" gameplay. Menuless is a bit misleading though, as players still have to navigate different menus to equip characters' spells and abilities, level up skills, and organize their parties. But once battle start, the game does drop the usual menu-based controls in favor of automatic actions based on contextual things like characters' positions on the map, which direction they're facing in relation to enemies, and more. While the idea is for this to streamline the gameplay, it feels more like it strips options away from the player. You lose direct control of the tactics and strategies your units employ. Instead, Fae Tactics puts a focus on just getting characters into the right position and crossing your fingers, hoping the actions play out the way you want. For players that are used to commanding or directing their troops during play, this is pretty disappointing, but for newcomers just getting used to tactical strategy, this automated play could ease the learning curve that normally exists around these kinds of games.