Tactical Breach Wizards

It's a fun little turnbased puzzle game.

Gameplay is a lot about using your characters abilities, to get the best outcome.
while the game might have an optimal way to complete missions, you are still able to complete them your own way.
which gives you alot of opportunity to experiment with the abilities your characters have.

One of the features that the game has, is the ability to preview the outcome of the turn, so you always have an idea of what's going to happen.
If you don't like the way the round has been going or an action you did, wasn't the correct one, you can always rewind back as far as you want, that being to the start of the turn, granted you can't change anything when you commit to ending the turn.
Because of this, failing is quite hard, but i still had it happen occasionally where i had to restart, because i had miscalculated my actions and i was in a situation that was hardly winable.
It didn't happen alot and i wager it more based on the individual, more than the game being unfair.

Throughout the game, you will be introduced to more and more abilities, and a bunch of the missions will be created with said new abilities in focus, so you can get a feel for them.
It's a great way of doing, and it was explained greatly.
This is also true for the enemies and other enviromental objects, that all bring some new challenge to the table.

Besides the main game, there's also 2 modes.
Dreams and proving grounds
Dreams are challenges that is unlocked throughout the game.
These dreams will be themed similar to the missions that unlock it.
And the challenge gives other twists and takes on the gameplay.
Proving grounds are about surviving until you've completed the given objective.

It's both more gameplay, but also gives you more challenges to complete, as well as being able to obtain confidence points.

Both in the main game and in the 2 extra modes, you can obtain confidence points, these are gained by completing optional objectives during the various missions.
Like "let noone take damage", "finish the mission before level 2" and so on, it's to give more of a challenge for those that seek it, and by gaining confidence points, you're able to
unlock outfits.

Story is okay, and while there was some interesting narrative, you don't get a lot of it, since the game is rather short, but for what it's worth, you get a decent story out of it.
Just don't expect it to be the primary focus of the game.
Wish there was a bit more, but what we have are fine.
It does try to juggle between being serious and cracking jokes left and right, and frankfully it does not land alot of the time.

Visually it looks okay, the enviroments does look somewhat simple, but it helps to make the important objects stand out better.
UI is clean and comprehensible and made a lot of sense when going through the various abilities.
characters have this neat style that fits the theme and enviroment well.

If you like tactical turnbased games and/or puzzle games, this is quite the fun game to play.

I don't frequently write reviews but this game is really great! When I saw the trailer randomly somewhere I guessed it will be fun, reminded me of the old X-Com games but more story based. Basically that's what it was and it didn't disappoint.

The characters are great, the story is fun and a bit absurd at the start, it gets more serious later. But it has heart and passion poured into it all over and you can feel the love and care that went into this game. There are a lot of elements, dialogues, the map, the dreams that wouldn't be needed - but they really add to the characters and the feel of the game.

The only complaint I have is that the main story is a bit short. But I didn't see any significant bug during my run which is a huge plus.

Also, I'm sure this will be on the very short list of games I'll actually max out just because I really don't feel like leaving it yet.

When I decided to get a Steamdeck 3 months ago, I of course immediately started browsing indie games on Steam to see what was out there. I enjoy some casual turn-based combat, and this looked interesting.

Ended up purchasing it and discovering that it was exactly what I had hoped and more. The art style, the characters, the writing and intuitive gameplay all worked perfectly together to create a fantastic experience. That is to say, this game has it’s own unique personality that is a delight to get to know as you play.

If you have any interest in turn-based tactical combat games, a sense of humor, an appreciation for intelligent writing and character dialogue, and a Steamdeck, I HIGHLY recommend this game. Steamdeck optional.

Highly recommended for those that enjoy turn based games. There's a lot of interesting movesets that can also be changed via upgrading moves. And you can play through the levels normally or choose to accomplish more difficult goals. The dialogue between stages is also quite well written, a lot of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.

Only come here to say after defeating the final boss.
This is the best strategy game I've ever played in the last decade. Could be two decades if you don't count some remastered old games. Flawless gem.
Oh man I'm not even a strategy game fan at all.

As a turn based tactics game, the gameplay is more than passable, with a lot of versatile abilities, though in general the unlocks plus infinite undoes ensure you are too broken to be threatened. The challenge therefore lies in going for achievements instead of winning fights, which may or may not be someone's cup of tea.

However the true award goes to the writing, which is somehow better here than in the vast majority of narrative focused games out there. Interesting world building, often hilarious, and even occasionally poignant, it is some of the best in class.

9/10

Just finished this game, about 15 hours of tight solid content (with more challenge missions I haven't done). The writing is hilarious with interesting characters. Cool visuals and unlockable outfits (some with extreme drip). The pace of the game is well-maintained with new characters and abilities being added to your arsenal. The game also does a good job of varying the characters you play with and the levels encourage different tactics so you don't fall into a rut of using the same ability to breeze through. I would say it's more of a puzzle game than a tactics game, but if you like either this game is right up your alley.

Overall highly recommend. The devs obviously spent a lot of time fine-tuning the experience and it shows in how incredibly polished this game is. It's one of those games that you could use to argue that video games are art and capable of telling interesting stories, as it does just that while being an absolute blast to play.

I enjoyed every aspect of this game - the writing, the art design, the world building, the mechanics - everything. I enjoyed skipping a level guilt free because I wasn't in the mood to bang my head against it, I enjoyed min/maxing a turn 1 win.

I would love to play more games in this universe, read more stories with these characters, anything. (Wild shot - I'll write and design all the tacticool staff rifles if you do a Gunsmith Simulator crossover)

Bought this game near full price. No regrets.

The game has a great storyline, bits of humor. Gameplay is very solid, if you liked into the breach you will certainly like Tactical Breach Wizards.

If you didn't like into the breach, and the reason was that the game felt a bit empty, then this game really fills that void. Give it a chance, it really combines the best of ITB gameplay with a fun and interesting storyline.

Soundtrack is very fitting for the game.

Graphics are good for what they try to achieve.

Optional content give more replayabiliy, the main game I would say is 12h and the extra content give you at least as much to go through.

Cool characters, worldbuilding, and puzzles. 10/10

Both for fans of tactical games and puzzle games. Cute writing, challenging gameplay, and a nice low-poly art style. Nothing but praise from me!

such a fun concept with such incredible execution. an absolute must play

Tactically it's not difficult, if you do the optional challenges it's more of a puzzle than a tactics game but really we're all here for the story. The writing is incredibly good and there's funny little bits all over the place. Watch the end of mission frames carefully, there's some gold in there. Best game I've played in years.

Overall, the gameplay loop is an interesting concept I enjoyed. At times, the dialogue can be a bit goofy but it was a good game to play and 100%.

More people need to play this, period. Waited almost 5 years for this to come out and it's every bit as good as I expected it to be.

The developers have managed to capture what's fun about a game like XCom, and distill it into a very pleasant and well thought-out puzzle game. Tactical Breach Wizards is easy to recommend to anyone who enjoys turn-based puzzles.

An absolute joy. A challenge but forgiving in all the right places. A clever, easy-to-pick up and put down puzzle game where you can min-max to perfection or just muddle through or even skip a level altogether if need be! The biggest surprise was that it also has some of the most funny and heartfelt, character-driven writing I've ever seen in a game. The theming also meshes seamlessly with the mechanics, so I felt that warm and cosy immersed feeling throughout. Major recommendation!

Just finished this game and all I feel very fulfilled in doing so!
I'd never played a turn based tactics game like this one before, and I can say that I am very surprised and pleased with TBW. You can really tell that a lot of passion and love went into the development of this game, especially considering the size of the team once I went through the credits.
If you enjoy a challenge with puzzles, unlocking skills and putting your puzzle solving skills to a test, this game is definitely a treat for you. It feels highly polished with the beautiful artwork, amazing music and SFX, a very interesting story that fleshes out each of the characters and makes you love each one of them.

I really do hope that this game does well because the potential to expand upon this universe is absolutely massive, and putting wizards in a modern military setting is something I had not seen before, yet Suspicious Developments did it flawlessly.

Can't recommend strongly enough. Great gameplay, great aesthetics, great music, great writing, great characters, just peak. One of those games where pulling off some clever asshole move makes you feel like an absolute genius.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT A TACTICS GAME -- It is a puzzle game. False Advertising Alert!!!

You cannot use your judgement to move around the area, using strategy to deal with randomized enemy placement and events. It is a puzzle game, and there is only several solutions to get the "correct" outcome.

If you were looking for something like Xcom or Jagged Alliance, look elsewhere.

This is a fantastic tactical strategy game that feels also like a puzzle game where each mission is like a satisfying brainteaser. It takes place in a modern setting where magic exists, but the problems of the world feel eerily familiar. It’s a place of corruption, state violence, and messy politics - things that hit a little too close to home, especially in the U.S. right now. Yet the game manages to balance that with a sense of humor that gave me many chuckles. The characters all have distinct personalities that make their interactions fun to watch. This is one of the few games where I got attached to all the characters, and enjoyed the story and gameplay from start to finish.

Its an extremely well curated puzzle game. No random generation but the developers truly made every level a hand-crafted masterpiece with challenges all throughout. Storytelling is solid, characters are unique and lovable in their own ways.

Great tactical game play, finding a balance between puzzle solving and freedom to improvise. But the standout part is the writing and the characters--full of charm, and genuinely funny.

Came for the tactical shooter gameplay and corny humor, stayed for the puzzle-like objectives and earnest emotional journeys. 10/10 no notes

It's a pretty good puzzle game, like into the breach. I do prefer this a bit more since it's hand crafted and not procedural but it's not something you really replay as it's story focused.
The story is pretty good, nothing special, the characters are neat but I have to say a lot of the dialogue, especially early, is very *quirky* kinda marvel quip-esc, which did put me off but as the story goes on it starts to take itself more seriously, which was a relief.
The puzzles were good, I think the optional objectives were very welcome as otherwise it would've felt a bit too 'take loads of turns and just shoot the bad guys' but while some had multiple ways to complete I did feel some required certain upgrades which you might not have chosen.

7/10

Right off the bat, the only negative thing I have to say about this game is that it suffers from its lack of voiceover. I would kill for a fully voice-acted version, I would even go so far as to act in it myself - the dialogue is SO GOOD it really has to be voiced.

That's the only bad thing I can say about it. The story is fun, and though it's a slow burn, it never feels trite or stale. The levels are very well-designed. The action economy is complex enough to be interesting, and simple enough that you don't have to spend 15 minutes dithering over your next move. The pace is tight, you never feel like you've lost an immense time investment when you suffer a cockup and have to restart. And as I already said, the dialogue is really good; crisp and brusque with an throughline of very dry humor and occasional bouts of absurdism. This game is what XCOM: Chimera Squad wishes it were; a simpler, tighter, funnier experience than the mainline XCOM titles that doesn't have to sacrifice tactical complexity to be very accessible. Definitely recommended.

This game taught me you can in fact overdose on quips. Still, really fun, stylish, and repeatedly delivers on that feeling of big brain euphoria when you find some new combination of your rolodex of abilities. Just a really slick product from top to bottom. It's also got the capacity for community designed levels, so yeah, expect a cult following for the next ten years or so.

This game is one of the modern greats
the levels are tight the character writing is witty and punchy making each character unique
the story has multiple escalating arcs that naturally lead into the other and feel connected and a natural continuity with appropriately escalating stakes and a tangible threat that relates to the main cast
the feeling of pulling a perfect 1 turn breach neutralising all hostiles in a single turn is fantastic
the character progression is meaningful but tied to main story completion even though its represented with xp it is a little dishonest and should say level up in x number of missions. the upgrades you do get are meaningful and powerful giving some characters the ability to almost solo clear the map with busted combos (not all the time but enough to feel awesome). you will not be able to get every upgrade at max level meaning you have to specilise the character which some people may not like but to me that felt like i made a decision on what that character could and couldnt do (you get 5 out of 7 upgrades).
the non cannon challenge missions were framed in an interesting way to still make them cannon and still incorporate character growth in the form of characters talking to their subconscious
the "confidence" challenges are great , the game asks you to complete extra objectives in each missions to earn confidence for the characters to earn new costumes which are mostly pretty cool (only one or 2 ugly looking ones). all the challenges are manageable and pretty intuitive but some are hard and a little obtuse but thats only a handful of missions
the game was short and sweet rolling through the campaign took 16 hours and 100% took total playtime to 24 and i want more
the game is a good length and doesnt overstay its welcome
a real 10/10 game that anyone who enjoys turn based stratergy games must play

Great game. I came for the meme name, but I stayed for the tactical gameplay and the engaging story.

Note that there are no procedurally generated levels; this is more of a character-driven finish-once puzzle game than a replayable RPG.
If you're fine with that, you're in for fun gameplay and a generic but well executed story with likeable characters and superb humor.
The game doesn't overstay its welcome: Finishing the story took me around 20h of playing, and if you achieve the optional objective in that playthrough, 100%-ing should take maybe an additional hour.
Ignore the superflous 7 hours in my playtime; they were spent AFK.

fuck this game whips so much ass. it's genuinely hilarious, and also makes you feel sooooo smart for figuring out fun combinations. cannot recommend enough

This isn't turn based tactics. It's a straight up PUZZLE GAME
They should say that on the store page instead of misleading people.

If you replace all the graphics with something like "unblock it" (if you know that game on phone), it's pretty much the same game.

Purely a puzzle where there are only a few "right solutions" to any puzzle and not in any way tactical combat.

This is a great game. Every part is lovingly crafted by the devs; this game is a home cooked meal; this game is whatever slop isn't. The story and mechanics and gameplay and lore are one engaging and harmonious whole. The game doesn't outstay its welcome either; it's 30-50 of quality.

I wish I could enjoy this game, as the premise is quite good, and the writing at multiple points did make me laugh, however I did feel kind of cheated that while being advertised as a strategy / tactics game it's effectively just a puzzle game with not a lot else to it

The game is pretty great all in all. I like the art style, the puzzles are simple but complicated enough if you do all the challenges and the story is neat. I'd pay 40 bucks for this game rather than 20 honestly

Really great tactics game that's more puzzle-esque than something like XCOM, but with a lot of cool abilities to use to complete levels in different ways and a charming campaign that keeps things interesting. Easy recommend for fans of strategy games.

I expected a great game from looking at the reviews, but I didn't expect to be this strong in practically all its aspects.

Amazing writing

Breach wizards manages to build an interesting futuristic world through its story in a way that crpg standards, which is unexpected for a game that is not story focused. The devs give us a lot of insight into the world outside the main story through the writing, things like how people get their powers, how the different societies work and organize themselves, how this impacts lives of regular people. And it's done in a way that gives just enough information to fuel the players imagination about aspects not directly told through the story. It gives an impression of a complex an interesting world existing outside of the story.

This extends to the cast of characters that the player meets during the campaign. They all feel alive, colorful and each has their own demons to deal with as part of the events of the story. Their growth is highlighted by interweaving their own struggles into the story and giving them some room to develop, even going as far as giving everyone a short solo mission that goes deeper into their own role in the overall plot.

On top of that the writing manages to pull off comedy really well. The story plays out like your favorite sitcom, managing to constantly be funny without losing a beat on the somewhat serious story it tries to tell. Making that work deserves some sort of reward, because it's not easy!

Tactical gameplay?

Breach wizards plays more like a tactical puzzle game than a tactical strategy game, think into the breach rather than xcom. You get to plan and (and redo) each turn to your satisfaction with choices becoming permament only after pressing the 'end turn' button. You get full information on enemy actions all the time and can rollback freely during the turn.

There is a big focus on combos between the wizards, their abilities are very distinct and never really overlap. Each does something completely different and figuring out how to abuse their abilities and game mechanics to complete the objectives is the game here.

The missions themselves are broken up into several rooms that are usually solved in 2-3 turns. Some (especially earlier ones) kind of ask you to figure out 'the one' solution, but this is mainly a form of tutorialising how each ability can be used to abuse the system. The later missions are more flexible in the way they can be solved.

The wizards themselves level up between story missions and I can't remember the last game where I had such a hard time deciding which upgrades to take for my characters. They all feel impactful and interesting, even the simpler ones that simply add numbers to the abilities feel good to take because the abilities are generally designed in a way that they interact with other wizards abilities. And because the player never decides who is deployed to a room you have to think about how upgrades you take synergise with everyone else on the growing roster.

I can't recommend this enough if you enjoy these types of games :)

What I expected: An X-Com like strategy rpg with magic and spells and guns
What I got: Joss Whedon's Wacky Wizard Puzzle Game
The dialog gets obnoxious quick and the game really doesn't want you to go off the rails and experiment too much with clearing rooms to the point where that's almost a set way to clear each room. Wasted potential

Great game with a mix of Into The Breach style puzzle/tactics gameplay with some X-Com flavouring. The writing is especially humorous and is a high point for the game throughout.

Love the idia of wizzard/swat game and the differenc of pepole both in culture and personality is so rich that after playing the game i never found anything like this.

Nowdays the "modern games" try this "diversity" while this game gives you the exact thing yet they never recognize it.

I hope this game find more and more pepole and plays it. Even tough i dislike ending a game i was more than happily accepted this like Titanfall 2 campaing one. Even tough it was a bit sad to part ways i cant realy bear tolet go of this game from my favorite.



For anybody who readed this please support this chads and buy this game. You make yourself a favor, trust me.

The worldbuilding in this game is nuts. First class, really! And the dialogues have a certain LucasArts allure to them. Every character is adorable. The writing is really fun, even though it's capable to deal with tough modern-world themes.

The only downside is that sometimes these dialogues are just too long, but I take this as the collateral effect of a true work of love.

Oh but it's a game, right? So let's also speak about gameplay. I came here as a fan of turn-based tactics, and I beat all the levels/challenges with all the optional objectives (on normal). The thing is, as a consequence of the overall scale of the encounters, Tactical Breach Wizards plays more like a puzzle game, where it's not enough to get things done, because you want/need to get them done in a certain fashion. That said, every hero has a distinctive playstile, with a pre-determined set of abilities that can be customized heavily with perks. Based on that, you can come up with interesting synergies.

Anyway, if you like XCOM and you are keen on a different twist on the genre, definitely go for it. If you are looking for a quirky setting and memorable characters, go for it. If you are Tom Francis and you are reading this, for the love of all that's holy find a way to turn Tactical Breach Wizards into a TTRPG or an adaptation of 5E, or something :D

Absolutely incredible game. The characters, the powers, the banter, the level design: all top tier. Highly recommend.

tried it a couple times and just can't get into it. the action is not particularly interesting and the dialog is cringy to the max. i wouldn't call it a bad game but it doesn't work for me. i wish i had the time and energy to get into xcom again and i hoped this would be a quick substitute.

A fantastic puzzle game disguised under fun humour, cool abilities and great characters.

It's fun! It's good! Jen and Banks are cute together!

Well-written, incredibly funny, and some really tight and fun gameplay that's also respectful of your time. Things move quickly, and it's easy to start over, try a different tactic, or just brute force and come back to later. Thoroughly enjoyed my time in this world, and I hope there's some additional story or something else down the line to flesh out this very fun world that the devs have built!

This game went so hard. It has been a long time since I played a game with writing this good. It's funny, it's witty, it's clever, and it's downright heartfelt. Someone put their soul into this game. The combat is engaging and they add new options at just the right rate. This was a great play.

The final mission is so much harder than every other level I faced in the game. I don't know how I beat it. But, yeah, this game was really good. Tactical Breach Wizards scratches that X-COM itch without the worry of a 99.9% attack missing. There's also a good storyline with fun writing and characterization.

Graphics: 1/2 Love the minimalist art-style. Probably the weakest part of the game.
Music: 1/2 Feels great in general. Keeps you focused in the turn. But nothing special that I would listen to later.
Gameplay & Feel: 2/2 Excellent strategy game with plenty of possibilities. All the characters feel good to play though some clearly outbalance and outshine the others. The game allows character swaps from some missions and many approaches to the problem also depending on the level-up perks of each characters. I can only imagine how insanely difficult it is to balance games like these.
Mechanics & Difficulty: 1.5/2 Great difficulty options and all feel great for me personally. I would say, after trying out some of the additional missions and a harder difficulty, I might end up having way more fun in the end from the challenge.
Story & Lore: 1.5/2 The world-building in the short time this game goes was simply amazing. There's a weak bit in the investigations board. I expected some puzzle-solving there too, but otherwise the politics, character lore and general story makes the world feel bigger. There's no options that actually impact the story and is quite linear otherwise.
Overall: 7/10. A great tactical strategy game for the price. The kind of game I could play a few times and never forget about. If this game had a DLC or additional content, I would gladly pay for it because of it's amazing value.

Good writing. Unique gameplay. It's very puzzle-solving. The characters are great. Upgrades are crazy-awesome. The optional objectives can be fun, but it feels okay to skip them as you can come back later. (or not)

And there's some hints on the most obtuse late-game story missions. I *did* forget about that one ability.

Just fantastic all around.