LiveFeed: Telepath Tactics

A lot of indie developers have a pining for older games and older genres even. One look at Kickstarter prompts the oft used phrase: “Publishers don’t want this type of game anymore.” A similar tale is true for Telepath Tactics, a game campaigned by a single man with a love for old, turn-based strategy titles. Taking inspiration from such games as Fire Emblem, this endeavor seeks to bring back depth into a singleplayer experience with a compelling narrative. Not just content with battles, an entire story will be woven to this top-down title with roleplaying elements. Characters that do well in battle will evolve and grow more powerful, as their traits and skills expand. Each combatant is also unique and will serve their own purpose on the playing field. For instance, fighters will storm the front and try to push back assailants, while archers and magic casters spring from the sides and a healer stays back to mend wounds. Many will bear a specific strength that helps them against another class, such as spears against horses and the likes.

With simple, yet clear visuals, the brightly colored playing field keeps a decent overview for strikes, which is adequately enhanced by the addition of movement markers and so on. Use of the tricky interface can take some time to get used to, but once accustomed to its pop-ups it should become easier to issue commands, especially with the use of shortkeys. Alongside regular buttons for movements and attacks, a separate button can issue a rally cry, which beckons close allies near. Additionally, as fighters go up in level, they’ll add more special skills respective to their class in their arsenal. It may sound like straightforward “tactics” stuff, but perhaps one of Telepath Tactics’ stronger qualities is that it makes its extensive game seem simple. Gameplay schemes are easy to fathom and there is plenty of room to go much deeper if so desired. We’ll prove that with a short video commentary of some Alpha gameplay below:

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)