The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics - based on the Netflix prequel

[LESS T_T]

At least they're actively sharing clips on Twitter:



And not answering people asking release dates.

 

[LESS T_T]

Well: https://blog.us.playstation.com/201...-resistance-tactics-launches-february-4-2020/

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Launches February 4, 2020



I’m David Whitfield, Product Manager at En Masse Entertainment for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics. Today, we here at En Masse Entertainment, along with our friends at BonusXP, are happy to announce that The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics will be launching worldwide on February 4, 2020!

With The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, our goal was to reimagine the world of The Dark Crystal as a classic, tactical strategy game. The game is shaping up nicely, promising strategic depth for genre veterans, while remaining approachable for those newer to turn-based tactical games. We’re excited that gamers of The Dark Crystal alike will get to experience the fantasy world of Thra by playing through, and going beyond, the events of the Netflix Original series. Players will even encounter never-before-seen playable characters, stories, and environments.



There are over 50 unique turn-based campaign battles in the game that take place across the world of Thra. We’ll allow you to recruit new allies and customize their forces by assigning them jobs and even outfitting them with new equipment. You’ll be able to choose from specific gear, upgradeable abilities, and an expansive job system containing over 15 jobs.



We’re particularly excited with how the characters from the show are turning out, as the team has been working hard to faithfully recreate major characters, including Aughra, the wise and ancient embodiment of Thra; the Chamberlain, the calculating and malicious Skeksis; and Deet, an unassuming caretaker of animals who is the key to the Gelfling’s hopes for rebellion.



The game adds a unique spin on turn-based tactics in the form of dynamic events that will require players to change their strategy on-the-fly and keep them on their toes. We are targeting more than five diverse territories, with each offering the ability to learn more about the Gelfling clans and their histories.



The game will be at PlayStation Store as a digital download on February 4, 2020.

 

[grimace]

The game will be at PlayStation Store as a digital download on February 4, 2020.

What about a PC release on Steam?

Has this gone Playstation 4 exclusive first?

 

[LESS T_T]

The game will be at PlayStation Store as a digital download on February 4, 2020.

What about a PC release on Steam?

Has this gone Playstation 4 exclusive first?

No, it's written like that because it's on Playstation blog.

You can see they updated Steam store page's release date.

Also coming to GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/the_dark_crystal_age_of_resistance_tactics?as=1649904300

 

[thesheeep]

Btw... I recommend everyone to watch the actual series on Netflix.
What an amazingly creative piece of art.

 

[LESS T_T]

Welcome to our new series, Peer into the Crystal! In this episode, we cover the basics of a tactical rpg in the upcoming turn-based strategy game, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics.

 

[LESS T_T]

In our second episode of Peer Into the Crystal, we take a deeper look at the different jobs that you'll unlock through your time in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics.

Also full soundtrack on YouTube, composed by Dynamedion:

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Should've just made an ARPG where you play as Hup going around whacking pretentious Gelflings with your spoon.

Also, wow, way to miss your optimal release window by a fucking year.

 

[Dickie]

Also, wow, way to miss your optimal release window by a fucking year.

Maybe they're waiting for season 2.

 

[grimace]

Should've just made an ARPG where you play as Hup going around whacking pretentious Gelflings with your spoon.

Also, wow, way to miss your optimal release window by a fucking year.

Skeksi has one year for you.

 

[LESS T_T]

20 bucks.

 

[grimace]

LESS T_T will you be writing the official Codex review?

Two weeks away from release and this future hidden gem is flying under the radar.

 

[LESS T_T]

LESS T_T will you be writing the official Codex review?

Two weeks away from release and this future hidden gem is flying under the radar.

Eh, no? I don't write reviews.

Maybe you can ask Infinitron to make a news post or something. Though this game sits a bit outside of the usual coverage range.

 

[Infinitron]

Looks like this is supposed to be out:




https://af.gog.com/game/the_dark_crystal_age_of_resistance_tactics?as=1649904300

 

[Sacibengala]

Would be cool to see what you guys think of this one. The show was great, so this needs to suck.

 

[grimace]

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-tactics-review

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Review
The battle for Thra doesn’t fit on a grid.

Verdict

Spoiler

Despite being far less common nowadays, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics keeps the long tradition of the mediocre licensed game alive. It does a decent job of aping ideas from some of the great strategy RPGs that came before it, but doesn’t execute any of them as well. Couple those missteps with its aggravating menus, and The Dark Crystal Tactics quickly becomes more tedious than fun to play.

Pros:

New content in the form of comic book style cut scenes.


Cons:

No way to save during the middle of a battle.
Reliance on menus for every action.

 

[Metro]

I have no illusions that this won't be anything other than IP milking shovelware.

 

[hexer]

Is this game aimed at kids audience?

 

[Chaosdwarft]

TL;DR Review: Seems like a very mediocre game, not bad but no great either, nothing to set it apart from other tactics games.

Also campaign is just the retelling of season 1 of the show...

 

[Casual Hero]

No reason to buy this game imo. Better off playing a higher quality tactics game.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-tactics-review/

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE TACTICS REVIEW
A surprisingly fun tactics game that predictably can't quite capture the show's best qualities.

I love strategy games, and I love The Dark Crystal, but heading into this adaptation of the Netflix TV series, I was pretty skeptical of the idea of squishing the two together. It’s a pleasure to report, then, that while Age of Resistance Tactics never fully justifies the combination, it’s a far richer and more substantial game than I expected.

For those unfamiliar, the show (itself spun out from a 1982 cult movie) takes place in a strange fantasy world, represented primarily through puppetry and animatronics, where the small and peaceful Gelflings are oppressed by the screeching, parasitic Skeksis. The game loosely retells this story, with a few new diversions of its own, though in a way jumbled and fleeting enough that anyone who hasn’t watched the series will be utterly lost from start to finish.

With too little explanation for the uninitiated, and not enough new elements to please any fan looking for significant additions to the canon, the storytelling largely falls flat. But where the game shines is in its action.

As you progress across the campaign map, you put together parties of heroes—from a stuffed roster of characters from the show and new additions—to fight in turn-based battles. Thanks to clear presentation, a simple interface, and a generous undo button, the strategy is pleasingly accessible, while still complex enough to sustain its surprisingly chunky 20 hour runtime.

There are hints of Through the Breach in its mission design (calm down, just hints), with careful positioning and maneuvering key to success. Attacking from above your opponent confers an attack bonus, encouraging you to fight for the high ground. Environmental hazards, such as poison swamps and pits of snapping Gobbles, damage anyone who stops in them—movement and pushing abilities allow you to line up foes and shove them into these dangers, though it’s vital to not leave your soldiers vulnerable to the same trick.

Stages get cleverer and more elaborate as you go, showing off a real flair for strategy design. On coastal islands you have to keep an eye on the tide, which may rise to drown hapless fighters, or lower to expose new routes; in the dungeons of the Skeksis, your party is at one point divided along two routes, each having to find and hit levers that open doors for the other; and in the Grottan caves, a stage challenges you to line up boulders and whack them into burrows to stem a tide of enemy beasts, like a giant game of Gelfling snooker.

Helping you adapt to each challenge is a surprisingly extensive customisation system for your characters. A JRPG-esque ‘jobs’ system, reminiscent of Final Fantasy or Dragon’s Dogma, allows heroes to effectively switch classes at will, levelling up each discipline individually. Abilities gained in a class can be used as secondary powers in another, allowing you to create your own hybrid classes, and by reaching certain requirements you’re able to unlock advanced tier 2 and 3 jobs. Combinations range from as simple as paladin/thief, to as esoteric as chef/beast tamer.

Though levelling slows as the total experience of a character rises, you’re otherwise never punished for a bad choice—you’re free to reshuffle jobs and abilities whenever you like. But oddly you’re not bound by canon either. While characters have certain natural inclinations, there’s nothing stopping you from, for example, turning peaceful nature-lover Deet into a ruthless assassin, or hero of the resistance Rian into a bookish scholar. Whether that’s a bit of goofy fun, or utter sacrilege, will depend on your inclinations as a fan.

As you take the time to play around with your roster, interesting combos reveal themselves. Lots of abilities can only be used when certain buffs or debuffs provided by other classes are in place, rewarding you for clever synergies. Targets marked by your scout, for example, become easy prey for your slow-but-powerful soldier, while a song-teller’s easy deployment of multiple buffs at once allows musicians to more reliably pull off their powerful ‘ultimate solo’. There are loads of combinations to try, with randomly generated ‘events’ missions serving as easy testing grounds to find your own, as well as to grind out more level ups.

There’s a kind of toybox fun to collecting the show’s heroes, dressing them up as I like, and making them battle for my entertainment. But they do kind of feel like toys, lacking the physicality and life of their on-screen puppet counterparts. Partly that’s down to the limitations of the medium. A behind-the-scenes documentary on the show reveals the original plan was to make it entirely with CGI, but the creators soon realised the character designs simply don’t work as anything other than puppets. In some ways the game wrestles with the same problem. But it’s also a symptom of a clearly humble budget, the game trying to breathe life into the bustling world of Thra with a highly limited selection of animations and character models.

Equally, while the strategy combat is good fun throughout, its relationship to the source material is variable to say the least. A fight against the Chamberlain evokes the show nicely, as he uses honeyed words to distract and confuse your heroes, even converting them to his side if you don’t get to them in time. But representing Brea’s search for knowledge as a brutal skirmish against a squad of librarians where you have to whack giant floating books to collect them is awkward at best. Enjoyable as the battles can be, it was rare for an hour to go by without something in the game reminding me that this simply isn’t the ideal genre for a Dark Crystal adaption.

It’s testament, then, to the game’s strategy chops that it’s a good time regardless. It’s not going to rock anyone’s world, but for a cheap TV tie-in it’s a lot more engaging than it has any right to be, serving as a pleasant opportunity for any series fan to spend a few more hours in Gelfling company.

THE VERDICT
75

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE TACTICS
This Netflix tie-in is an awkward adaptation, but a surprisingly smart strategy game.

 

[grimace]

Just in time for the holidays. Will probably arrive in time for Easter? Maybe?

Switch Limited Run #92: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Collector's Edition
$79.99
1

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics on physical cartridge for the Nintendo Switch. Region free. Includes full-color interior art and a booklet.

This item is limited to only 1,500 copies available.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Collector’s Edition includes:

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance physical game for the Nintendo Switch
Outer Box
Full Color Manual
Interior art
Premium Crystal Enamel Pin
Sticker Sheet (7 Stickers)
Overworld Cloth Map
Adorable Fizzgig Plush
Branded Lithoprint

Spoiler

 

[LESS T_T]

Too bad they canceled the show.

 

[grimace]

Too bad they canceled the show.

It's terrible to have these physical goods in production for a game that received luke warm reaction and a series that was canceled on a cliff hanger.

Limited Run could sell the Adorable Fizzgig Plush separately for $19.99 to fans for a profit.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Did they release a dvd or blueray yet? Seems like this switch collection should have had that and original film.