Tough it out
Batalj is an intense one-on-one turn-based strategy game that changes things up by letting players move simultaneously.
YOU don’t see too many turn-based strategy (TBS) games these days so when one pops up it feels like a throwback to the good old days of Final Fantasy Tactics and XCOM (which also saw a revival recently).
With BatalJ, game studio Fall Damage has tried to push the boundaries of TBS with a deeper system and three factions that’ll remind you of StarCraft. Classic yet modern
Batalj departs from the grid-based map used in games like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy
Tactics and Front Mission in favour of a hexbased map which allows units to travel diagonally.
But that’s not the only change – unlike traditional TBS games, players don’t take turns to move and attack.
Batalj makes both players take their turns simultaneously, so units may move out of range from your attack or may kill your unit even before it has time to attack.
So it’s crucial for players to make informed guesses as to what actions their opponent’s units will take.
Making players take their turns at the same time adds an additional layer to the game, giving players the feeling that the game is more dynamic.
Fun factions
There are three factions with each having units that have unique attributes and abilities that are organised into different tiers.
Once a player chooses a faction, the person can pick a prebuilt squad or custom make one.
However, custom making a squad requires you to first have a better understanding of the units so you can pick those that work well with each other.
But this is not made any easier by the shallow tutorial, as it only covers the basics.
The tutorial does not cover what each unit does, leaving it to the player to take the initiative to read the ability descriptions for each and every unit in the game, but maybe this is because we got an early release version.
Thankfully, there’s a sandbox mode for players to test the various units against each other.
Battle of wits
All in all, Batalj is a game with a lot of depth but it’s a tough game that will punish you for making mistakes or overlooking things.
It can be frustrating when your plans go awry because you missed something, but on the flip side, it can also be very satisfying when your plans work out.
You’ll give yourself a pat on the back when you successfully take down a difficult enemy or manage to protect a valuable unit.
I’ve had a great time with Batalj so far and I think if you’ve enjoyed titles like XCOM, you’ll definitely get a kick from this game if you stick around long enough to overcome the difficulty curve.