Monstro: Battle Tactics

First things first: This is not a clasic turn-based rpg, let's just get that clear (I have no idea what that other review is talking about). This is styled very much like those games but there is no character progression, no army/party building, no skills, etc. TBS game maybe, rpg definitely not. This is really a puzzle game using some mechanics from tactics style games. Think of it like playing challenge mode in chess games. There is a board setup and you basically have to figure out a strategy to solve it. General graphics/audio: Very barebones, you basically get to toggle fullscreen, lighting & shadows (I have no idea why in the hell anybody would turn off lighting and shadows unless they were trying to run this on a rig from 20 years ago), music and sfx. The game is locked to 60fps but I'm not even sure 60 is necessary considering what is happening. Story: Somewhat amusing story which I did not expect at all. I don't mean an actual plot because there is barely a story, there ...

an excellent tactical game with funny writing, pleasant graphics and music (don't forget to grab the free soundtrack dlc), volume sliders, speed settings, zoom in/out, and plenty of challenges in achievement form if simply completing the 4 campaigns (20 levels each, plus 8 tutorial levels) on their own isn't enough. it's possible that it will be, as there are a few really difficult levels, but no rng, everything's explained, you can see which unit can move where, how much damage they can take and deal, and what will happen at the end of the turn. highly recommended for tactics/puzzle fans, though I wish audio got muted when the game's minimized, and there's an annoying amount of missing apostrophes and other typos all over the place. unfortunately, I haven't been able to complete it yet, I'm stuck on human++ level 19, so 2 levels and the entire monster++ campaign left to do, but since the game's practically unknown, there's not much helpful info around.

This is a fun puzzle game, and I use the word puzzle because this is not an RPG and it's also not a classic a turned base strategy game like the King's Bounty series - you cannot upgrade any skills or learn new ones, which means the scenario is very predetermined and it becomes more of a puzzle. The game contains 80 puzzles/levels, 40 playing as the humans fighting the beasts and 40 more as the beasts fighting the humans. The majority of the human puzzles can be won without losing any units, which is a fun optional challenge if you like that sort of stuff. Overall it's a nicely balanced game that's fun to play in short bursts between doing other things.

Disclaimer: I am a friend to one of the creators [strike]and I got terrorized to write this[/strike] persuaded to give it a try, given that puzzles are not my pro. Still, that being said - spent a while playing advance wars, so if you want something akin to that, except more handcrafted to figure out a situation at hand with limited resources, that might be up your alley. If me being a puzzle pleb enjoyed it, folks who are into that stuff will even more. tl;dr IT'S PRETTY AND HAS NEAT MUSIC GO GIVE IT A TRY IF YOU WANT TO UNRUSTLE YOUR GRAY MATTER A LITTLE~

The short version first: If you're after something a bit like a Fire Emblem game, but with a focus on tactical "puzzles" over stats and experience points, this may very well be your game - but an RPG it is not. Monstro: Battle Tactics takes the guise of a strategy game, in the vein of a Japanese-made grid-based game. The "Battle Tactics" moniker, then, is a further element of said guise. The game is not necessarily lying to us; the core element of the game is the tactical movement of your army. But rather than being able to win a fight by sheer attrition, or because your units have gained more experience or had better weapons or were carrying healing items that could be leaned upon, the average battle in Monstro tends to be won by either very careful manipulation of unit movement, or sheer manpower (when a given map even grants it to you). You'll be cleverly keeping your soldiers just out of reach of that approaching minotaur, sneaking your archer around a wall so she can snipe at ang...

The game is well designed, even when some rules are kinda tricky to understand, the misions are fun to do, specially trying to get the achievements. The art is great and imo one of the strongest points. the music is nice, but kinda distracting if you end turns fast. overall is a good game.

Monstro: Battle Tactics is a strategy game with no RNG. The game helpfully tells you the rules for enemy priority and the same actions will always result in the same damage - no critical hits, luck rolls, or variations in AI. This doesn't mean it's easy. What it means is that maps are more like puzzles. As someone who played a lot of Advance Wars and tried to do fast clears that depended on specific (and sometimes rare) enemy movement, I appreciated this. You can look through the rules to see exactly what the enemy priority is, and you can undo moves, even during the enemy turn - emphasizing the puzzle aspect. Overall, this is a really neat concept. Admittedly, the execution has a few flaws. One minor one is that there's no way to know the order enemies will move in unless you actually let the enemy move; this is something that's relevant on a few maps, as an enemy that moves first can sometimes block another enemy from attacking. There are also a few maps that felt, frankly, unfai...

I have barely scratched the surface, but I am loving it so far. The tutorial / intro experience is well done; not too wordy. It surprised me to find that it was more of a puzzle game then anything, and I liked that. Totally worth the price.

The positive reviews don't lie. If you're a DROD fan, Monstro is to Fire Emblem what DROD is to dungeon crawlers. It's an advanced adult-level puzzle game that doesn't sacrifice the fun factor to offer a challenge. You'll know it's very difficult to find the kind of game you like, but Retrocade delivers. I'd pay $20 or more for this game, and it's yours for only $6! Still not convinced? There's a free demo available so you can try it out for yourself! https://www.kongregate.com/games/skellus/monstro-battle-tactics-demo

Monstro is to tactical RPGs as a chess problem is to chess: a handcrafted setup in the grid-based squad language with a single specific solution to be found. It's not exactly a pretty game, but then it's not priced as one either. Definitely worth a play by those who enjoy both puzzle and strategy games; if you're not in that crowd, it's not likely to win you over with charm, but there's nothing wrong with being a niche game.