It has been a long time since Square Enix put out a strategy RPG on consoles likeTriangle Strategy. It has been even longer since they have made aFinal Fantasy Tacticsgame despite fan outcry. Will fans ever get a new one or even a re-release of one of the classics? The future is unknown butSquare Enixis not shy aboutremasters and remakes.
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What is known is thatTriangle Strategyis here and it has been doing great in reviews. It is a return to the classic formula, satisfying in almost every way. However, it’s seemingly impossible to release a game without any problems. These are just a few examples of the thingsthis lengthy gamegets right and wrong.
8Best: The HD-2D Graphics
The most jaw-dropping thing players will notice right away isTriangle Strategy’s art style. What began as a one-off has turned into a series of games.The HD-2D aestheticis seemingly here to stay withLive a Livealso receiving the same treatment, and it’s easy to see why Square Enix is keen on this graphical style.
It brings both old school and modern values into the light.Triangle Strategyis an impressive-looking Switch game five years into its life cycle.
7Worst: A Lack Of Character Portraits And Cutscenes
There is something aboutTriangle Strategy’s production value that feels missing. Where are the character portraits? There are so many characters in the RPG that keeping track of them all is near impossible. There is art for every major character in the game too. They just aren’t spliced together.
One thing that is missing completely is cutscenes. ThePSPversion ofFinal Fantasy Tacticsadded cel-shaded cutscenes to some major plot points, and they looked great. They aren’t needed inTriangle Strategybut they would have rounded out the package nicely.
6Best: Satisfying Tactics
It’s been a while since a big-budgeted tactical RPG launched on Switch. It’s as close to a sequel asFinal Fantasy Tacticsas fans are going to get for now. That’s not to sayTriangle Strategyis an example of beggars can’t be choosers – far from it, actually.
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Every aspect of combat is satisfying. The one downside is the lack of interchange job classes. Autobattles would have also been nice. Those are small nitpicks in an otherwise simple butrobust strategy RPG.
5Worst: Mock Battles
There aren’t many opportunities to grind in the game outside mock and story battles. Mock battles reuse old maps to put the team against an assortment of soldiers. This is a great way to level up experience; however, leveling up isn’t the only way to strengthen characters. Players must acquire materials that then go into a type of skill tree.
There is also money needed for various items like ina typical RPG. It’s harder to get materials or money in mock battles, which again, makes upgrading certain aspects tricky. It gets better the deeper players get intoTriangle Strategy, but it can still be a struggle.
4Best: The Music
The score inTriangle Strategyis purely outstanding. This may look like a fancy 16-bit RPG but it sounds as mesmerizing as something on modern consoles. The battle music, in particular, feels like the spirit ofFinal Fantasy Tacticscoming through. It will get players pumped up for battle.
It’s the type of game that should get a lot of players online tobuy the CDwhenever it is out. It shouldn’t be surprising by now that Square Enix hires great musicians for their RPGs and yetTriangle Strategystill manages to stun.
3Worst: Too Much Talking
There is an aspect of the sound that is not perfect. The voice acting, for about 80% of it, is great in English. The acting isn’t the problem though, it’s the amount of dialogue. Many fractured scenes take players back and forth on the map, even if a scene is continued from that same point.
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It would have been preferable to have one giant cutscene rather than a bunch of them. In general, there is way too much talking. The characters and story are well-done, but it could have been tighter and presented better. There is nothing worse than a meanderingconversation in an RPG.
2Best: Autoplaying Dialogue
Even though there is a lot of talking inTriangle Strategy, it gives players options to skip past them. There is a fast-forward button to get through some of the more dead conversations. There is also a complete scene skip button.
For those that want to enjoy the story but do not want to pay perfect attention, there is a button for that as well. Players can autoplay the dialogue. This negates the need to hit a button to skip to the next speech bubble every time. It’s been done in RPGs before, but it still deserves applause here.
1Worst: Game Of Thrones Troubles
Triangle Strategysuffers from the same thing that plaguedGame of Thrones. There are a lot of characters with relationships to others, each presiding over distant lands. There are the three main kingdoms of Glenbrook, Aesfrost, and Hyzante, but then there are houses and factions within each.
There is a button players can hit during conversations to get brief character highlights. This can help, but it’s still tricky to keep track of them all. It is a double-edged sword and can be a nice problem to have in a story. Multiple characters give the world a more lived-in feeling at the cost of being confusing at times.
Triangle Strategywas released on July 07, 2025 and is available onSwitch.
