A compelling story, tactical combat, and dull characters - Should you play Triangle Strategy?

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Triangle Strategy is one of Square Enix’s most recent releases, and it just so happens to also be one of only a handful of Square Enix games that I’ve had a chance to play. Given this legendary publisher’s work with the Final Fantasy franchise, I went in with fairly high expectations despite not being the biggest fan of strategy RPGs.

THE STORY

Triangle Strategy tells a deeply grounded narrative of medieval politics and war, with enough twists and backstabbing that it could be mistaken as an adaptation of Game of Thrones. Like George R. R. Martin’s esteemed series, Triangle Strategy follows noble kingdoms fighting over resources and power.

A group of righteous heroes is led by Serenoa Wolffort, the heir of House Wolffort. With his allies, Serenoa embarks on an adventure to remedy years of tension and distrust between the kingdoms of Aesfrost and the Holy State of Hyzante. As you might expect from a classic fantasy story, the protagonists uncover secrets and corruption, and are forced to decide between keeping the peace or serving justice by shedding blood.

PLATFORMS

Triangle Strategy first launched on Nintendo Switch in March 2022, but it also hit PC via Steam last week. I personally played on Nintendo Switch and had no issues with the game’s performance.

TIME PLAYED

I played Triangle Strategy for five hours. That may not seem like a long time for a tactical role-playing game, but I experienced quite a good chunk of gameplay and narrative.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Narrative. Triangle Strategy’s storytelling moves frustratingly slow at times, and the characters are a bit dull, but nonetheless it’s impossible to deny that the narrative is well done. That’s important too, since plot makes up most of the time spent in the game. I found the cutscenes extremely rewarding as I progressed and was drawn into a world that I initially struggled to care about.

• Combat. Triangle Strategy’s enthralling combat system gave me everything I wanted from a tactical game. The game employs a turn-based approach to combat on tiled battlefields. I had to make careful choices for what actions to take each turn, and using strategy to gain the upper hand over my opponents felt equal parts perplexing and thrilling.

WHAT SUCKS

• Pacing. Well over half of my time playing Triangle Strategy was taken up by reading and listening to pages of often superfluous dialogue and navigating unnecessary quarrels between characters. As mentioned above, I enjoyed Triangle Strategy’s storyline quite a bit taken as a whole, but I often found myself wishing that the game would take a more direct path to get to the point. In-game auto-play and fast-forward options eased these frustrations, but I wish the game was structured in such a way as to get players to that excellent tactical combat faster.

SHOULD YOU PLAY IT?

Yes, but only if you’re already interested in role-playing games. If you’re particularly new to the genre, Triangle Strategy’s compelling but slow-paced storytelling might be pretty exhausting. However, even though I went in with limited experience with strategy RPGs and Square Enix games, I still enjoyed this title. Despite some frustrations, I’m glad to have spent some time with Triangle Strategy.

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