Triangle Strategy Review (Switch)

Triangle Strategy blends tactical turn-based strategy and RPG elements, and coats everything in a compelling story of friendship and betrayal. Featuring combat mechanics akin to Tactics Ogre: Reborn and a Game of Thrones-like plot, Triangle Strategy has a lot to offer to fans of the genre. Visually, the game borrows a lot from the iconic Octopath Traveler graphics but tones it a bit down to make it work smoothly on the Nintendo Switch.

Triangle Strategy has a lot of charm thanks to its HD-2D visuals style, but combat where the game really shines. While the game does have a myriad of classes, there are no actual professions, so the only way to gain new traits and abilities is to level up and eventually promote units to Veteran and Elite.

Triangle Strategy starts a bit slower, so expect to have a lot to read. The trend continues for a few chapters, but most of the story tidbits are interesting with a lot of politics, intrigue and banter between characters. The best part of the game though is the one that involves combat. Even on normal difficulty, you’ll have to position your units carefully before each battle, considering your flanks and deploying the units that will have the biggest impact.

That means that you need to take some time to get to know your units, which can be easily done by playing some of the Mental Mock Battles. The latter is a welcome addition to the game since it entirely removes the need to grind experience. Each Mental Mock Battle gives a nice bonus experience to all participants and useful loot.

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In between battles, you’ll be running so-called investigations that can lead to extremely helpful outcomes not only to the upcoming battles, but some are related to future story scenarios. It’s a great feeling to know that these investigations have a meaningful impact on the game in unexpected ways.

There are many classes in the game, but I found that the most useful are those that offer support. For example, a certain character can build portable ladders that allow your teammates to reach areas otherwise inaccessible. Other support characters can either buff, debuff or lure enemies away from your team.

More importantly, each map features different layouts, environments and elevation areas, so it’s important to choose the right team composition to make your battles easier. Elevation is one of the most important factors in the game, which makes a particular character who can fly essential and required in every fight.

Recruiting new characters is done via “character stories,” which is a nice touch because it feels that they’re involved in the story too. There’s enough variety to allow players to experiment with different party compositions, although the fact that the maps are just a distinct will require different strategies.

Triangle Strategy’s story focuses on three nations that were once involved in a great conflict but end up working together for the last 30 years. The secret to the lasting piece is the essential resources that each of the powerful nations control and their willingness to share these resources among them.

The frail peace between the three nations is put to the test when power-hungry leaders scheme in the shadows. You take on the role of Serenoa, a newly appointed leader of House Wolffort, one of the three houses of the Kingdom of Glenbrook. The house specializes in the defense of the kingdom, while the other two, House Falkes and House Telliore, are good at agriculture and trade, respectively.

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Triangle Strategy’s epicness doesn’t come from the plot, but from the way the game urges you to take decisions that will have a major impact on how the story unfolds and the ending you get. The entire narrative system is based on Scales of Conviction, a value system that is neither “good” nor “bad,” but heavily influences how the story unfolds.

Each time you’re presented with a difficult decision to make, you typically have three options to choose from. Each of these choices represent one of the three convictions: Morality, Liberty, and Utility. The former is associated with honorable and just choices, while Liberty and Utility are associated with forthright and free-spirited choices, as well as logical and self-preserving choices.

Although your decision might be associated with one of these convictions, every member of Serenoa’s inner circle can cast their vote, so the outcome might be different than what you initially wanted. The catch is to convince some of your brothers-in-arms to switch their votes to your cause, but to do that you’ll need to have previously learned information that can help you sway their votes. The information is most of the time found during the “exploration phase” leading up to these decisions, so make sure to be very thorough with these.

It's an interesting concept that makes each story feel like a separate scenario, although sometimes it casts doubt on the integrity of some of the characters in Serenoa’s inner circle. As you can imagine, there are three separate endings, one for each of the conviction. However, there’s also a fourth ending, the “true ending” if you want, which requires specific decisions throughout the game.

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The Good

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Conclusion