14 DAY TRIAL // 
My wizard has an ability called Supernova, allowing him to essentially sacrifice his own life to take out a bunch of enemies with him. I drop that from his loadout because I plan to get through this fight with my party alive. I give him a flame wave to deal with groups of enemies and a classic fireball, although I tend to sometimes affect my own characters with it.
On the battlefield, I use my warrior, backed by a medic, to draw in most of the enemy group, while I try to flank with the wizard and a brawler that can deliver two attacks each turn. My final party member is the archer, set up to take advantage of heights and deal killing blows.
As always, no contact survives contact with a determined enemy force. My warrior is not the stopping force I needed, allowing enemies to get to my more vulnerable party members. I scramble to keep them out of harm and deal with the opponents who threaten them. Finally, good use of my wizard saves the day, but not before the brawler sacrifices himself to keep the spell caster alive.
Live by the Sword: Tactics is developed by Labrador Studios and published by Gravity Game Arise. I played it on the PC using Steam. The title features a very classic take on the role-playing tactics space, with a focus on battlefield mechanics.
The narrative is woven around two brothers who live in a shattered kingdom. Thieves and pirates that take hostages are their first challenges, as they lead a small party of adventurers. Gradually, a conspiracy takes shape and it takes three chapters worth of tactical battles to deal with.
Between engagements, there’s quite a bit of talking between party members but I never came to care about any of them other than as a tactical archetype. The game’s universe is just too rooted in classic JRPG ideas to capture the attention. I’m sure it will appeal to long-term fans of the genre but it will not draw any new players in.
Live by the Sword: Tactics shines in its turn-based, tile-focused, tactical battles. Each side brings five people to the map and the player has the opportunity to set up where they start and what powers they bring to the fight. In some ways, this is the most important part of an engagement. Look for synergies, interesting mixes, and combos that can quickly deal with at least one opponent.
Each character can move once and use an attack or ability (with some exceptions). The enemy can do the same. Whoever takes out all the opposition first wins. It takes good planning and solid use of abilities and movement to get to that result.
Healing is important to success, as is focusing fire on one enemy, especially if it's an enemy leader with special powers. The levels are not big enough to make running away from an opponent viable. I tended to set up characters in pairs, making sure that no one is overtly vulnerable to close-up attacks.
Live by the Sword: Tactics nails the old-school feel of the battles, delivering fun engagements with a range of tactical wrinkles. Every time I was defeated, I already had a different plan in mind, sometimes featuring other characters or powers.
For my second attempt, I mostly line up the same characters but tweak their load-outs and which enemy I attack first. I usually work, although some of the leaders you face can wreak havoc and turn even the best-planned coordinated assault into a big chaotic brawl.
Those who progress through the acts of Live by the Sword: Tactics will be able to open up two new modes: Adventure and Tactician. The first one adds a rogue-lite structure to the mechanics. Players start off with a three-character party and have to place locations on the map, basically creating a world as they go.
Winning battles bring gold, which can be used in villages to get extra characters, pick up items, and rest when injuries happen. It’s a solid variant of the core concept and worth playing at least through the first chapter of the story to get to it. Tactician opens up access to unique scenarios that require a lot of careful thinking to solve.
The biggest issue I have with Live by the Sword: Tactics is that it is slow. Characters always perform their full animations and there’s no button to push to skip it. You need to confirm actions. You can skip dialogue, thankfully. An option to move quickly through animations and eliminate confirmations would make combat move much faster. Maybe even add a limited way to reverse time and moves.
The game also features multiplayer, allowing two players to engage in battle either by playing locally or online. The game’s turn-based tactics concept might create some interesting engagements, depending on character and power choices.
Live by the Sword: Tactics is one of the most retro-styled games I played for a while. Characters are small, battle spaces are created out of tiles, and some custom locations cannot actually be explored. The game does a great job of delivering all the details players need to plan their moves coherently. The sound design is equally influenced by classic titles, especially when it comes to the soundtrack. The presentation might turn off some modern gamers but will certainly appeal to fans of the classic RPG space.
The Good
- Classic tactical RPG feel
- Old-school look
- Adventure mode
The Bad
- Some difficulty spikes
- Too many slowdowns
- Limited characters
Conclusion
But the game is unlikely to draw in players who don’t already like what it has to offer. It needs a stronger narrative hook or more innovation and accessibility. Live by the Sword: Tactics is a nice project for a small development team and fulfills its core promise of delivering a good classic tactics RPG experience.
A review code was provided by the publisher.
