The Square Enix tactics game formerly known as Project Triangle Strategy is now officially known as...Triangle Strategy. It’s out March 4, 2022, for Nintendo Switch. Square Enix announced the news at today’s out-of-the-blue Nintendo Direct. Here’s a trailer:
Triangle Strategy showed up earlier this year at Nintendo’s splashy February showcase. Sporting similar “2D-HD” art style as games like Octopath Traveler and typical tactics gameplay from something like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics, fans of the genre were intrigued. Later that day, Square Enix made a demo available for the game. I played it—and loved it.
Read More: Project Triangle Strategy Just Became One Of My Most Anticipated Games
If you’ve played a tactics-RPG before, you’ve probably played something like Triangle Strategy: You take turns moving units around a grid-based battlefield. Units wielding swords and close-ranged weapons have to be adjacent to opponents to attack. Archers and mages can attack from afar. Y’know, good ol’ throwback tactics RPG.
But there were some neat wrinkles that helped Triangle Strategy stand apart. Backstabbing, for one, plays a massive role in the game. At the end of each turn, you decide what direction units face. Also, if you end up sandwiching an opponent between two of your units, you can do extra damage. The result is a tense game in which the most important move you can make happens at the end of your turn.
There’s also a plot full of court intrigue, complex geopolitical strife, and enough proper nouns to fill a Destiny wikipedia page. Between battles, you get to vote on pivotal decisions (i.e., hand over your friend for easy peace or keep him safe for honor and because it’s just the right thing to do, you jerk). But you also have to convince your party to go along with you. Ugh, democracy, right?
Following the demo, Square Enix surveyed players about what features they’d want to see added in the final game. They listened, and are incorporating several requested changes, including camera controls, difficulty settings, and the option to scroll up and see dialogue from earlier in a conversation.