It’s no secret around MOP offices that I am semi-obsessed with board games as of late. It’s a problem, honestly, as my gaming budget has significantly shifted weight from primarily video games to board games. Of course, the budget itself hasn’t changed much; I’ve got to keep a roof over my head, after all. Yet board games are a physical thing. And you can’t just close a window on your PC and be happy that they’re all tucked away neatly for you. Instead, board games start to take up actual space in your home, and let me tell you, you can only hide those in various closets for so long before they start stacking up outside the closets – which is where the problems really begin.
So when we were offered the chance to take an early look at Skygard Arena by Gemelli Games, I kind of jumped at it. The front of the box tells me it’s a fast-paced tactics RPG, and the turn-based grid layout maps are reminiscent of a multitude of dungeon crawler and boss-battler board games – just the kind of crossover experience to get me excited.
Gameplay follows the norms of the genre
If you are somehow unfamiliar with turn-based tactical style RPGs, first: how dare you. And second, let me give you a quick rundown! The basic idea is that you have a number of heroes or units on a grid-based map. Each of your units will get to take a turn, which typically involves movement and an action – such as attacking or interacting with the environment – then your opponents get to do the same. The scenario will end in different ways depending on the game and its objectives.
In a narrative-driven game like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fae Tactics, each scenario is completed based on the story up to that point. In some of them, you’ll need to defeat all the enemies; in others, you’ll need to survive for a certain number of rounds; and in still others, you may need to complete some other objective. Obviously, it can be as varied as your imagination.
In Skygard Arena, you can have up to three heroes on your team at a time. Each is, of course, unique from one another in style and gameplay. They have four abilities accessible at a time: their primary attack, two secondaries, and an ultimate. During a turn, the heroes can perform one move, one secondary, and one primary attack. Should you need to interact with the environment, that will also use up your primary, so you wouldn’t have that attack available.
Now, as is typical in tactical RPGs, distance and positioning is critical to your gameplay. Oftentimes the best option on a turn will be to maneuver your hero into a more optimal position to deal some AOE damage next turn or pick up some mana to charge your ultimate, rather than to simply get a basic attack off this round. However, one thing that I was surprised to see is that facing does not matter. Usually it doesn’t affect your movement, but in tactics games, you usually need to end your hero’s turn by facing the best direction. Enemies usually get bonus damage by attacking your backside. I’m not sure why the developers chose to omit that gameplay mechanic, but it’s noteworthy here.
Similarly, there’s no elevation in the game. This isn’t as unusual as the lack of a facing direction is, but it is still a little bit of a letdown. Elevation changes in Fae Tactics, for example, made for a whole host of different gameplay mechanics where flying units had certain advantages over land-based ones. Of course, it also meant ranged attacks from the high ground tended to score bonuses as well.
Outside of a match, you’ll have some ability to customize the heroes too. Each one has two different personas, which will reportedly change the heroes’ appearance as well as their skills. In addition, you can choose which artifact to bring into battle for each one too, which will provide some various passive buffs. Between the personas and the artifacts and just the various heroes themselves, there are quite a few builds for you to mix and match to suit your play.
I didn’t try any of the different personas yet, but the concept is cool. I’m a bit more hesitant about tying the skills to the hero appearance, though. It seems like an arbitrary way to limit character customization options. Of course, from a PvP perspective it’s quite beneficial. When you know a hero is set up in one persona, then you’ll also know the skills to expect in play. So, from that perspective. I get it, but I don’t agree that the heroes’ appearances need to be tied to it. Free the skins!
We aren’t limited to PvP in this early access either!
Skygard Arena boasts not just a PvE story mode but also PvP play. It makes total sense to have a PvP mode for a tactical arena game like this too. Just as I like playing my favorite board games against my favorite friends, I want to see if I can masterfully out-plan and then out-play my opponents.
PvP in a tactics game takes on a whole different vibe of competition. Unlike in a normal MMO or arena fighter with real time combat, in a tactics game you really want to think through your options and make the best move. And even though you’re doing the same thing in a real-time fighter, it just hits differently when you’re sitting there thinking through your next turn or two. I love it on a whole different level.
Now, in the modes I’ve played it’s a victory point game: first to 25 wins. You score points each turn by claiming and holding points (not another conquest mode!) and defeating enemies. Alternatively, you can end the match by claiming the enemy’s main base node. It’s got more health and will be more difficult to capture, but sometimes that’s the key to victory.
Now, the big downside is the current game mode vastly benefits teleports and high mobility too much. As I said above, positioning and movement are critical to tactic-based games. As it plays now, we have a fairly small map with numerous obstacles intended to restrict movement and line-of-sight. But the developers have made a few too many heroes with teleport abilities (that can teleport farther than some characters can even move), which basically ignores the whole mechanic!
Imagine playing Call of Duty and camping inside of a door waiting for the enemy to rush through. But instead, the other team simply teleports inside the room next to the objective ignoring you, your positioning, and any defenses you set up. It doesn’t feel good! It makes me wonder what’s going on in the dev team when it hasn’t come to terms with proper balance.
On the PvE side we have a story that is currently very light. There’s been some conflict, and the major powers or clans in the world need to compete over who gets to be the boss of things. And of course, the best method of settling this debate is by holding a tournament. It’s a very anime premise, so I don’t hate it! But it doesn’t really seem to have a lot of meat on those bones. I can’t imagine we’re going to step away from the game and find ourselves thinking about the events while brushing our teeth before bed.
The scenarios in the PvE mode are all based on this tournament of champions. You begin the game with just a single hero, Na Jima, and through play unlock additional ones. The tutorial pop ups function well and guided me through understanding those capture mechanics and some of the hero skills too.
Over the course of the story, we get scenes where your hero’s static image will slide in from the side and the dialogue will open up for you. It’ll go back and forth while the characters chat with each other. It’s serviceable and reminiscent of so many genres, but it hasn’t knocked my socks off. I also realize the studio is based in Paris, so I assume they’re native French speakers, and I don’t want to pick on the writing too much yet. It’s in early access, so the clean lack of bugs is an accomplishment on its own already.
Honestly, we’ve seen so many games that have been rolling around in early access for far longer than this one with far fewer features and capabilities. The fact that we have any story mode at all in Skygard is pretty awesome. It’s true of some big-name games too: When Multiversus was initially in beta last year, all we had was the PvP mode. It wasn’t until it actually released this spring that a PvE mode was added.
Final thoughts
Overall I’m impressed with what the team at Gemelli Games has released to early access. The heroes are fun and unique, and I want to spend more time trying to learn all their skills. However, there’s clearly some ability and class balance that needs to be workshopped further. It’s not unusual for balance to be figured out much further in the development process – or never, in the case of some games. But should you play enough to unlock some of those heroes, then you too can enjoy ignoring game mechanics!
I think anyone who is a fan of the tactics genre would enjoy playing through the story as a casual, almost puzzle-like experience. Fans of skirmish board games may also enjoy the PvP mode. Skygard Arena is in early access on Steam, so check it out!
Every other week, Massively OP’s Sam Kash delivers Fight or Kite, our trip through the state of PvP across the MMORPG industry. Whether he’s sitting in a queue or rolling with the zerg, Sam’s all about the adrenaline rush of a good battle. Because when you boil it down, the whole reason we PvP (other than to pwn noobs) is to have fun fighting a new and unpredictable enemy!
