W FEATURE
entire squads, by only giving you a single save file that
got overwritten with every turn.
A lack of publisher confidence had been holding
strategy games back for years, but here was XCOM,
a niche tactics game, getting lots of attention and
launching on everything from PC to mobile. XCOM was
published by 2K Games, which had acquired Firaxis
in 2005, but publishers were becoming increasingly
optional thanks to crowdsourcing, early access
platforms, and more accessible game development
tools. Suddenly it was impossible to keep track of all
the new games popping into existence.
Invisible Inc., Klei Entertainment’s espionage-
themed tactics game, appeared on Steam Early Access
in 2014. It was endlessly inventive;
simultaneously an exceptional
stealth game and a landmark
tactics affair. There was something
liberating about its pure-stealth
focus. There were no drawn-out
gunfights after you’d been spotted.
You either used one of your agent’s
tricks to get out of the way, or you
were done for. Every mission was
a randomly generated puzzle that
could blow up in unpredictable
ways, leading to agents needing
rescue or even a playthrough that
ended in failure. But it was also
a game that begged to be played
over and over again.
It wasn’t just independent
developers taking advantage of
new models like early access.
Endless Legend launched on
the platform in the same year
as Invisible Inc., and quickly set
about rewriting the 4X genre.
Amplitude’s previous game,
Endless Space, had been a
competent, Master of Orion-style
4X with an unusual card-based
combat system, but it was as sterile
as the cold vacuum of space.
That wasn’t a problem Endless
Legend had. No 4X game since
Alpha Centauri had featured such
a fascinating, rich set of factions,Strategy games
weren’t entirely
excommunicated from
consoles. Tactical RPGs
thrived, from Final
Fantasy Tactics to
Valkyria Chronicles. The
latter, in particular, took
advantage of console
and handheld control
schemes, so there was
no sense that you’d be
better off with a mouse
and keyboard. There was
an abundance of themon handheld consoles,
and being able to play
large, complex strategy
games on the bus or on
the loo was something of
a revelation. They’ve
been making their way
onto PC recently, too.
Valkyria Chronicles
appeared in 2014,
followed by Valkyria
Chronicles 4 in
September, along with
several entries in the
devilish Disgaea series.CONSOLE CLASSICS
ABOVE: That security
guard probably isn’t
getting a raise
this year.
Below: Every Invisible
Inc. mission could cost
your agents their lives.