Symphony of War is a tactical masterpiece with some fantastic mechanics

Fire Emblem really changed the way tactics games could be. Suddenly you could care about your units, and also sometimes date them even if you were their teacher, and it’s really suspicious, and you definitely shouldn’t. It also allowed anime to be a viable strategy for, well, strategy games. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is definitely of the same ilk as Fire Emblem, but what makes it great is actually the differences. 

The main difference is that you’re not controlling individual units, but small armies. Each piece you’ll be moving around the map is actually a collection of units that you can change up as you want. This allows you to put a bunch of heavily armoured soldiers out front, a few strong attackers in the middle row, and then a cleric or some archers on the back. 

It also means you can build a unit full of just archers, or one that’s designed to just sit out front and eat damage because it’s all armour and healers. You can further customise your platoons by giving them different artefacts to change how they play, and you can unlock technology as you go through that’ll give specific unit types more armour, or unlock new weapon types. 

Outside of that, the combat also feels a bit different because fights tend to go on a lot longer. You can’t assume that battles will be over in a fight or two, because if they’ve got enough healers or strong enough units, then it could be a multi-turn affair. It’s a really interesting twist that makes it feel as though you’ve got more control over each individual fight and also allows you to prep a bit more between maps. 

There’s still all of the interpersonal chatter that make these games so special, and class upgrades too, but the tactical side of things just feels a bit more nuanced. Symphony of War is a stunning game, so check it out if you fancy an anime-infused strategy hit.