The best roguelikes understand the importance of player choice. You’re presented with random pools of weapons, upgrades, and items that you need to weigh into your strategy, synergizing what you can in the hope of powerful results. Auto battlers follow a very similar formula, having you combine an array of units before throwing them into the fight, operating on the hope that they’ll wind up more than the sum of their parts. Slay the Spire and Teamfight Tactics are the best examples of these genres and the new Tales and Tactics sits firmly between them. Playable now in 1.0 after a year in Steam Early Access, developer Table 9 Studio talks exclusively with PCGamesN about bringing the two legendary PC genres together.
To get started in Tales and Tactics, you draft fantasy creatures with an array of abilities. Then you merge three of a kind into an even more powerful unit, and equip it with randomized gear. You pick between Skirmishers for close-range attacks, Magicians for long-range spells, and Vanguards to tank your enemies. From here you set out towards the Grand Tournament, taking your units into tense auto battler fights, earning new gear, soldiers, and buffs along the way. To get here, though, Table 9 took inspiration from the best in the roguelike genre.
“Having found our stride in Slay the Spire modding, it wouldn’t be right to not call it out as one of our biggest inspirations in the space,” developer Mike May tells me. “We were also big fans of Riot’s Teamfight Tactics, having played it since the very first day it was released. But, Tales and Tactics’ roots go much further back – back in the day of simple user-generated editing tools in games like Neverwinter Nights, sometimes I’d have fun just throwing teams of monsters against each other and seeing who comes out on top. For fans who play roguelike card games or dice games, the premise is still very similar, except trading out cards and dice for units on a hex board.”
After you’ve mixed and matched your units and stacked them to the nines, it’s time to place them on the field and let the auto battler part of Tales and Tactics commence. The game also leans into the infinite possibilities of roguelikes by forcing you to think on your feet, and this is why developer Table 9 Studio brought the genres together in the first place.
“In roguelike strategy games, the foundation of the challenge is ‘doing the best with what you get’” May says. “You often can’t play the same strategy consistently every time, and this leans perfectly into the auto battler format, which follows the same core foundations.
“In both of those genres, players are given a few choices from a large random pool, and have to figure out how to minimize the disadvantages of those choices while maximizing advantages. While it is always difficult to make a ‘1,000 hour game,’ even without being out of early access yet we already have players approaching that milestone, which speaks volumes to its replayability.”
Table 9 also prides itself on a ‘complexity at your own pace’ unlock system in Tales and Tactics, where the game only gets more difficult if you want it to. So if you’re new to roguelikes, auto battlers, or both, you can pick and choose what mechanics to engage with first. More games, especially ones with an array of complex systems, should do this, and give you the chance to learn by playing.
“Since we first started taking in beta players, we have implemented four full revisions of unlocks, which for Tales and Tactics, means entirely new systems that come online and add complexity or additional elements to the game,” May explains. “Where we landed in the final iteration was inspired by another lovely roguelike strategy title, DotAGE. Unlocks are in more of a direct path in terms of when you first acquire them, so we’re in more control over which new features are enabled for new players and when.
“But, at the same time, we have preserved the ability to turn off those unlocks if you play with them and decide they aren’t for you. We have a firm belief that players can find their own fun if you give them the tools to do so. If they liked the game when it was more simple, they can switch back to that state at any time and it doesn’t impact the ability to earn achievements or climb through the difficulty challenges.”
Tales and Tactics has been in Steam Early Access for about a year, and in that time Table 9 has been listening to player feedback and expanding what the game offers. There are new characters with special abilities, two more acts to battle through, more items and events, a PvP system, reworked difficulty levels, and even a major UI overhaul.
“We work fast and respond quickly to our community, and the number of updates since the early access launch has been too many to count – full-scale iterations to core systems such as difficulty, characters, traits, events, and so much more,” May says. “And we’re still working on more – for 1.0, we’re hoping to expand our multiplayer offering with the ability to host and play custom lobbies, so you can play against your friends or host a Tales and Tactics PvP event, and to add the first pass of controller support for players who prefer a gamepad or are on Steam Deck.”
The Tales and Tactics 1.0 launch goes live on Thursday August 15 on Steam, and you can find it right here. Table 9 assures PCGamesN that there won’t be a price increase from the current $17.99 / £14.99 cost, despite the game having “much more content now than it launched into early access with last year.”
As you dive into Tales and Tactics’ full 1.0 launch, there are plenty more auto battler games to keep you busy as well, alongside some stellar indie games too.
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