Tactical Breach Wizards Review — Navy Seers

Everything in Tactical Breach Wizards is based around its premise, which feels like a joke that got taken so far that it surpassed irony and became cool.

If the title didn’t explain it well enough, Tactical Breach Wizards is based in a setting where fantasy magic and spellcraft have been militarized and made “tacticool” to an absurd level.

Guns still exist, but so do magic staves placed into Assault Rifle frames and wands with silencers on them. Witch hats and robes are textures with camouflage patterns, “Navy Seers” use arcane wards to breach rooms, the police put stasis charms on your vehicles, and living treants wear ghillie suits to blend in better.

The whole thing is ridiculous, and the developers of Tactical Breach Wizards are in on the joke, never letting themselves take the setting too seriously as they haphazardly tie together military chic and witchcraft without a care in the world. The game throws constant dry jokes at you and embraces the absurdity of its setting but doesn’t fail to tell a compelling story alongside it all.

The constant jokes vary between wizard puns and dry, heavily sarcastic back-and-forths between characters, and boy; I did not get tired of those once. The dialogue in Tactical Breach Wizards is a special treat that reminds you that you are, in fact, playing a game about militarized wizards. Every little sarcastic quip feels entirely believable for the characters and the setting we find them in, and I found myself cracking a smile in almost every dialogue segment the game had.

The writing has got to be the most surprising part of Tactical Breach Wizards for me.

Every character in Tactical Breach Wizards is snarky, and that’s something that can very easily kill a setting if you don’t do it right. While I admit there were maybe one or two moments where I felt the humor didn’t work, it felt overall solid throughout the whole game, and that’s due in large part to the characters existing beyond their jokes.

It might take a few missions and interactions to see it, but the characters feel like actual, interesting people with subtle differences that separate them from the rest of the game’s cast. Jen Kellen, private investigator and freelance witch, is by far my favorite character, and I think she’s also a favorite of the devs. Her complicated relationship with her cat (whom she brings with her on a spec ops mission) is maybe the most relatable character trait I’ve seen in a game in a while.

Not only do the characters work, but the setting is surprisingly deep for what seems to have begun as a joke premise. As you start to learn little tidbits about the setting, Tactical Breach Wizards paints an interesting and complex picture of the socioeconomic and political state of a world where magic and modern technology exist in tandem. The concept of people potentially having powers that can only be unlocked through a life-or-death scenario, with a dangerous drug called Street Mana being a risky way to unlock those abilities, was a concept I found especially interesting.

The setting of Tactical Breach Wizards is deep and feels cleverly put together, with plenty of thought put into the hows and whys. The same thing can be said about Tactical Breach Wizards’ gameplay.

Tactical Breach Wizards could very well have been your standard turn-based strategy game, and it still would have done well, thanks to its excellent writing and setting. Instead, the developers decided to do something more original, molding their turn-based gameplay around a set of mechanic concepts that make everything feel and play differently than most games in the genre, and it’s very refreshing.

A level in Tactical Breach Wizards consists of one to six or more rooms for you to breach and clear. Each room begins with a short dialogue exchange between characters before you breach the door and enter. Often, you’ll be given a choice of multiple entrances to breach from, allowing you to split up the party.

Most games in this format would have you just shoot enemies until you widdle their health bar down. Tactical Breach Wizards instead forces you to use positioning and special abilities to make the most of their knockback. Essentially, most enemies are killed more effectively, or can only be killed, by throwing them into walls (for increased damage) or into environmental hazards such as windows or electrical outlets to essentially one hit kill them.

Hazards such as turrets cannot be moved (or at least not by much) and are instead shut off or hacked, creating additional objectives in the room to clear. Enemies also continuously spawn from certain doorways, tasking you with either closing them manually or blocking them with terrain.

The game also allows you to rewind at any point during your turn, undoing your actions, and see how the turn will end if you commit to your choices. Essentially, you’re given plenty of opportunities to rethink your last move and try for something better.

Essentially, Tactical Breach Wizards is not a game about shooting enemies until they’re dead but is more of a puzzle game challenging your sense of positioning and your understanding of physics and the unique abilities of each squad member to shove your enemies out of the way as fast as possible. Most rounds are designed to be over in 3 or fewer turns, and the game incentivizes you to make use of the environment to knock whole teams of enemies out in a single turn or even a single move.

Tactical Breach Wizards is a gem and one that I can hardly think of any criticisms for. It surprised me with its excellent writing, great humor, and subversive take on the genre, taking a style of game I usually find tedious and keeping me absolutely hooked. Tactical Breach Wizards is sure to appeal to you, whether you’re a fan of turn-based games looking for something new or someone who has never touched the genre and is looking for a phenomenal first title to introduce it to you.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Tactical Breach Wizards is available on Steam.