Magic Scroll Tactics

I commend the team behind Magic Scroll Tactics for trying out a more unique perspective in their Tactical RPG, but it didn’t turn out swimmingly in execution. The jump from 3D to 2D sidescrolling voids a lot of the things that make the traditional tactical RPG great, turning the majority of your playthrough into a rushfest rather than a genuinely methodical one. That’s not to say that more depth can’t be achieved from the sidescrolling perspective – it’s just not present here. That lack of consistent difficulty will ultimately deter many hardcore tactical RPG fans from giving it a go, and although it is more newcomer-friendly because of that, the massive spikes in difficulty in the later portion of the game might even frustrate those people. It is not a bad choice by any means – just know what to expect going into it.

Unfortunately, presentation does matter, and I found it far too hard to care about anything going on in this game precisely because, for the most part, Magic Scroll Tactics looks like a game where the developer just forgot to replace all the in-development placeholder art with the proper visual elements. Coupled with a narrative that's quite unforgivable for a JRPG, and it's a game that deserves a sequel that can properly realise its ambitions.