Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga

Novel tactical mechanics make this indie a contender for the best strategy RPG this year.

Symphony of Ware: The Nephilim Saga pulls from classics such as Fire Emblem and Ogre Battle to create a brand new IP that impresses and leaves us wanting more.

Returning players are in for a treat with Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga - Legends.

All in all, Symphony of War is a mechanically sound turn-based tactical RPG that hearkens back to the best games in its genre. Dancing Dragon is clearly a team full of passionate folks who have bright futures ahead of them. It shines through in every layer of this experience, with its chapters of lore, a serious approach to war, a light approach to characters, and an intricately detailed visual style and gameplay system.

The latest from Dancing Dragon Games, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, blew away my expectations. Starting off with a traditional RPG with Steamborn into a more customized turned based RPG with strategy elements in Echoes of Aetheria, the first installment of Symphony of War designed with RPG Maker Ace is a prime example of why RPG Maker Games, and their developers, are worth looking into and The Nephilim Saga is shining proof.

Perfection is not stationed in Tahnra yet, but despite this, Symphony of War is still a strong and compelling turn-based strategy thanks to the amazing mix of simplicity and depth of its mechanics.

Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga has deep mechanics that are certainly addicting, so long as you can overlook some narrative snags here and there.

Tactical gameplay is both Symphony of War's strength and weakness. The systems are excellent and interact well with each other, but the level design is unfortunately poor and not very creative. The title, even so, is a great game, recommended for TRPG fans and especially for Fire Emblem fans.

The sound design is supported by an old fashioned art design that gets the job done. Sometimes it looks like a very attractive GBA game and sometimes the portraits are distractingly higher res than the character models. Classic game weirdness! And that’s the thing- Symphony of War doesn’t get perfect marks across the board. But it adds up to more than a sum of its parts. Once you start noticing how elegantly all of Symphony of War’s systems interact, you’ll never be able to go back.

Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is surprising and a little underwhelming at first. But, if one gives it time to reveal its systems, it offers plenty of tactical depth and a solid narrative. The fact that there’s no direct control over combat makes it more important to think about force composition and careful squad deployment. I never became fully invested in the story, but the tactical puzzles were always fun to work through.