There's niche gaming, and then there's tactical RPG niche gaming. This subgenre is one of the most overlooked in the medium, not because it's bad, overly complex, or obscure, but simply because it combines two genres in a that fans of either might shy away from. Character progression, branching narratives, and lengthy cutscenes? That's not a strategy fan's bag. Deep tactical combat, environmental and unit-based positioning, and multi-stage planning? RPG fans are just searching for the next story beat.

Because of this narrow audience focus, there are countless overlooked or outright forgotten tactical RPGs that very few people remember anymore, despite them being unsung masterpieces, and this list only highlights a handful of them. This subgenre dates back to the 90s, so some of these games have been overlooked for decades, while others are basically brand new and simply didn't get the recognition they deserved.

Back in 2003, when Capcom was a less sure-footed developer, it tried to branch out its semi-popular action horror series Onimusha into the tactics market. The result was Onimusha Tactics, a spin-off title (rather than a direct sequel) exclusive to the Game Boy Advance. This was actually the first Onimusha game to release for a Nintendo console.

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

It might feel like Onimusha Tactics has a bit of an identity crisis, but it really just had a very niche appeal. It's not a complex tactics game, so it's more suited to gamers coming from the mainline Onimusha series and craving more of the same.

Source link