Project Triangle Strategy – Demo

Oh man. Believe me when I tell you how pumped I was when I saw this during the direct. Then it was announced that there was going to be a demo available right away. I pulled my Switch out of it’s dock and downloaded it as soon as the direct was over.

At first I thought “Sweet!  Octopath Traveler meets Final Fantasy Tactics!” However, after playing it, it actually reminds me more of a couple of the Tactics Ogre games. Specifically Knight of Lodis and Let Us Cling Together. The reason I make this parallel, as opposed to Final Fantasy Tactics, is it becomes very apparent that choice plays a huge part, and branching story paths become a thing. 

The demo starts not at the beginning, but at chapter 6 and goes until the end of chapter 7. I didn’t sense I was missing much backstory, and that this may be a self contained plot. Maybe multiple converging storylines? The music and graphics are very reminiscent of Octopath Traveler, however the pixel art seems a little stretched or squished at times. I believe that’s because the environments are full 3D and able to be rotated this time around. 

Project Triangle Strategy is a pretty generic name, that alludes to the weapon triangle in classic Fire Emblem games. However, it doesn’t outright explain it, unless I missed it. From my experience I believe it refers to types of attacks still. I noticed magic was strong against armored units, archers strong against magic, etc. I didn’t notice any job system, as characters came pre-built with skills and abilities already. This is more like classic Fire Emblem here.

The story is a political-driven narrative. Akin to Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. I won’t go into it too much, since the demo is so short and I don’t want to ruin any of it.

Project Triangle Strategy seems to blend a lot of elements that made each of the three main strategy series unique into a new fresh experience. The battles were tough, but not unfair. Unit variety is great. The branching choices with consequences will add a ton of replay value, but only if those choices actually matter in the long run. This is my only major concern. 

I may play the demo again and make some new choices, to see how it plays out! I will also definitely be looking forward to the survey they’re putting out for feedback. My one main complaint about the actual game is the UI wasn’t as intuitive as it could be, I found myself looking around for information more than I thought I should be. It is very text-heavy, which may turn some people off, but I enjoy lots of reading and world-building in my games. My other complaint is non-game related, and it’s that the battery life on this game is atrocious. It’s gotta rank up there with how fast Xenoblade Chronicles 1/2 and Zelda: Breath of the Wild for how fast it drains the console battery while in handheld.

Definitely give the demo a play-through! It’s only a couple hours long.