If you haven't played it, it's new to you

One mi??ght assume that the dawning of a new gaming generation would essentially bring an end to the flurry of remasters and remakes that we saw flood the market in the most recent decade. But of course not. Much like the film industry, the concept of taking a second pass at some beloved (and even not-so-beloved classics) is clearly here to stay �with no sign from the cash registers that it isn't still a hugely lucrative endeavor.

2022 contained two very extreme examples of the remaster/remake concept, namely in the form of Square Enix sliding-door RPG Live a Live and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part I. On one hand, we had a long-lost RPG dating back to 1994 and Nintendo's Super Famicom, while on the other we had a remake of a game less than 10 years old �one that had already been remastered at that.

It will be interesting to see how blurry the lines become in regards to how long is "long enough"? And while I have zero problem with the concept of remakes and remasters per se, it's worth raising an eyebrow at the idea that each new generation of hardwa?re ?immediately requires the re-establishment of the previous generation's best-selling games. Not franchises. Games. Time �and the creativity of the next wave of studios, developers, and players �will tell.

Here are the nominees for Destructoid’s Best Remaster/Remake of 2022

• Live a Live
• Metal Max Xeno Reborn
• Pac-Man World Re-Pac
• Tactics Ogre: Reborn
• The Last of Us Part I
• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
• World of Warcraft Classic: Wrath of the Lich King

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Old-school depth for a modern audience

The tactics genre is an o?ld one, and few stand ??out like Tactics Ogre. The original Let Us Cling Together has hit a number o?f devices, from the SNES to the PlayStaiton, on to the PSP and finally, with Tactics Ogre: Reborn, our current crop of modern consoles and PC.

Reborn is a remaster of a remake, bringing forward the PSP strategy classic to somewhere it’s more readily playable and fine-tuning it in the process. There are tons of videos and resources out there to grapple with all the changes, massive and ??miniscule, that Square Enix has made to this classic.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVNyoeik0ig

For context, I’m a newcomer. I’d call myself an avid ta??ctics fan, but my entry point was much later on; handheld games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Fire Emblem, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor were my introduction to the pain and glory of turn-and-tile-based combat??.

It’s important to stress this because that’s where I’m coming from here. I’m a newcomer to the classics?? like Tactics Ogre. and Reborn is a chance fo??r me to see what I’ve missed. To ?not just experience a seemingly foundational work, but examine it after playing years and years of the games that both emulated and elaborated on its designs.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn follows Denam, a fighter for the Walist?er alongside his sister Catiua and friend Vyce. Their home was razed in the fallout of the war, and the? trio are seeking vengeance, starting with a knight named Lanselot.

The trio become increasingly entwined in an ongoing civil war. Wallister, Galgastan, and Bakram form ??the three forces vying for control of the island of Almorica and, gradually, a?ll of Valeria. Tactics Ogre: Reborn has the p?layer wade through a lot of?? exposition and proper names at first, and all layered in an extremely Shakespearean dialogue.

It honestly takes some to get familiar with the cavalcade of faces a??nd names in Tactics Ogre: Reborn, and ??even writing this now, I had to pull up references and double-check it all. The story might, at first, seem a l?ittle too dense.

But peel away the proper terminology, and Tactics Ogre is really about the effects of the ongoing civil war on the people of Valeria. A childhood home getting razed is just the beginning. The war expands out to encompass every character’s life, and their allegiances will shift over time. Maybe they find solace in comradery and a shared cause. Or maybe they die, fighting for a belief that never held true. This is war, ?and people will die. Tactics Ogre: Reborn doesn’t really shy away from grappling with that, giving you an ethical quandary right away in its first chapter????.

These decis??ions Denam, and the player, make start to branch out, forming a flowchart of the worl??d. Post-Chapter 1, Tactics Ogre: Reborn can split off into several different routes, and go even further from there. Aside from this being a ton of content to play, it’s also a lot of different potential ways the story can go depending on decisions you make. Some are obvious, some are esoteric, and without a guide you’ll probably miss at least a few chara?cter recruits. Thankfully, once a playthrough is finished, the player can go back and replay from pivotal moments using the World menu. It’s a nice touch ??that adds a ton to do, on top of Reborn’s plethora of side content.

And?? then there is the combat. Aside from story and nostalgia, the turn-based tactical battles of Tactics Ogre: Reborn are likely why people would be interested. This is one of the grandfather??s of strategy RPGs, after all.

I will fully admit, Tactics Ogre: Reborn can frustrate me sometimes. It is surprisingly open-ended. It allows for tons of customizati?on and tuning. Characters can freely swap classes, so long as you’ve got enough marks. Giant rows of numbers and square-shaped abilities dot the menu ??interface for each unit.

Canopus, a story character you get p?retty early on, is talented with both an axe and a bow. I opted to take him into a more direct archer path, as he becam??e a mobile artillery that could pick healers and mages out of the back line. Denam, meanwhile, stayed as a basic warrior until I could make him a Ninja. In one fight, he barely eked out a win against a souped-up boss by himself, just by applying Falsestrike (chance to miss attacks) and pelting him with magic.

It is, simply put, daunting. It also doesn’t help that a good deal of this game’s nuances and info is buried in menus and access you’d need to either dig for, or ask a more seasoned veteran about. Learning that magic can critically strike, archers can outrange their displayed attack squares if they have a height adva??ntage, and that just holding a dagger allows units to deflect attacks, even if they never use it, are all big tips you’d have to discover or be told about.

For a while, it ?was a bit discouraging. But the longer I spent wi??th Tactics Ogre: Reborn, the more I came to enjoy the massive system laid out before me. It was filled with intricacies, yes, but ones I could exploit. It might seem complex at first, but on??ly because I needed to approach it with intent. Once I could start to conce??ive what sort of plan I wanted, I could shave down the options and form the units I wanted from the game’s marble.

Those options are critical, becau??se battles are not kind to the p??layer in Tactics Ogre: Reborn. I lost count of the times I opened up a map and scouted th?e ??coming fight, an apparently new feature, and laughed at how disadvantageous my position was. Cornered in a pit, beset on all sides, sieging a castle uphill as enemies pelt you with arrows and spells behind ramparts; Reborn throws it all at you.

It?’s not a complaint, though. I adore the map design of Tactics Ogre. Each level fe?els tailored to a specific problem. Every encounter, at least on the main route, has interesting problems to solve?. Yes, the enemy has a strong position, but it’s also condensed. They can fire on me all they want, but it’s difficult for them to push out without exposing their more fragile units.

Strategies and tactics start to form, and right there is the?? magic of Tactics Ogre that has lasted through the years to Reborn. In most tactics games, there is a careful pace to start. Each side inches closer and closer, decreasing the distance between the armies until an all-out brawl?? begins. Tactics Ogre makes those careful moments feel like tense standoffs. And its maps force you to adapt, ?or watch units fall one-by-one.

All this customization and a wealth of both unit and class options feed back into the machine. Now you’re fine-tuning an army to tackle a specific encounter. You know they’re bringing dragons, so you pick up some dragoons. Magic is going to rain down, so you?? better give everyone some healing salves to carry and maybe a Spellspoil item o?r two. A narrow chokepoint dominates the map? Time for a knight to lead the charge, using its Rampart Aura to block enemies from moving past him.

Battles are prolonged, arduous affairs at times. Individual conflicts could eat up half-an-hour, easily, even when I sped up the turn speed. Units would chip back and forth. MP would slowly build up, so potent abi??lities could be unleashed. Blue buff cards dot the field, giving me potential advantages if I broke formation to acquire them. Aforementioned boss characters can run rampant, dropping your units in a single swipe if left unchecked.

The Chariot Tarot, a turn-bac?k-time option that allows for branching timelines of options, is an excellent helper in those moments. But victories felt hard won in Tactics Ogre: Reborn. Often, it took me thinking carefully, planning well, and playing pristine to get through a battle without significant problems. It can feel heavy, but makes every victory feel so much s?weeter for it.

At this point, I should make mention of the graphics. The pixel-smoothing Square Enix opted for h?as repeatedly caused a stir, and I get it. I really do. I sometimes wish the?re was an original graphics mode, like what the Command & Conquer collection had, so I could swap back and forth. But I also think the look is less offensive than some make ??it out to be. Could it be better? Absolutely. But after my first hour with Reborn, I had adjusted and was f?ine with it, and even appr??eciated how it looked on certain maps, especially when I zoomed out for a big view of the whole arena.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is challenging ??but malleable. It’s dense in lore, but extremely down-to-earth in the problems it tackles. And good lord, it is stuffed with things to do. It’s a smorgasbord of tiles, turns, and tactical choices.

I’m not even finished with it yet, as I’m still mired somewhere around the game’s closing chapter. There are sidequests to uncover, units to train, new fighters to recruit, and du??ngeons to explore. Every moment I think I’ve got a grasp on the breadth of Tactics Ogre: Reborn, I’m uncovering a new ability, or l??earning of a long-kept secret. It's not just a game I'm picking up for seasonal coverage a??nd moving on from, but one I'll be chipping away months from now, and I love that.

So do I recommend this to a newer, younger, more-modern tactics fan? If your intent is education and ??learning the roots of the genre, absolutely. And if you want a Ulysses-esque epic to chew on, day over day for months on end with plenty t????o do, this might be one of the best options around.If you’re just l??ooking for a new tactics experience, you might need to ask yourself what you’re looking for. Tactics Ogre: Reborn is not a walk in the park. But if you like a heavy heaping of customization, dense and though?tful dialogue, and a?? good challenge, Tactics Ogre: Reborn is well worth revisiting.

_{These impressions were based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.}

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Yeah, this was worth bringing back again

It's hard to really stress how incredible Tactics Ogre's legacy is. Originally debuting in 1995 in Japan, it gained a lot of traction in 1997 on PlayStation with a North American release. While I can distinctly point to January of 1998, and Final Fantasy Tactics, as the time where I went "yeah, I'm pretty into SRPGs," Tactics Ogre really was the genesis of it, beyond what I had dabbled in before it. It was the talk of my friend groups, and got so many people into the genre. So when, out of nowhere, I ??learned that it was coming back in 2022 (beyond the PSP edition) as Tactics Ogre: Reborn, I was ecstatic.

Yes, let's rediscover one of the most interesting SRPGs ever made, through a modern lens, with a completely new audience in play. This "final trailer" that arrived today on Square Enix's YouTube shows off what we can expect before it hits on PC, Switch, PS4, and PS5 on November 11. It's basically an overview of the themes and mechanics of the game, but if you want to completely skip most of the s?tory beats (as vague as they may be), I recommend watching everything 1:30 on.

As a reiteration, here's everything Square Enix? is touting as new:

"Based on the 2010 release, the game features improved graphics and sound, as well as updated game design, bringing to life a new Tactics Ogre that remains true to its roots. Tactics Ogre veterans will experience a game that surpasses their fondest memories, while players new to Tactics Ogre will discover a game unlike any they've ever played. Reborn and deeper than ever, the game enables players to immerse themselves in the world and intrigue of Tactics Ogre like never before."

To stress again: definitely put this on your radar. Tactics Ogre is an evergreen story, and one that should live on through as many platforms as possible. The easier it is to experience this vision, the better: especially given that the PSP storefront is dead. Thankfully, at the very least, PSP copies are fairly cheap, running folk??s around $40 on average.

See, I'm already prepping you for picking up every version of ??this game early!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVNyoeik0ig

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Long-rumored remake finally announced

Square Enix has finally decided the time is right to officially lift the lid on one of the industry's worst-kept secrets �the iconic developer has announced that Tactics Ogre: Reborn?? will launch on PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch platforms on November 11.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a fresh remake of 2010 PSP release Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Further confuddling matters, the 2010 release was, in itself, a remake of the 1995 Super Famicom edition of Let Us Cling Together �a title which would r??eceive both PlayStation and Sega Saturn ports in t??he mid-'90s, but never venture outside of Japanese shores in any official capacity.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=osHD91sQUOk

Square Enix has revealed some of the exciting new features that are coming to Tactics Ogre: Reborn, bringing its fantasy worlds and strategic gameplay to a whole new audience of players. The beautifully detailed backgrounds and s?plash art have been fully recreated in high-definition, while the classic pixel appearance of the in-game characters has been tweaked to be crisper than ever before, while still retaining their delightful retro appeal. In addition, the U.I. has been streamlined and tweaked, offering a tidier menu system and optimized controls for new players.

All sound effects have been remastered to the highest fidelity, and all dialogue is now fully voiced, with Tactics Ogre: Reborn offering both Japanese and English voice tracks. Hitoshi Sakimoto's lavish soundtrack has been fully rerecorded with a live orchestra, bringing the score to life like never before. If that wasn't exciting enough, fans will be very pleased to hear that Sakimoto ?has penned several new pieces, especially for this new release.

Under the hood, a plethora of tweaks has been made to Tactics Ogre's strategic gameplay. A newly-designed A.I. unit hopes to offer smarter and more adaptive enemies, while the clas??s-wide leveling system has been replaced with a new unit-specific leveling system, offering more fine-tuning opportunities for individual units. This way, p??layers can be a little more scalpel-precise when it comes to putting together their offensive forces.

As is the case for so many modern remakes, Tactics Ogre: Reborn will feature several "quality of life" features, such as battle speed selection, quick save/load, and tips and tutorials to help brand new players get to grips with the RPG's mechanics and battle system in double-quick time. Square Enix hopes that this ground-up overhaul of both the audio/visual and mechanical content will optimize Tactics Ogre for modern players, while retaining the ch?arm, drama, and engagin?g action recognized by long-time fans.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn launches November 11 o??n PlayStation, PC (via Steam), and Nintendo Switch. It will receive a physical release on PS4, PS5, and Switch. A Digital Premium Edition, which includes a digital soundtrack, w?ill be available on PlayStation and PC. Pre-orders for this edition will also include a bonus soundtrack featuring the original Super Famicom release.

For more details, screens, and pre-order information, visit the official Square Enix website.

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PSP remake headed to modern PlayStation platforms

Following on from a slew of whispers, leaks, and accidental reveals, we have our best evidence yet that Square Enix's 2010 remake Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is preparing to make its grand return to the modern market. The re-remake has been all but confirmed via scout site PS Deals, who have spotted Tactics Ogre: Reborn on the backend of the PlayStation Network (PSN).

Tactics Ogre is itself a remake of the original Let Us Cling Together release, which first dropped on Super Famicom in 1995 before receiving ports on both PlayStation and Sega Saturn. According to the new PSN listing, Tactics Ogre: Reborn will be released on both PS4 and PS5 platforms and will feature further upgraded audio/visual content, fully voiced Japanese/English cutscenes, as well as a gameplay redesign set to bring the rema??ke "to life" while remaining true to the original title's roots.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn will painstakingly recreate every visual, sprite, and character portrait in HD, and features live re-recordings of the game's soundtrack. New gameplay options will include battle speed sliders, auto-save options, and an overhauled U.I. and control system, designed to help new players delve into Tactics Ogre's tactical role-playing action in minutes. In addition, the enemy? A.I. has been rewritten to provide a smarter, greater challenge for veteran players and newcomers alike.

The listing suggests that Tactics Ogre: Reborn will be available as both a digital and physical release, with a tentative street date of November 11, though no price was listed. While this is certainly not the first time we are hearing abou?t th??e new remake, it is assuredly the most informative leak to date.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn appears on PlayStation Store price track??er [Gematsu]

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The Year of Tactics carries on

A listing for Tactics Ogre: Reborn leaked out la??st night. A PlayStation Store listing not only had the name, but also a few pieces of art to go along with it.

Though the listing is down now, users were quick to catch the relevant info and art (thanks, Escapist) before it went away.

Sadly, there wasn't anything about pricing, release date, or details about the upcoming project. All we have is the above and below images, one bearing the name Tactics Ogre Reborn.

If we want to over-analyze a bit, the above image struck me a bit because it is pretty darn similar to the box art of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. You can see the box art below (via MobyGames) has two similar characters and stances in front of a flag. Reborn, however, is stylized closer to Akihiko Yoshida's style of art seen on the cover of the PSP version of Let Us Cling Together.

Let us believe, together

That's about all we've got to go off, aside from it being published by Square Enix and designated as an RPG. Square Enix did trademark Tactics Ogre: Reborn in April though, so this looks like confirmat?ion t?hat something's happening.

Tactics Ogre and the overarching Ogre Battle series doesn't always get the universal admiration of fellow Square strategy game Final Fantasy Tactics. But entries like Let Us Cling Together have been lauded among tactical RPG fans for ages. The last Ogre entry was the Let Us Cling Together remake for PlayStation Portable in 2010, which the U.S. got a year later. Older entries like Ogre Battle 64 and The March of the Black Queen are even further back, though they did get Virtual Console re-releases.

We don't have any confirmation on what this specifically is or when it will be announced. But this Tactics Ogre: Reborn listing does add onto the pile of a very tactics-filled year. There are the impending Front Mission remakes and new entries like The DioField Chronicle. And we've already had stellar games like Triangle Strategy. It's a good time to be a tactics fan.

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