Triangle Strategy’s Demo Feels like The Best in the Genre

When the demo was announced for Triangle Strategy recently, I knew I wanted to check it out, since your data and choices carry over to the full game. When I started playing, my expectations were pretty high. I love Octopath Traveler, and I’ve been looking for a game similar to Final Fantasy Tactics for quite some time now. After playing through the demo, I can say that my expectations were exceeded, and my curiosity piqued in more ways than one.

From the very beginning of the demo which spans the game’s first 3 chapters, Triangle Strategy plays like a sprawling epic. It is as though you are thrown in the midst of something akin to Game of Thrones, but in a manner that feels more purposeful, rather than Game of Thrones’ complexities that all wound up leading to unsatisfying ends. They carefully introduce you to the state of the world, while leaving you with questions and curiosity about the world around you.

I won’t go into too many details about the plot, simply for the fact that this definitely feels like a game best experienced yourself. However, the story begins in the way many similar tales do. There are multiple kingdoms, each with their own resources, who have warred and managed to find some tentative peace. As you can expect, each country has their own motives, and it quickly becomes clear that this delicate peace is not going to last.

However, Triangle Strategy makes it clear that this journey you experience is one based on your decisions. Your choices dictate how the story goes. However, using the Scales of Conviction mechanic, certain choices are made by your entire party. Usually, your party will be split on what the right choice will be, so it is up to you to persuade them to your side. The cool part about this is different persuasion methods and dialogue options unlock as you explore.

Sometimes as you talk to people in the exploration phases (areas where you can walk around), you’ll gain information about the world, which opens up certain dialogue options and choices later. On top of that, you can find bits of history that will give you more background in regard to the world itself. The exploration sections feel great, and I love that it isn’t just moving from battle to battle, you actually get to explore and be in the world with characters and citizens.

Combat is just as immersive, with elemental reactions and combinations, as well as assist attacks and elevation mechanics. I’m not going into extensive detail here because this isn’t a review, but holy crap. I played on normal mode just to get an idea of what the baseline difficulty is, and it isn’t easy. Granted, it isn’t impossible either, you just have to take your time and plan your strategy. One thing I find concerning is how difficult it is to gain currency, which makes upgrading your characters’ weapons and stats somewhat difficult.

Hopefully, the full game will have some ways of making money more effectively, or maybe there was something that I missed along the way. There is a mechanic in your encampment that lets you do mock battles to level your people up and get rewards, but so far you don’t get money from those. The biggest draw to this game for me, is the story though.

I keep circling back to the “choices that will test your convictions” comment they mention through the promotional materials. Several choices I made were hard choices. Should I be more pragmatic? Should I do my best to keep the peace? Sometimes two dialogue choices were equally appealing, just with a slightly different tone.

I hope that the choices you make in Triangle Strategy really do drastically change the game. I enjoyed Fire Emblem: Three Houses way of showing you different party members and different sides to the story. Now, with Triangle Strategy presenting it from Serenoa’s singular perspective, I hope there are choices that really do have a strong impact.

Overall, Triangle Strategy reminds me of so many things. I see inspiration from Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, and even standard RPG franchises like Suikoden and Bravely Default. For a lover of strategy games like myself, it really feels like Triangle Strategy will scratch that itch well. March 4^th can’t come soon enough. Triangle Strategy feels like it learned from the best, and I hope that means that the final product will surpass its’ peers.