Grimguard Tactics has been on our watchlist for months. 

This ambitious dark fantasy RPG from developer Outerdawn is shaping up to be one of the most distinctive and playable strategy games of the year. And now that it’s out, it’s just made the leap from our watchlist to our must-play list. 

We’re about to explain why it should be on yours, too.

A glance at the screenshots will reassure you that Grimguard Tactics is a polished affair, with slick cartoony graphics and fantastic character design. 

But you’ll need to play it to understand the sheer scale of the universe it takes place in and the lore that drives its action. Free-to-play tactical RPGs are ten a penny on mobile, but Grimguard Tactics is a rare example of an unmissable game.

Read on to find out why.

Mobile-Friendly Battles

There’s an art to making a game as tactically rich as Grimguard Tactics work on the small screen. 

For one thing, the visuals have to be clean and uncluttered without losing out on character and detail. For another, the gameplay has to flex to meet the demands of the player on the move. 

For a mobile strategy game to work, it needs to be just as fun in short bursts as it is over long, drawn out sessions. Grimguard Tactics gets all of this stuff right, making it an essential play on mobile. 

Rich Lore

If you want to know how serious a developer is about their game, take a look at the lore they’ve created. 

Grimguard Tactics may not be based on a fantasy novel, but you wouldn’t know that to play it. The vast world of Terenos is rich with diverse peoples, species, cultures, and landscapes, spanning five huge continents. 

And, like all the best fantasy, it has a deep history, with a narrative that extends more than a century into the past and harks back to a lost Golden Age.

Great Characters

Rich lore is nothing without richly drawn characters, and Grimguard Tactics has some of the most compelling, three-dimensional dramatis personae we’ve ever seen in a free-to-play mobile RPG. 

There’s a pistol-toting scoundrel, an embittered Woodfae, a (nearly) ruthless Mercenary, an imperious Enchantress, and a ton of other characters besides, all with their own extensive backstories, abilities, and ambitions. 

Hanging out with these characters is one of the best things about Grimguard Tactics.

Town-Building

Variety is essential in good tactical RPG, and not just in the battles themselves. That’s why Outerdawn has expanded the gameplay beyond turn-based strategy to include city-building. 

After all, you and your fellow heroes have a Holdfast to defend. That means exploring your surroundings, killing enemies, and collecting resources to use on reinforcing your settlement and creating a base from which to conquer the world. 

Tactics based Gameplay

This is a superbly deep tactical-RPG. Grimguard Tactics can still be a gruelling strategy game that forces you to think on your feet, yes – but planning several moves ahead and perfectly executing a well thought out plan is a feeling like no other.

You can even make progress by engaging the autoplay mode and letting the AI take over via the AFK option too, if you so wish. Idle mechanics are an absolute must in a mobile strategy game after all, and Grimguard Tactics gets the balance just right. 

To see the game in action, download Grimguard Tactics for free right now on the Google Play Store or the App Store.