Released last year in November, Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a remaster of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. The turn-based tactics RPG takes place in the Valerian Isles, with the Bakram and Galgastani fighting for supremacy. In the midst of this is the Walister, namely Denam, who fights to avenge his father.

Building on the all-time classic, the remaster features improved visuals and HD artwork, new mechanics like Buff Cards, and the Chariot Tarot for rewinding to previous actions. Cutscenes are also fully voiced in English and Japanese, while the World Tarot lets players opt for different choices throughout the story.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is available for PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch. Check out our review here for more details.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is set on the Valerian Isles with three factions – the Bakram, Galgastani, and Walister – vying for control. As Denam, players start by seeking revenge but eventually become embroiled in a conflict with various twists and turns. Based on your decisions, different routes with unique allies to recruit are available.

The gameplay has also seen changes with the ability to scout ahead in battles and see which enemy units have been fielded. You can also use Buff Cards on the field for increases to attack, critical hit chance, magic, and more. The visuals and artwork are upscaled to a higher resolution, cutscenes are now fully voiced, and much more. For more details, check out our review here.

But at long last, after years of demands from a relatively small but decidedly vocal fanbase, the series is finally back. Square Enix has released Tactics Ogre: Reborn, another remastered launch for the 1995 original- and it’s fair to say that series fans will find it worth the wait, while newcomers, too, will find more than enough to fall in love with. Whether you’re looking for a captivating story with genuinely engrossing choice-and-consequence mechanics or a mechanically dense strategy RPG that gives you oodles of control over every aspect of your party, you’re likely to find it here.

"Whether you’re looking for a captivating story with genuinely engrossing choice-and-consequence mechanics or a mechanically dense strategy RPG that gives you oodles of control over every aspect of your party, you’re likely to find it here."

The game is set in the kingdom of Valeria, a medieval fantasy world that is rife with conflict and power struggles. A young soldier named Denam serves as the protagonist, who, with his sister Catiua and their friend Vyce, is out on a mission to avenge the death of his father. But though things start out that way, they quickly find themselves embroiled in a budding rebellion, as the oppressed Walister clan begins to rise up and challenge the established power of the Galgastani. Things escalate further as the story progresses, and though the “how” of it is best experienced on your own, it’s safe to say that, as is befitting of the setting and genre, Tactics Ogre’s narrative scale is feels impressive, to say the least. Political machinations, differences in ideologies, moral quandaries, personal triumphs- the game’s story expertly juggles all of this and more. And though that’s something that is almost something of a staple for turn-based tactics games, it’s fair to say that even now, all of these years later, very few have managed to craft a world and tell a story as accomplished as nuanced as what’s on display here.

What strengthens the story even further is the amount of focus Tactics Ogre places on player choice, with a branching narrative that’ll place genuinely tough choices in front of you time and again. Your actions in the game tend to have drastic and far-reaching consequences, and will often even impact gameplay mechanics, which means that with every major choice you’re asked to make, you feel doubly invested. The game does an excellent job of lending weight to your actions.

Moving beyond the story to the actual gameplay, Tactics Ogre: Reborn shines just as the original did, and just as the PSP remake did. Given the fact that the bones of the experience are nearly 30 years old at this point, it’s not surprising that the battle system here isn’t as complex or layered as you’ll find in many other turn-based tactics RPGs, but there’s no faulting the execution. Battles are turn-based and take place on a grid, and the mechanical foundations will be familiar to you if you have any experience with the genre, but actually paying attention to things such as unit placement, classes, builds, and what have you feels far more important in Tactics Ogre than it does in most other games of its ilk.

"Political machinations, differences in ideologies, moral quandaries, personal triumphs- the game’s story expertly juggles all of this and more. And though that’s something that is almost something of a staple for turn-based tactics games, it’s fair to say that even now, all of these years later, very few have managed to craft a world and tell a story as accomplished as nuanced as what’s on display here."

That’s largely down to the game’s expansive progression mechanics, which afford a great deal of control over every aspect of how you want to upgrade your characters and your part as a whole. From their equipment to their spells to their classes, there’s a lot to keep track of for each character in your company of soldiers, and you’ll be recruiting a lot of soldiers throughout the game that will belong to a variety of different classes. Each class can also equip multiple different kinds of gear and equipment, which means there’s plenty of room for experimentation and divergences even within a single class. The level of variety and freedom that the game allows for is staggering, even to this day. Fair warning though: if you’re fairly new to the genre, you might feel a little overwhelmed by the bevy of systems and mechanics the game throws at you right out the game (which is very similar to what it does with its story and worldbuilding right from the get go).

In fact, it would be fair to say that Tactics Ogre: Reborn actually improves upon the combat in some pretty meaningful ways, thanks to the various quality-of-life improvements and refinements that Square Enix has introduced with this release. For starters, there’s the Chariot Tarot system, which lets you rewind to previous moves to undo mistakes in the heat of the battle, while the PSP remake’s World Tarot system returns as well, which, once unlocks, allows players to jump straight to crucial story branches and make different choices to see how things would turn out.

Another major new improvement comes with the removal of random battles- training battles accessible via the world map grant you EXP and don’t have permadeath, which means you can easily level up characters for tougher battles should you need to. Add to that streamlined EXP and equipment mechanics, new skills, optional objectives during battles, and more, and Tactics Ogre: Reborn feels like a noticeably enhanced version of a game that’s already an all-time classic. That said, one change that’s likely to prove unpopular for many is the introduction of a party level cap. Your party level increases at certain points in the story, which is all well and good- but if your party level is, say, 9, you can’t individually level up characters past that cap until your party level increases as well. If you were hoping to do a lot of grinding and get rewarded for it by having a ridiculously overpowered party, unfortunately, the game doesn’t allow for that.

"While Tactics Ogre: Reborn does a mostly excellent job of updating and refining the original title’s gameplay and mechanics, one area where it feels like a disappointing step back is the visuals."

While Tactics Ogre: Reborn does a mostly excellent job of updating and refining the original title’s gameplay and mechanics, one area where it feels like a disappointing step back is the visuals. To put it bluntly, it feels like the visual style and personality of Tactics Ogre have been largely sucked out of this version, with character models that look too smooth and rounded and environments that are full of assets that seem to have been ripped out of a mobile game. It’s particularly disappointing to see because something like an HD-2D aesthetic would have been a particularly good fit for this game.

But though its visual update is a disappointing one, it’s not nearly enough to overcome the fact that Tactics Ogre: Reborn is still an excellently retooled and refreshed version of what is, in no vague terms, a legendary RPG. For fans of strategy RPGs, Tactics Ogre is almost required reading, but for years, circumstances have made it so that it hasn’t exactly been easily accessible to the masses. Now, Square Enix has brought a new and improved version of the game that, in spite of its visual woes, shines a bright and flattering light on it. If you have any interest in this genre, to not give Tactics Ogre: Reborn would be a big mistake.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.

That said, Sonic Frontiers has three versions slotting into the top 10, with the Switch version taking the fourth spot with over 26,000 units sold, the PS5 version coming in at No. 7 with over 11,000 units sold, and the PS4 version slotting in at No. 8 with over 9,000 units sold. Put together, all three versions outsold Splatoon 3, with a total of over 46,000 sales at launch. That, incidentally, makes it the biggest Japanese launch for a mainline Sonic game since 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2, which sold over 84,000 units upon release.

Arguably the biggest new release of last week was, of course, God of War Ragnarok, which occupies two positions in the top 10 as well, with the PS5 version (No. 3) selling over 29,000 units and the PS4 version (No. 6) selling over 11,000 units. Its collective launch sales of over 40,000 units are the series’ third-highest in Japan to date, falling below God of War 3 (over 44,000 units sold at launch) and 2018’s God of War (over 50,000 units).

Finally, there’s also Tactics Ogre: Reborn, another new release that takes up multiple slots, with the Nintendo Switch version (No. 2) selling over 36,000 units, the PS4 version (No. 5) selling over 12,000 units, and the PS5 version (No. 10) selling over 7,800 units, for a total of over 57,000 units sold. That’s the series’ lowest ever Japanese launch to date, with 1999’s Ogre Battle 64 being the second-lowest (over 103,000 units sold at launch). That said, the remaster has outmatched the launch sales of several other recent Square Enix releases, including the likes of Valkyrie Elysium, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, Harvestella, and more.

On the hardware side of things, the Nintendo Switch leads the way once again, seeing a slight bump in sales over last week’s figures, with over 97,000 units sold. The PS5 follows behind by a healthy margin, having sold over 28,000 units over the course of the week.

You can check out the full hardware and physical software sales charts for the week ending November 13 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 43,781 (3,331,197)
2. [NSW] Tactics Ogre: Reborn – 36,783 (New)
3. [PS5] God of War Ragnarok – 29,377 (New)
4. [NSW] Sonic Frontiers – 26,067 (New)
5. [PS4] Tactics Ogre: Reborn – 12,668 (New)
6. [PS4] God of War Ragnarok – 11,260 (New)
7. [PS5] Sonic Frontiers – 11,111 (New)
8. [PS4] Sonic Frontiers – 9,098 (New)
9. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 8,025 (4,899,259)
10. [PS5] Tactics Ogre: Reborn – 7,805 (New)

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 97,542 (90,478)
• PS5 – 28,716 (13,274)
• Xbox Series X/S – 748 (3,113)

While there may have been some concern about Sonic Frontiers launching so close to Ragnarok, it’s fared pretty well. The 3D platformer debuted in fourth place with five percent more boxed copies sold in its first week than Sonic Forces. The PS5 version made up 40 percent of sales, followed by the Nintendo Switch version at 34 percent, Xbox at 14 percent, and PS4 at 12 percent.

Other new releases include Football Manager 2023 in 11th place, with physical sales down by 18 percent compared to last year’s game. Given its status on PC, digital sales could make up the difference. Stray’s PS4 version received a physical release and charted in 23rd place. Square Enix’s Tactics Ogre: Reborn debuted in 24th place.

Interestingly, the increase in PS5 consoles sold helped raise sales for Horizon Forbidden West. It experienced a 141 percent sales increase week-on-week and rose to seventh place. Nintendo Switch game sales also rose, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe rising by 34 percent, Nintendo Switch Sports by 19 percent, Splatoon 3 by 22 percent, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons by 50 percent.

Check out the Gfk’s top-ten best-selling physical titles for the week ending November 12th below.

As Denam, players venture across the Valerian Isles as conflict rages between the Galgastani and Bakram. Depending on the choices, the narrative can branch extensively, resulting in different events and endings. Unlike the original game, there are no longer random battles – characters can enter training battles without the risk of dying to level up. Characters now level up individually instead of on a class basis.

There are also changes to reviving units, equipment to promote more build diversity, and more. You also have new content like Charms and Relics, Buff Cards during battles for slight bonuses, and more. For more details on differences from the original, head here.

Here are the 15 biggest games to look forward to in November.

The Chant

“Weekend getaway to a spiritual retreat turned to hellish survival against cosmic monstrosities,” isn’t the worst description for Brass Token’s The Chant. After a rift to The Gloom, a dimension of negative energy, opens and various horrors take over a peaceful island, it’s up to Jess to collect weapons like salt and incense, craft items, and harness spiritual energy to fight back. And also run away, because flight is sometimes just better than fighting.

Along with managing her spirit, players must also care for Jess’s physical and mental health – these will influence her survival and abilities throughout the story. Then there are the other survivors, slowly giving in to the negative energy perpetrating the island. Can they be saved? We’ll find out when The Chant launches on November 3rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

God of War Ragnarok

Over four years since its predecessor debuted, selling millions of copies over a few days, and three years past in-game, the sequel to God of War (2018) is finally upon us. The story sees Odin and Asgard preparing for Ragnarok while Kratos and Atreus avoid the conflict. Of course, it’s not long before they’re involved, battling the likes of Freya, the Valkyrie, the Einherjar, and the mighty Thor himself.

A lot has been said about the experience, with reports extolling its massive size and the development team claiming it’s bigger than they envisioned. Nine realms to explore, new shields and abilities to equip, an expanded combat system, more verticality, larger levels, more enemy variety – the list of improvements goes and goes. On November 9th, the world will finally have a chance to play it on PS4 and PS5.

Sonic Frontiers

If nothing else, you have to admire the guts of Sega releasing Sonic Frontiers just one day before God of War Ragnarok. Nevertheless, those looking for a brand-new 3D platformer to dive into should find promise in Sonic’s latest adventure. After his friends disappear during a hunt for the Chaos Emeralds and he delves into Cyber Space, Sonic finds himself on the Starfall Isles. This archipelago of five different islands is filled with mysterious mechanical beings, and a new enemy named Sage also emerges.

Sonic Frontiers goes for an open-world-esque approach for its exploration, with the different islands presenting various platforming challenges, puzzles, and Guardians to fight. Upon accessing a portal, he can venture into Cyber Space with levels inspired by older titles. Sonic Frontiers launches on November 8th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and is undoubtedly the biggest Sonic title yet.

Football Manager 2023

Another year, another promising new Football Manager title from Sports Interactive. Football Manager 2023 marks the series’ return to PlayStation but also features improvements to its scouting, squad planning, AI managers, and more. The UEFA Europa League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa Conference League are all fully licensed, and new features like Supporter Confidence and Dynamic Manager Timeline promise to bring you closer to the sport than ever.

Football Manager 2023 is out on November 8th for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and Apple Arcade, along with launching day one on Game Pass.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Bloody Ties

Techland has been updating Dying Light 2 Stay Human regularly since launch, and on November 10th, its first paid DLC Bloody Ties will release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. Aiden enters a tournament to take on various challenging foes in Carnage Hall for fame and rewards. Things aren’t what they seem, though (surprise, surprise), and you’ll soon be investigating the tournament’s true purpose. In addition to a new story, Bloody Ties also provides new gear, a new weapon in the Shield Glove, and arena missions called Spectacles. You can also fight new mutated foes in Arena Challenges to truly test your limits.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Yes, it’s another Pokemon game on the Nintendo Switch for the fourth year in a row. Nevertheless, Pokemon Scarlet and Violent look genuinely interesting. Instead of a regional approach like Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Paldea is a seamless open world. As a student of Naranja or Uva Academy, the player participates in a treasure hunt with the freedom to go just about anywhere. All the tropes of a Pokemon title are here – an enthusiastic rival Nemona; Professors Sada and Turo; and even new Legendary Pokemon like Koraidon and Miraidon that serve as mounts when exploring the region.

In terms of story, players can choose from three different routes – Path of Legends to locate the Herba Mystica while fighting Titan Pokemon; Victory Road to challenge eight Gym Leaders and eventually the Pokemon League Champion; and Starfall Street, where they must battle against Team Star. With several new Pokemon, new moves and items, and Terastallization providing new properties for each Pokemon, Scarlet and Violet could be the best 3D titles in the series yet. They’re out on November 18th for Nintendo Switch.

Evil West

Third-person shooter meets stylish beat ’em up combat in the Weird Wild West with Flying Wild Hog’s Evil West. As Jesse Rentier, players must battle vampires in the American frontier. This is done in several violent ways, from firearms to a gauntlet that can electrocute enemies. Throughout the campaign (which supports co-op), you’ll discover new weapons, unlock new perks and upgrades, and ultimately save the country. Evil West is out on November 22nd for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC.

WRC Generations

Originally slated to launch last month, KT Racing’s WRC Generations was delayed and now launches on November 3rd for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. Career Mode, multiplayer, Quickplay and other modes return along with Split Screen for local play. Leagues Mode is new and involves players completing different events every week and receiving a ranking.

In addition to new Hybrid Cars, major revamps have been made to the progression and Team Creation while cross-platform play has also been implemented. As the developer’s last game under the license (for now), WRC Generations could see it going out on a high note.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

A documentary crew is invited to a recreation of serial H.H. Holmes’ infamous “Murder Castle” by a mysterious recluse – what could go wrong? Not every scary situation in The Dark Pictures Anthology is as avoidable as this, but I digress since The Devil in Me is going for something different with its killing rooms. You’ll still have to make decisions that can influence whether the central cast lives or dies.

But this time, there are more movement options like running, climbing, and jumping, an inventory for managing items, puzzles that require tools, and more. This is in addition to online mode and five-player local co-op. As the season finale, The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me should end things with a venerable bang when it launches on November 18th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC)

Warhammer: Vermintide developer Fatshark’s latest title leans more into the sci-fi Warhammer 40K universe, eschewing hack and slash for more first-person shooting (but still having some hacking and slashing). It’s set in the Hive City of Tertium on Atoma Prime, which has seen an influx of Chaos forces. As a “reject,” one must undertake missions across various maps, working their way up to better weapons and gear while opting for tougher difficulties.

Four classes – Psyker, Zealot, Ogryn, and Veteran – are available, each with different subclasses to specialize in different play styles (like the Skullbreaker Ogryn being more melee-focused). It will sound pretty familiar to Vermintide fans, which isn’t the worst considering how much fun co-op was in that series. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is out on November 30th for PC, with the Xbox Series X/S version launching “shortly after.”

The Entropy Centre

Amid all the action-packed titles releasing this month, it’s nice to have something more laid-back and cerebral. Stubby Games’ The Entropy Centre takes place after an extinction event seemingly wipes out mankind and as perhaps the last one alive, you venture to the heart of the Entropy Centre, which orbits the Earth in a space station, for answers.

The first-person puzzle-solving and time manipulation will look familiar, but Stubby Games puts an interesting spin on this by having you find the solution and then rewind time to solve the puzzle in reverse. The Entropy Centre is out on November 3rd for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Gungrave G.O.R.E.

Announced back in December 2017, Gungrave G.O.R.E. has been a long time coming. It’s out on November 22nd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, and PC, and launching day one on Game Pass. Set after Gungrave VR, it follows the Gunslinger of Resurrection, who is out for revenge.

Along with third-person shooting, there’s also close-quarters combat and brawling, and various types of enemies like mechs, zombies, and more to take out. Despite the long development cycle, it remains intriguing and worth keeping an eye on.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PC)

If you’ve already played Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on PC, then Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a no-brainer. Taking place one year later, it sees Miles Morales as Spider-Man, protecting Harlem from the conflict between Roxxon Energy Corporation and the Tinkerer’s Underground. While many of the same environments and gameplay elements remain, Miles has unique abilities like Venom Blast and Camouflage to even the odds.

There are also new gadgets like the Gravity Well, Holo-Drone, and more to further spice up the gameplay. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is out on November 18th for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and while it’s not as long as the previous game, there’s still a great story, side content, and suits to collect.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is coming to PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC and serves as a remaster of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Even with the upscaled HD visuals and artwork, re-recorded soundtrack and fully-voiced cutscenes, there is so much here to make it feel like a brand-new game.

Random encounters are gone, replaced with Training Battles; skills have been retuned while Finishers now use MP; Buff Cards throughout different battles provide positive and negative effects; new Charms provide different bonuses; and much more. You can even rewind actions within the last ten turns in case of an unfavorable outcome. With its numerous classes and skills, incredible branching story, and various quality-of-life improvements, it may end up a dark horse among some of the bigger releases this year.

Harvestella

The world, governed by four crystals called Seaslight, periodically suffers the effects of the Quietus, which ruins crops and brings death. As the duration of the Quietus increases, you control Ein and must figure out how to stop it.

Along the way, you’ll visit various towns, each with unique crops, materials, and recipes, and interact with many characters (including Aria, who is seemingly from the future), fish, craft and more. Maintaining a farm to fund your mission is one thing – you also need to venture out and fight monsters to make progress with the investigation. Good thing there are 12 different classes, each with unique weapons and abilities to assist in this.

Releasing on November 4th for Nintendo Switch and PC, Harvestella could fill that Rune Factory-sized hole.

Based on Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, the story focuses on the conflict between the Walister and the Galgastani on the Valerian Isles. As Denam, players can influence the plot through various decisions, leading to different paths and endings. The original is considered an all-time classic in the turn-based tactics genre, and Reborn improves on it in numerous ways.

Units now level up individually; the UI has been overhauled; Training Battles are available instead of random battles; and much more. Cutscenes are now fully voiced in English and Japanese, while the visuals are now high-definition. Even the music is rerecorded. New features in battle include Buff Cards, Charms, and retuned skills.

For more details on the remaster, its first hour of gameplay and differences from the original, head here.

It’s also worth noting Boomstick Gaming’s video, which compares several differences between the original game and the remaster. Along with improved visuals, it highlights the importance of elements, the improved user interface, Buff Cards, and much more. Though the upscaled sprites take some getting used to, the character portraits and artwork look pretty good, while the voice acting is on point.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is out on November 11th for PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. For more details on the improvements to AI, training battles, and more, head here. You can also check out the new Charms and equipment changes here.

Your units also have some new AI settings. There are four to choose from – Fierce Attacker, Stalwart Defender, Distant Striker, and Ardent Mender – and one can toggle between controlling all units manually or letting the AI handle it. Another new feature is trajectory prediction, which comes in handy when using bows, crossbows or projectile-based spells. These will now display their trajectory so that players can avoid their units.

If a unit goes down, they won’t die immediately. Instead, they’ll be in the “Incapacitated” state and have a countdown. They must be revived before the countdown reaches zero, or they’ll be “Deceased” and permanently dead. Along with being able to revive units continuously, they can also move and act immediately upon revival.

Finally, random encounters on the world map are gone, and players can now enter training battles at specific locations. This allows for easier leveling, especially since units can’t die in these battles.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is out on November 11th for PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.