Square Enix has announced its new strategy RPG game, The Diofield Chronicle, is arriving on Steam on September 22. The game's Steam page is here and a demo will be released August 10, the save data from which can be carried-over to the full game.
The publisher describes Diofield Chronicle's combat as a real-time tactical battle system in which you issue "decisive orders that take advantage of your troops strengths and weaknesses to gain advantage over your foe." It's a 3D strategy game where there's no grid, and it plays out in realtime but with a pause function for the ordering bit that seamlessly overlays the battlefield then disappears after the instruction.
The game's setup is a fairly typical fantasy RPG world which is mired in endless war, where you take command of a band of mercenaries called Blue Fox. The character designs are by Taiki (Lord of Vermilion III, IV) while the orchestrated soundtrack comes from composers Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell, best-known for their work on Game of Thrones.
Square Enix has a long and distinguished history in this genre, and is behind some of the very best examples of strategy or tactics RPGs ever made. Some of Diofield Chronicle's trappings may seem a little over-familiar, but the diorama-style visuals are beautiful and soon enough we'll know if this new battle system is as special as the publisher thinks.
CD Projekt rolls out a new Cyberpunk 2077 beta branch so people can keep playing while modders catch up to the 2.2 update
OG Fallout lead Tim Cain explains just how much thought went into the timeline, and why canned beans were key: 'Post-apocalypse, but not so far post- that everything's collapsed and everyone's dead'
