The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Rapid Review

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Fast Facts

Title: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics
Developer: BonusXP
Publisher: En Masse Entertainment
Website: https://www.enmasse.com/games/darkcrystaltactics
Genre: RPG, Strategy
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 12
Release Date: 04/02/2020
Price: £16.99 – Rapid Reviews UK was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.

Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is based on the classic film as well as the new Netflix Original series. In the game, you must lead the Gelfling resistance against their evil overlords, the Skeksis. You experience the Darkening, “an evil spreading from the Crystal of Truth, the heart of [their] world,” and show Aughra your memories of the events that occur as you do battle. 

One thing I disliked at the beginning of the game was how fast the dialogue went by in cutscenes. I did, however, like that they give you the option to always fast forward enemy turns. You also have the option of changing the game’s difficulty at any time.

The music is absolutely gorgeous, and the graphics aren’t too shabby either. I will say that the text could have been bigger, as it can be difficult to read, even for someone with decent vision.

You can change your characters’ jobs and must level up lower-tier jobs to unlock the more advanced ones. There are primary jobs as well as secondary jobs; you are able to equip two abilities from secondary jobs, and three abilities from your primary job.

Something that was unclear was how to level up your more advanced jobs; it says level three unlock for a skill when you’re already level ten from another class, but doesn’t say how to unlock skills for the advanced classes…It seems to just happen. I do wish we could use more abilities at a time, but suppose it makes things more “tactical” and interesting.

You’re able to purchase the equipment at the equipment shop; however, you don’t seem to be able to sell anything. On the loading screen it mentions clans having better equipment than the equipment shop, but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to buy this so-called better equipment. 

Something I strongly disliked was the inability to use items in this game. This meant I had to heavily rely on my one healer in battle. 

Fortunately, you are able to grind in this game. Unfortunately, you don’t gain experience points immediately, but after the battle ends; however, your fallen characters do still seem to gain half of the experience points that your remaining characters get, which is a good thing. I would have expected no experience points for the characters that fell in battle.

Something I liked is that the characters were highlighted depending on whose side they’re on. Allies have a blue highlight under them, while enemies have a red tint beneath them. This was helpful in distinguishing between the units on the map. I also like that defeat doesn’t cause any “game over” of sorts. You just go to the world map and get to try the battle again. 

The plot felt fairly disjointed; you would have some battles with some characters and then the next would be with another set of characters in another place. The plot was kind of convoluted and didn’t make much sense at times.

The battles tend to be pretty short, and you often only have four characters that you control in battle. Sometimes you’ll be able to use five, but it varies. I enjoyed the battles more than I enjoyed the plot related to them. Some battles would have you defeat all enemies, while others would have you try to escape with a certain amount of characters or some other requirement. 

Some maps had environmental conditions you’d have to deal with, like sandstorms and rising tides that would drown your characters in a certain amount of turns. This was an added twist for the tactical decisions you have to make.

The only maps that I really disliked were one with the rising tides and another with three major bosses on one screen. 

Overall it’s a fairly enjoyable tactics game with a weak plot. If you’re a fan of the series you’ll probably get more enjoyment out of the plot. 

Rapid Reviews Rating

You can purchase The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics from the Nintendo eShop on the following link: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/The-Dark-Crystal-Age-of-Resistance-Tactics-1575151.html