Tenderfoot Tactics

Genre: Open-World Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Tenderfoot Tactics, released in 2020 on PC and ported to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2024, is something of an enigma. This game is strange in numerous ways, and it doesn’t seem especially interested in explaining itself, requiring new players to puzzle out what this game is, how it works, and what you’re meant to be doing, and this strangeness and mystery are a large part of this game’s charm. I’ll try to explain a little for you, though.

Tenderfoot Tactics is an Open-World game where combat takes the form of a Turn-Based Strategy-RPG. Players control a party of goblins fleeing from a menace they call The Fog that has spread over the land and confronting them in the form of grey enemies. Your group seeks to fight back this menace, both directly by taking out enemies, and also by seeking the help of large looming figures who may know a way to end The Fog for good. Or at least… that’s my takeaway here. Like I said, this game isn’t exactly clear about what it is.

The world of Tenderfoot Tactics is a contributing factor to just how bizarre and mysterious it is. The 3D world around you undulates and morphs as you move around, only taking firm shape as you get nearer, only to warp and fade away again as you leave. In another game, this sort of odd visual element would be a glitch, but here it feels consistent and deliberate. Beyond this, the game’s characters and landmarks use simple and mostly-untextured 3D, and while this isn’t impressive on a technical level, the visuals here are striking in a way that few games are. These visuals are backed by a quiet, somber soundtrack that gets more assertive in the midst of battle.

Players explore the open world, searching for resources to grab while being mindful of enemies. Enemies have a visible radius around them so you can avoid combat until you’re ready, and if something you want to grab is just across that radius you could even step over to grab it quickly before fleeing back to safety, so long as you can shake off your pursuers before they get too close. The easiest way to do this is to hop into the sea, automatically summoning your boat and making enemies give up their chase.

When you do get into battle, you’ll find it mostly follows the standard formula of Tactics-style Strategy-RPGs, albeit simplified to select options using a wheel menu. However, while the gameplay is simplified, that’s not to say it lacks nuance, and there are a few interesting additions to the formula that make this game stand out in the genre, even when you set aside the unusual visual style and Open-World nature of the game.

The world around you is a living, changing thing. Based on what’s going on, your characters and enemies can both alter the terrain, causing it to swell with magic or leaving increasingly-large craters in the ground after you blast enemies in the area with a grenade. Plant life can obstruct your path and some abilities can remove it, cause it to grow, or set it ablaze to create a hazard.

The game has a class system that will eventually allow you to upgrade your characters into various other classes, and the way equipment works here allows you to equip any two objects to a character, with even things like wildflowers and rocks collected from the ground being able to improve your stats. Meanwhile, this game’s take on settlements is often little more than a group of non-speaking non-hostile characters huddled next to a hut, but you may get one to trade with you via what seems to be a barter system of sorts. Again, this isn’t exactly made clear, so I’m just going off how all this seems to work.

I will warn you, the first hour or so may be a bit rough, in particular thanks to combat that does not take things easy on new players. However, if you stick with it long enough to learn how things work, get your characters upgraded a bit, and perhaps even recruit others, you’ll find it does get a bit less-daunting.

In the end, I may be a bit befuddled by Tenderfoot Tactics, and I can see how some players might be put off by how it is less than eager to explain itself. But personally, I find this game to be a breath of fresh air, and it is truly unique and has some really interesting ideas, if you have the patience to dig in and figure things out. Even after spending hours with the game, I can’t say for certain that I fully understand it, but I respect it, and I enjoy playing it. If you’re a fan of Strategy-RPG games and looking for something that takes a swing at doing things differently, I think you’ll appreciate this game too.

tl;dr – Tenderfoot Tactics is a Turn-Based Strategy-RPG set in an Open World, with a presentation that can be bizarre and confusing in a way that forces you to figure things out rather than explaining it all to you. Having said that, there are some clever mechanics here, and the game’s mysterious nature is one of its selling points. I don’t think this game will be for everyone, but fans of Strategy-RPGs looking for something different should definitely give this game a look.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Original

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