The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Review

"Turn Based Fantasy"

Campaign

February 4, 2020 at 3:00am
By Jason Stettner

This is a turn based take on the recent successful Netflix Original series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. They essentially take the exact same narrative, and then present it in a series of fairly straight forward situations.

The narrative is covered through comic-like cinematics and some in-game speech bubbles. It’s a bit uninspired in that regard as they honestly could have taken the concept beyond what the game presented. I suppose that makes this a bit disappointing, as they didn’t play with the rich lore at all. I mean, the show is absolutely incredible, whereas this seems like more of a novelty for a niche audience.

There are over fifty battles, and this isn’t necessarily a massive experience, yet one that does have a good amount of value to how much gameplay it presents. That aside, it is just the core campaign and nothing extra so you’ll play then be done with it entirely.

Gameplay

This title does feature a fairly large roster with fourteen playable characters including many from the show, and also beyond that the classic film. They capture the aesthetics of the world well, but don’t necessarily go wild with it. It seems like an alright capturing of the fantasy, as those Netflix sets were ever so rich in quality.

Here it feels like a slice of a world that’s then faded into darkness. With your characters you’re able to level them, equip special abilities and also provide them with more powerful gear over time. You’ll both unlock, and purchase this in-game from the store. You’ll fight a fairly decent roster of enemies, including powerful ones. I did find this rather hardcore in nature, with the default difficulty being a tad rough to play.

The AI didn’t seem too interested in things aside from attacking your primary objective. Each level has key goals, and limitations in regards to how your squad can be used. If you fail, start from the beginning of that level. The characters all have abilities, and it’s sort of a rotating selection of when troops can do their thing. You’ll have limited movement options, and need to be tactical about ability usage.

The Conclusion

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is an alright extension to the show, but not necessarily a stand out within the turned based genre. I found it to be generally fine, yet uninspired and it didn’t do anything too interesting with the source material.

There’s a fair bit of content to it, you could spend a decent amount of time playing it if this interests you. There are some neat mechanics in regards to the character leveling, and a good number of levels to play. It just doesn’t have any value past that, and it’s not necessarily the most fun of experiences being hard at times.

When I think of the show, I would believe a more casual audience might be more interested in this and it doesn’t cater to that enough. It has some neat elements, but doesn’t do enough to be a truly drawing option in the crowded genre it stands in.

Read our Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Review
View our Game Hubs

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by One PR Studio

Rating Overall: 6.2