THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE TACTICS Review: Easy to Resist

I love weird stuff. Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal and the Netflix show are fantastically odd fantasy stories, some really weird stuff. However, coming from such an original premise is a game that lacks just about any uniqueness or original content.

I will be justly critical of this game, but compared to other games from TV shows or movies, it is better than some. Let’s talk about the tactics, the gameplay’s pros and cons. The game is quite safe with its choices, all the combat, abilities, level design, and even characters are fairly generic. We do get a slightly interesting mix of jobs on each character, allowing them to access a few other abilities and magic attacks, but the systems are fairly shallow and don’t make space for serious creativity or crazy combos. This is ultimately too bad because of the magical nature and unique design of the show which could have allowed for a lot more character diversity. As another quick note, a number of tactic game staples of basic gameplay like movement seem to have been changed to be new or different, but ultimately are worse than predecessors. 

Aside from the mediocre gameplay, I was also disappointed in the character models and aesthetics overall. The Dark Crystal was not a bustling array of neon colors, but the style and puppeteering created a visceral world full of wonder and personality. Age of Resistance Tactic’s models are dull, extremely stiff, and even difficult to distinguish in gameplay at times because of the lackluster design as a whole. The game doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t look really very good.

The campaign and story followed very closely with the Netflix show, but the 2D cutscenes left the story a little confusing at times, even though they did look pretty nice. Looking at the campaign as a whole, I found that my characters were just barely powerful enough to win, and that’s fine, but I was on normal difficulty. I found that if I made any mistakes or had any back luck, some levels would be almost impossible, and that was still on normal difficulty. So, I found myself having to grind out levels on previous encounters, which doesn’t seem particularly well thought out on the standard experience.

This game had some potential, the source material was great and lent itself to an interesting story, great creatures and unique landscapes (maps). But sadly, the game is just terribly mediocre, and the only redeeming quality is the interesting but shallow ability trees and reimagined cutscenes.