2018’s Square Enix-published role-playing game Octopath Traveler received “generally favorable” feedback when it launched, according to review aggregator Metacritic, and RPG enthusiasts seemed to appreciate the game’s unique blend of retro and HD 2D visuals. So when Switch exclusive Triangle Strategy was announced during a February 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation, many fans were understandably excited. Development of the tactical RPG will be led by Tomoya Asano, the producer of the Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default games, and that gave gamers much to be hopeful for.
A demo of Triangle Strategy was released simultaneously to the February announcement, revealing much about the game’s story, gameplay, and graphic style. Triangle Strategy seems to have taken inspiration from Final Fantasy Tactics, a much loved game that is often held up as a paradigm of tactical RPG goodness. The 50-hour game also features the same HD 2D visual style as Octopath Traveler, while offering a more mature storyline and large-scale dramas.
Scheduled for release on March 4, 2022, the box art for Triangle Strategy was recently revealed and has a style reminiscent of Octopath Traveler's cover. However, unlike the illustration for that Square Enix game, which displayed all of the title's eight main characters, the box art for Triangle Strategy features only Serenoa Wolffort standing on a hill with his back facing the viewer. The box art reveal, according to a post by the official Triangle Strategy Twitter account, marks the final push before the game’s release.
In Triangle Strategy, Serenoa joins his fiancee Princess Frederica Aesfrost and his childhood friend Roland Glenbrook as three nations struggle for the upper hand in the Saltiron War. Serenoa is heir to House Wolffort and commands a group of warriors in combat that plays out on multi-tiered, gridded battlefields. Using the turn-based system common in tactical RPGs, Triangle Strategy plays similarly to Final Fantasy Tactics and should satisfy fans of that game, who have been clamoring for years for a re-release of Final Fantasy Tactics on newer consoles and a fresh entry in the series.
The excitement for Triangle Strategy may have been dampened somewhat as 2022 dawned, thanks to a New Year letter from Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda that expressed support for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. The integration of the blockchain technology as another form of monetization in video games has become a subject of much debate in recent months, with some companies in favor and many gamers greatly opposed. Hopefully, the backlash from Matsuda’s endorsement of NFTs will not impact Triangle Strategy’s March launch.
Triangle Strategy releases for Nintendo Switch on March 4, 2022.