Tactical Breach Wizards is refreshingly unlike XCOM despite wearing the same tactical underwear

rockpapershotgun.com:

We’ll never know exactly what sort of fiction Tom Clancy would have written if he was less interested in the calibre of specific bullets and their effiency at dismantling burgeoning socialist governments, and more so in the specific sigils required to blast a riot cop through a third story window. While charity shops across the land mourn this devasting loss to their paperback shelves to this very day, we do at least have a glimpse into what such a literary venture may have looked like. Oh, did you like that door? Was it your favourite door? Soz, pal. Strategy game Tactical Breach Wizards just hexed right through it with a new demo as part of Steam Next Fest. I’ve played it, and it’s very exciting stuff, not least for how differently it plays than what I’d expected.

Tactical Breach Wizards comes from Suspicious Developments, founded by former game journo and RPS contributor Tom Francis. All these disclaimers are enough to make me hopeful that someone will someday pay me, Nic Reuben, to write the legally distinct Little Shop Of Horrors management sim of my dreams, but I digress (call me). The studio’s previous work includes Gunpoint and Heat Signature. Both are well-loved, but thankfully, neither look to infringe on my concept for the legally distinct Little Shop Of Horrors management sim of my dreams (call me.)

The first thing I’d like to make absolutely clear about Tee-Bee-Dubs, if only for my past self who tends to form unwieldy assumptions based on singular screenshots, is that it has nothing to do with XCOM 2012 or its progeny. Ok, so ‘nothing to do’ might be a bit of a stretch. It still offers turn-based, grid-aligned tactics. Your team still boasts contrasting and complimentary skills. Also, there’s still cover, although you have to actively duck behind it. In terms of how it actually feels to play, though, it’s miles away from XCOM’s lengthy, ultra-deadly skirmishes of attrition. I’m using XCOM as an example here, but Wizard’s sleekly designed, eminently