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Recently, I've been playing Pokemon: Legends Z-A, and struggling slightly to get to grips with its meta-shifting move away from turn-based combat. Away from my Switch, I've also finally got around to playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ahead of what I predict will be a slew of Game of the Year wins. It's rare that two such different takes on turn-based RPGs occupy so much space in my head at once – and that makes the gulf between the two even more apparent.
I'm completely absorbed by Clair Obscur. I've never had any great interest in the classic JRPGs that inspired it, but I've been completely sucked into its world. There's no corner of The Continent that I'm not poring over, no fight I'm not actively seeking out. I'm dangerously invested in its characters, and desperate to find out what happens as I approach its finale. Even before I booted it up I was already fairly sure that Sandfall's debut would dominate GOTY conversation, but now I'm convinced it'll be the name to beat.
By contrast, Pokemon quickly started to feel like a chore. Extremely lengthy tutorials exacerbated the problems that had been causing me to cool on the series since Sword & Shield. I enjoyed exploring Lumiose and the gameplay loop of the Z-A Royale, but weak dialogue, mediocre graphics and animation, and the dire Rogue Mega Evolution setpieces made progressing feel like hard work. On its own, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is a better-than-usual entry in a series I increasingly think I've outgrown. Held against a fellow turn-based juggernaut in Clair Obscur, it's clear that Game Freak is being left further and further behind.
(Not) the very best
Admittedly, Pokemon: Legends Z-A is not technically a turn-based RPG. Its real-time twist on the series' traditional format does distance it from the rest of the genre ever-so-slightly. But it's still a Pokemon game, and Pokemon games generally hinge around turn-based combat. While the Legends games put their own spin on things, all of the mainline games that came before it were turn-based, and I'd bet that all of those that come after will be too. For a long time that was fine. Pokemon was the biggest entertainment franchise in the world, which meant any other turn-based RPG lived in its shadow. But that's not really true anymore.
Exactly where the turn-based renaissance began is up for debate, but I'd make a pitch for 2016. That year gave us Persona 5 and XCOM 2, followed up in 2017 by Divinity: Original Sin 2. In their turn, those games led directly to Metaphor: ReFantazio, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Baldur's Gate 3. In the meantime, Octopath Traveler kicked off a rush of HD-2D releases that have brought us excellent new entries like Sea of Stars, and remakes of near-lost classics like Final Fantasy Tactics. Clair Obscur is the capstone in nearly a decade of turn-based excellence.
Back in 2016, Pokemon was ushering in Gen 7 with Sun & Moon and the Let's Go remakes of Red & Blue. The Alola games, with their hand-holding continuing into their final act, are widely credited with starting the series' staunchly kid-friendly push with regards to narrative and difficulty. Pokemon has never been a mature series, but the perspective is certainly that the 3DS and Switch games are far more linear, and often easier, than their earlier counterparts..
Alongside that simplicity has come a dearth of innovation. Away from the generational gimmicks that disappear with each new game, the mainline Pokemon formula has seen no substantial tactical overhaul since the introduction of the Fairy typing in 2013. To make up for its lack of significant gameplay changes, Game Freak instead opted for increasing forays into open-world games. Starting with the Wild Area of Sword & Shield, through Legends: Arceus' open zones, Scarlet & Violet's fully open world, and now Z-A's Lumiose City, this extended experiment has revealed one unquestionable result: that graphically, the Pokemon series is far, far behind the competition it has imposed upon itself.
At a conservative estimate, the last two Pokemon generations netted Game Freak and Nintendo a cool $3 billion, which suggests they are simply unwilling, rather than unable, to put in the resources to compete visually. At the same time, calls for any kind of difficulty modification are ignored, and the likelihood of official Nuzlocke implementation is next to zero. As the games get easier, much of the tactical element dissolves entirely outside of the competitive format. And suddenly, while Pokemon has spent the last decade chasing trivial difficulty and embarrassing visuals, a new generation of turn-based RPGs has appeared to show just how old and creaky this format has become. Perhaps for any other cult JPRG series that would be ok, but this is a franchise that clears its closest competitor – Mickey Mouse – by more than $50 billion.
In just the last three years, Larian and Sandfall alone have shown that there's an enormous market for mature, complex, visually interesting turn-based strategy, and that investing in that market also offers up tremendous critical acclaim. Despite that, I don't labor under the impression that Nintendo or Game Freak are about to abruptly change course - an intensely difficult, grimly dark take on Pokemon would be a strange pivot for a series that has, for many games in a row, opted to become more simple and more 'E for Everyone', selling tens of millions of copies as it does so. But Pokemon's 30th anniversary is around the corner, and with it the Gen 10 games. Once I might have eagerly looked forward to that double milestone year, but unless something substantial shifts in the way the series treats its games and its audience, I fear I won't be the only long-time fan looking further afield for my turn-based fix.
Enjoy the strategy renaissance for yourself with our list of the best strategy games.
