As a lifelong lover of JRPGs, my entry point had actually been its tactical variant with Shining Force on the Mega Drive. It's a series that has continued to resonate over the years, which is arguably how Aegis Force: The Scorian War caught my attention as a new indie tactical RPG whose creators are also influenced primarily by Shining Force.
"My friend had a Genesis and one weekend we rented Shining Force 2 from Blockbuster, and I instantly loved it," says Christian Smith, founder of indie studio Zenahive.
"That was the first tactical role playing game with grid based combat that I had played. So really, [Aegie Force] was kind of a response to loving these types of games, that idea of having combat on a grid involving movement and positioning in addition just to selecting commands was really enticing, and then being able to explore the world a little more fully without having to worry about fighting a battle every handful of steps."
Admittedly, what also caught my eye about Aegis Force is that rather than a top-down affair like the 16-bit Shining Force games, its pixel art sprites are in a 3D world, which is more reminiscent of Shining Force 3 on the Saturn.
However, Smith tells me that Aegis Force's aesthetic takes inspiration from the more recent HD-2D style coined and trademarked by Square Enix, albeit a style that other devs are trying to put their own spin on. It should also be noted that while Square Enix's HD-2D games are developed in Unreal Engine, Aegis Force is developed with Unity.
Zenahive's specific approach is to present its sprites with a more dynamic 3D camera in comparison to Square Enix's HD-2D titles that despite using modern rendering and post-processing techniques, still largely keeps everything to one fixed perspective. "We wanted you to be able to spin the camera around both for exploration and also for the combat so you can see different elements of the combat."
That in itself isn't unique, since you can also rotate the map in games like Final Fantasy Tactics, but Aegis Force's camera isn't just isometric but can even come down close to ground level, almost like you're playing a third-person action game. "The buildings and environment assets are created in 3D. All the characters are created in 2D. And what we did is create sprites at multiple angles, and then as you move the camera, we've got it programmed with billboarding where the pixels move with the camera."
Where this use of the camera really stands out is during combat animations. In tactics games, these can usually be done by transitioning to flashier cutscenes like Shining Force and Fire Emblem, or just seeing the actions play out on the grid, which can be, in the case of Final Fantasy Tactics, quite no-frills.
Aegis Force actually opts for neither approach (Smith had incidentally ran a poll on the kind of battle presentation fans preferred and found it had split down the middle) and instead has a hybrid solution where combat animations do happen in real-time but the camera is also moving in when this happens to give it a more cinematic presentation.
"We're working in the camera in such a way that it is reminiscent of those Shining Force cutscenes," he explains. "It's very cinematic without dragging down the combat, so to balance that out you can also see the battlefield, you move people around and then the camera zooms in for attacks and spells in real-time, and we didn't create different pixels, sprite character animations, or backgrounds. So far, the overall feedback has been pretty good."
That dynamic camera is also very effective for the game's pincer mechanic where if you have two units positioned in front of and behind an enemy they'll both attack that same turn for extra damage. And Smith also promises more exciting ideas for even more dynamic-feeling battles.
"We want to do some pretty cool cinematic work with some of the bigger spells, like a summoner where we can bring in some cool effects when they summon creatures, and we even have an idea of an archer shooting an arrow where the camera follows that arrow as it attacks."
While Aegis Force's story starts as a more grounded low fantasy centring on a century-long conflict between two nations - one with advanced technology, the other with advanced magic - I'm also pleased to see it also includes a wide variety of races beyond just the fantasy staple of humans, dwarves and elves.
"We wanted to have a variety of races, so we've got fox people, frog people, bird people," Smith concludes. "We want to just make it a little more unique with underrepresented classes you don't see as much in role-playing games." And of course, appealing to my Shining Force sensibilities, it's also one of few fantasy games that also lets you play as centaurs.
Aegis Force: The Scorian War is available in early access on PC, a free Steam demo is also available.
