The gameplay is your typical turn-based affair, but with a twist added here and there, the biggest being a character’s “obsession.” Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. An obsession involves your character doing something that reflects their personality (or a hidden aspect of it), such as Holy Avatar bragging about his most recent exploit, or Drake shouting an encouraging speech, that has positive, albeit temporary, effects, but with every high, comes a low, and your character, especially Drake, usually suffers a negative effect after the obsession bonus wears off. This wouldn’t be a problem, aside from the fact that an obsession is automatically triggered when the obsession gauge is full. Aside from this, Grotesque Tactics consists of your typical gameplay, yet, the game remains quite addictive.

Another change from your typical turn-based strategy is the fact that each map isn’t a set encounter, but rather a chance to explore a new environment, with the game showing its grid-based combat whenever you encounter an enemy, and, thankfully, the encounters aren’t random. This gives the game a more relaxing pace at times, but can make the game tense when you face combat with several different creatures you didn’t notice until combat starts. The exploration aspect also gives the player a break from constant fighting, this might not sound like much, but what constantly ruins a turn-based strategy game’s addictiveness is its insistence on always putting the player in combat and never giving them a break, unless they turn off the game. This exploration helps give Grotesque Tactics an addictiveness that will have you constantly playing “just one more stage,” while the hilarious writing will keep you wanting to find out what ridiculous thing happens next.

Although the writing is good, there are times when it comes off as rather corny, and at times it gets rather irritating, especially with the obsessions, but it’s a pretty ignorable issue, and, overall the game is great, original, and even funny, most of the time.

Grotesque Tactics Premium Edition

Available on: GamersGate