The DioField Chronicle Is An Independent Strategic Role-Playing Game

This oddball from Square Enix features both new and familiar battles and chats.

The DioField Chronicle: Tactical role-playing games used to be a niche subgenre that only existed in the 16-bit era. Not so anymore, and a big reason why is Square Enix, which these days loves nothing more than to lay low- to medium-budget wagers on every nook and detail enjoyed by its audience and represented in its back catalog.

The publisher and Nintendo launched Triangle Strategy earlier this year. It plans to release a remake of the original Tactics Ogre in the month of November. In between, on September 22nd, is The DioField Chronicle, an unheralded, low-key, and intriguing departure from the norm of the genre.

The DioField Chronicle

The DioField Chronicle, in contrast to the aforementioned titles, as well as genre mainstays like Fire Emblem, does away with both a mobility grid and turns. This is a fast-paced, open-ended game that takes place in real-time. Playing like the hero units in a real-time strategy or multiplayer online battle arena game, you command a squad of four units. You use your mouse to direct your units across the battlefield and quickly switch your focus from one unit to another as you issue orders for them to use their skills, heal, or escape danger, all while keeping a careful eye on the situation elsewhere.

While the mathematics and mechanics may be comparable to a turn-based tactical role-playing game, the experience is very unique. This is not a game of chess, where each move must be meticulously planned and optimized. It requires the ability to switch gears quickly and set priorities on the fly. However, one constant remains: the significance of a location cannot be overstated.

You’ll want to strategically place your units to maximize the damage they deal to opposing units, as many of your units’ abilities deal damage to a wide area, in a cone, or in a broad swath. Because of this, it is crucial to employ MMO-style pulling and tanking strategies to manipulate the enemy and gain the upper hand in battle.

Generally speaking, the tactical fighting system is enjoyable and engrossing, if not without a certain amount of tension. You should try to have at least one of each type of character in your team: archer, cavalry, warrior, and magic user.

Each character can level up and equip their own unique set of gear, and there are also class-wide skill trees and the ability to add auxiliary characters to any of your four unit slots (if they are of the same class) to broaden your access to that class’s abilities. When you carry a Magilumic Orb, you can call upon the might of massive summons, just like in Final Fantasy, to wreak havoc on your enemies.

A nice variety of interesting factors have been brought together here. Even while it’s difficult to gauge the game’s true depth from the demo, it seems that Square Enix and co-developer Lancarse have made the right call by keeping things relatively modest in scope yet having a significant impact.

Although few in number, opposing units pack a powerful punch that can quickly deplete the health of your soldiers. The fights are simple but risky, making them exciting and challenging in equal measure (at least if you’re playing on a console like I was on PlayStation 5; the PC version allows a mouse and keyboard, which will probably be more swift and natural for playing the game).

It’s a shame that the story and interpersonal interactions in The DioField Chronicle are so lifeless because the game’s pleasingly efficient mesh of systems and exciting, fast-paced battlefield tactics are the real highlights. The game’s setting of medieval politics and mercenary maneuvering is dull and lifeless, despite the fact that the characters are shown in gorgeous graphics by Taiki and Isamu Kamikokuryo.

The plot involves a once-peaceful island endowed with potent magical resources, tremendous evil, fighting factions, and haughty aristocratic houses. Fredette, Iscariot, and Waltaquin all have speaking roles in which they engage in lifeless cliches and jargony exposition to one another. The game’s budget plainly wasn’t large enough to cover things like environment art and voice acting, and the game’s color palette is quite chilly and subdued, neither of which help matters.

Our hero, Andrias, can visit the incredibly drab and cramped barracks between missions to chat with other characters, shop, craft, and tinker, but this area of the game looks and feels at least two hardware generations behind. Perhaps three.

On the battlefield, everything is brought back to life, but only the most dedicated and inquisitive tactical RPG aficionados may stick around for the payoff. Despite its narrow focus, the game manages to unearth an intriguing subgenre. You’ll soon be able to play The DioField Chronicle on the Switch, PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox One X.