The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a great strategy game and, fortunately, players don’t need to know the story or the characters of the TV show in order to play it. The learning curve is very friendly, which means that any player can fully immerse themselves in this story of uprising and revolution. Netflix is now making headway into the game industry, after their mistake with Stranger Things the game.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a surprisingly robust strategy game that will momentarily satisfy fans waiting for news of season 2.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics doesn’t do much to stand out from other turn-based tactics games, but it treats both the genre and the show—and therefore the fans of each—with the respect they deserve.

A fun strategy RPG that offers something for everyone but lacks an enjoyable story, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics assumes players are fans of the original movie, which is absolutely required viewing to get the most out of this game.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a turn-based strategy game based on the Netflix series which followed up on Jim Henson's 1982 movie and with that said, this is a game that may not reinvent the genre but what it does, does it very well. Thanks to its genuine feeling of immersion in the series' story, marvelous illustrations and overall friendly atmosphere for fans and newcomers alike, Age of Resistance Tactics is another welcome work to the Nintendo Switch catalogue.

It would be harsh to call The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics uninspired, but it’s clearly more focused on promoting the Netflix series than providing a rewarding, standalone gameplay experience. Fans of the streaming show may enjoy seeing their favorite characters through a different and more interactive lens but those unfamiliar with the series may find Tactics’ story opaque.

While I enjoyed my time with The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, I felt it was a bit too simplistic. Especially in comparison to games like Disgaea, which in my opinion is the leading game in this genre. This game is enjoyable, especially later on where more tactical options are unlocked. It is pleasing on the eyes, ears and it does its source material justice. However, I do wish more was done to help new players and players who have not watched the Netflix series. They may feel a bit lost with some of the story details.

The Dark Crystal wrapping on this robust tactics game leaves a lot to be desired, but those itching to get deep into a turn-based strategy game will find an absolute gem.

I love The Dark Crystal, Age of Resistance, and Final Fantasy Tactics, but I can’t help but feel like it falls just slightly short of all of those things. Even so, as a combination of them, it feels like much more than a cash-in on names or styles. There’s definite dedication here, and in the end it comes out feeling far more genuine than dastardly.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a solid game, especially if you like the source material. If you aren’t interested in the show or strategy games, then this won’t convince you to like them in any meaningful way. While it was nice to replay the first season of Netflix’s show, this was a missed opportunity to capitalize on the success of this new era of puppet mastery.

Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a series mainly created for fans with the intention of drawing in more interested parties. Tactics is in the same vein, but aims at the fans looking for a way to experience the characters they love in a different environment. Although the story is simply recapping what was in the original show, it offers surprising depth to its combat with fun strategy that makes it an enjoyable romp. The story itself also isn’t terribly long, but offers replayability with a hard mode for players to take on looking for a bigger challenge. There’s also a simple story mode for those wanting to take it easy. Those who haven’t watched Age of Resistance will likely be lost on this title, but those looking to visit Thra and the many Gelfings they remember would enjoy diving into The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a pretty solid, if wholly unspectacular little tactical title. It does a decent job of incorporating events and characters from Netflix's spectacular TV series (and the 1982 classic movie on which it is based) into its gameplay, and fans of the franchise – as well as folk who simply can't get enough of this genre – will certainly find something to enjoy here, especially for the pretty reasonable asking price. In terms of presentation, we would have liked to see something more befitting of the spectacular source material and a few more flashy combos and opportunities to set your team up to blow enemies off the screen in style would have been nice. Overall, however, for such a strange (and somewhat late arriving) TV tie-in, this one really is quite a bit better than we expected it to be. Feel free to add one to the score below if you're a huge Dark Crystal fiend.

If you're a huge fan of The Dark Crystal you may get a kick from Age of Resistance Tactics, but it doesn't do nearly enough to stand out in a fairly busy genre.

Age of Resistance - Tactics is not a bad game, but it’s disappointing and unable to capture the greatness of the series it’s based on.

The problems that The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics has don’t automatically make it a bad game, it just doesn’t have enough pros to let them be overlooked. While the combat has the potential to be great, it’s dragged down by foolish AI, artificial resource starvation, and a lack of interesting music tracks. There will be some fans who will find content here to enjoy, however, with the vast breadth and depth of the Nintendo Switch library, those looking for quality games can no doubt find better candidates elsewhere.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics falls into the trap of mimicking the greats of its genre without understanding what made them so great. While a passable strategy game at best, the only saving grace of Age of Resistance Tactics is the world it’s based on. And even that’s not as great as it could be.

Tactics is for those who’ve watched The Dark Crystal, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the depth and richness of the show. You should give that a go, though. I know it’s got Muppets in it. It’s still good.

A competent enough clone of Final Fantasy Tactics but unlike the TV show it lacks any real sense of imagination or invention.

Despite being far less common nowadays, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics keeps the long tradition of the mediocre licensed game alive. It does a decent job of aping ideas from some of the great strategy RPGs that came before it, but doesn’t execute any of them as well. Couple those missteps with its aggravating menus, and The Dark Crystal Tactics quickly becomes more tedious than fun to play.

A tactics game that fails to be fun and engaging, Age of Resistance Tactics is The Dark Crystal without all of the charm or anything else that makes it special.