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While a lot of games offer the adrenaline pumping, constant action, reflexes are king type of experience, there’s a genre that focuses a lot more on planning, strategizing and maximising your advantage over your opponent. While there are multiple subgenres that could fall under it, the turn-based games usually focus a lot less on quick reaction and more on thinking ahead. Now let's see what makes these games tick!
The general concept is in the name. You, a player, get to perform actions within your “turn”. Of course this is where distinction can vary, immensely so.
Your turn could be limited to picking your next attack for a single or multiple characters you control like in the majority of Final Fantasy combat engagement.
Or you could command a group of questionable individuals on a mission to uncover the horrifying secrets while managing their wellbeing in-between each expedition in the Darkest Dungeon game.
And why not participate in a brutal galaxy spanning conflicts in the Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector game?
While each of these offers different game experience, what ties all of these titles together is, again, the part where you decide your actions on a more relaxed turn-based basis.
Previously mentioned examples like Final Fantasy series or Darkest Dungeon give a general idea of what turn-based RPGs are.
You control (usually) more than one character through your journey. The Final Fantasy series usually follows a story where you have a central main character (most of the time) and fight your way through regular enemies, elites and bosses in turn-based combat to reach an end of the story. The stories are very immersive but also quite linear with some small choices that affect gameplay.
Darkest Dungeon is a more “hardcore” experience, each time you go on an “expedition” to explore areas within the game, you run a risk of permanently losing your characters. Each fight can drain precious resources, health and sanity while you try to complete the objective and find enough “loot” to make the expedition worthwhile. Putting emphasis on planning and organising your “heroes” to maximise their success.
Each offers different entertainment value. Final Fantasy series have great stories (if a bit linear), memorable characters and offer more relaxed gameplay allowing you to save your game at certain points.
While Darkest Dungeon is focused on persisting against the odds, maximising your success rate and facing the consequences of each failure (unless you save scum, no judgement though). Giving a more demanding experience and potentially more rewarding feeling for completing the game (despite the canon ending being what it is).
There are some differences in how single and multiplayer turn-based games play out. When playing against other human players, both of you start without obvious advantages for balancing reasons (unless decided to add a “handicap” during match creation).
In single player games the computer players often start in an advantageous position and the player has to slowly overcome that and triumph against them.
Also when playing against other people there’s usually a “time limit” for each player to take their turn, since nobody likes waiting for their opponent indefinitely. This adds a bit faster pace and requires quicker decision making and strategizing, giving a more tense experience in general.
Most, but not all turn-based RPGs offer co-op modes. For example Divinity: Original Sin, where each player can control their own character and either be a “helpful” teammate or just an absolute piece of… work. Both can be absolutely fun with the right person.
We’ve picked a few popular titles and series to make it easy for newcomers to see how different games from the same subgenre differ from each other.
The series became very popular worldwide with the release of Final Fantasy 7 and has since continued to be extremely successful. Each game has a very unique worldbuilding which is often a mix of fantasy and sci-fi with unique characters and interesting stories.
While Final Fantasy 7 and the future titles are quite accessible today, the previous titles due to the graphics and the medium they were created for (SNES) make these games a little bit harder to enjoy today. Yet they’re all universally praised by anyone who had a chance to try them out.
Dragon Quest is the most known JRPG in the world, on par with Final Fantasy. The premise in the early games was quite straightforward, especially if we compare it to the games today. You control a “hero” and have a main quest to slay a powerful evil entity.
As the series became more successful, these aspects were more “fleshed out” with recurring characters, overlaying lore and locations.
It follows similar gameplay as the Final Fantasy series, while you travel on the world map and visit locations, you have a chance of encountering enemies. As it happens, you are “transitioned” into a combat layout and engage in a turn-based combat. After desired action, your characters will then perform them to the best of their “stats”. After victory you receive Experience Points and potentially items.
For more information on JRPGs check out our WRPG vs JRPG article!
A western turn-based RPG created by Larian Studios (the guys who made Baldur’s Gate 3).
The game follows the story of two fully customisable “Source Hunters” whose mission is to find and stop the spread of a magic called “Source” and everyone who abuses it.
Original Sin uses a very unique magic system. For example, while casting a lightning spell on a conductive pool of liquid, it’ll shock everyone who's standing in said pool.
Each element can have a different effect on the environment, which enhances the options your characters have during each turn-based engagement. Giving an opportunity to make each fight quite unique due to the variety of enemies and skills they employ in battle.
Overally, the game offers very fun gameplay, fleshed out story and good deal of humour to top it off.
For those looking for a more “punishing”, yet rewarding take on turn-based games, Darkest Dungeon allows you to control a group (4 per expedition) of “mercenary type” characters and “use” them to uncover secrets of your Ancestor and the reason for his sudden “passing”.
The game can be quite tough to begin with but after a few initial encounters, it gets even harder. New players may get discouraged quite quickly by the game's permanent death system, which basically means that if you’ve managed to create a really useful character, they can be killed off by a few unfortunate critical hits. Unfortunately it cannot be undone by simply restoring the previous game state as the game overwrites the current save state (unless you save scum, hey, still no judgement).
Each fight you take, could turn sour due to a few unfortunate rolls but it could also be a breeze. But as the game narrator would say: “Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer”. Always expect the worst and try to prepare yourself for it!
There’s a reason why people enjoy these titles. Here’s some aspects of the game that are present in the most successful titles from the turn-based genre. See if they tickle your fancy as well.
As you’re facing different opponents, you have to develop ways to deal with them to be successful. Learning their weaknesses, predicting their actions or simply ambushing them. All these open up new options to act upon, adding a new level of depth into potential engagements.
Outmanoeuvring your opponents becomes your biggest strength, since you have more time to think and plan your next move. Every time your opponent makes a mistake can be a turning point. Unless that’s what they wanted you to think…! Mindgames are certainly a thing in multiplayer games against other human players.
Since turn-based games usually give you plenty of time to decide your actions, there’s no need to be 100% ready at a moment's notice. You can take your time and think about your choices and their consequences, potentially allowing people who are completely new to video games in general to master the game at their own pace.
While not every turn-based game offers life changing storyline that stay with you forever, there are many titles with fantastic worldbuilding, interesting characters and generally immersive stories to keep you playing to the last sequence. And skilled game developers can tie the turn-based combat aspect into the storytelling as well.
Turn based games have plenty of interesting ideas and genres under its belt but can feel a little bit slow for some. Our upcoming Mobile game called “Origins: The Fall of Azoria” offers a more action oriented experience with RPG elements mixed into it!
Follow us on our social media channels for all the latest updates in its development!
Real-time strategies rely a lot on your “quick thinking”, you need to plan and react almost immediately to any changes.
Turn-based strategies rely on planning long term goals and adapting them to counter your opponents strategy. Outthink rather than outperform.
Doesn’t mean that either of them requires less skill, different types of skill but skill nonetheless.
If you'd like to know more about RTS games, why not give our RPG vs RTS article a read?
Yes, while the game allows real time exploration and puzzle solving, the combat is designed in a turn-based fashion. Thus making it a turn-based RPG.
While turn-based combat is very popular in many JRPGs, there are some big titles like the “Tales of” series, Star Ocean series and Kingdom Hearts series, to name a few, that offer more action oriented gameplay. There’s definitely something to choose from.
Total war is a mix of tactical combat and turn-based management. While every engagement happens in real time, you take turns to manage your faction, build up your forces and move your armies thus making it a turn-based game.
Due to the limitations of technology (no affordable holograms yet), every tabletop game is turn-based. Warhammer and Warhammer 40k series when played in their original tabletop version are by design all turn-based. Warhammer and Warhammer 40k video game titles can vary greatly.
