Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a turn-based role-playing game based on a comic book most players have never read, and it does not care. The game draws on Joe Madureira’s fantasy series — the swordsman Garrison, the war golem Calibretto, the rogue Red Monika, the old mage Knolan, and Gully, the young girl hunting her missing father — and strands the whole cast on an island of treasure-seekers and villains.
Trailer, via Airship Syndicate.
A Comic Book Island Worth Getting Stranded On
The setup is clean. The heroes’ airship is shot down over a mysterious island. A motherlode of mana has drawn every ne’er-do-well in the world to the same shore. To get home, the group has to fight through monster-filled dungeons and stop Destra, an evil sorceress with schemes of her own.
That is a premise, not a plot, and Nightwar treats it that way. The island is a reason to keep moving. The cast is the reason to stay.
Overcharge Fixes the Old Mana Problem
Combat is where the game earns its keep. Non-magical attacks generate “overcharge,” which can be spent in place of mana. It is a small rule with a large effect: your fighter types stay useful in long fights instead of sitting on their hands while the mage does the work.
The system is turn-based and strategic, and it is gorgeously animated. Enemies telegraph, heroes answer. It reads clearly at a glance, which matters more than it sounds.
Dungeons That Rearrange Themselves
Dungeon rooms are hand-crafted, then randomly arranged, so the layout changes each run. Players pick the difficulty before entering. Higher difficulties pay out more experience points.
That is a fair trade, and an honest one. The game tells you what it wants from you before you commit.
Diablo in the Overworld, Linear on the Map
The overworld is linear. You fight enemies at set instances until you reach a dungeon, then the camera drops into an isometric view that has drawn comparisons to Diablo. There you fight, dodge traps with special abilities, and hunt for secrets.
The split works. The map keeps you pointed forward. The dungeon lets you get lost on purpose.
Where Nightwar Grinds
The criticism that has followed this game since 2017 is difficulty balance and a high level of grinding. Both are real, and both are load-bearing. Nightwar asks for time in a way that a shorter, tighter RPG would not.
The art holds up. The combat holds up. The pacing is the argument.
The Hard Numbers
- Release: October 2017 (Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
- Later release: May 2018 (Nintendo Switch, Linux)
- Developer: Airship Syndicate
- Publisher: THQ Nordic
- Funding: Kickstarter
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Linux, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, Mac, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Genre: Turn-based RPG, dungeon crawler
- Mode: Single player
- Published critical score: 7.8 out of 10, an aggregate of 11 outlets
The Verdict on Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Nightwar is a Kickstarter-funded American RPG wearing its influences openly — Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star — and it mostly earns the comparison. The overcharge mechanic is the best idea in it. The dungeon shuffling is the second best. The grind is the tax you pay for both.
What matters here is that Airship Syndicate built a combat system worth learning, then wrapped it in a comic most players will meet for the first time through this game. That is a harder trick than it looks.
The 7.8 is the right number. Nightwar is not a landmark. It is a well-made, good-looking, occasionally tedious RPG that respects the player’s intelligence and does not always respect their time. If you have patience for a slow climb and a taste for turn-based combat with a real hook, the island is worth the trip. If grinding is a dealbreaker for you, it will be a dealbreaker here.
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