The older I get and the more responsibilities I acquire, I find that some game genres are intensely inaccessible without a minimum 8 hour time commitment. I would even go as far as to say this is precisely what led to the rise of games-as-a-service and quick and simple gacha games. Positively, however, this led to a rise in high-quality roguelite-likes. Perfectly built for both the responsibility-laden and ADHD riddled. These titles, often made by smaller teams, play the dual role of scratching that specific itch for a longer game on my backlog by being far more digestible. One of those perpetually backlogged titles is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Tactics. I have wanted to dive headfirst into the 40+ hour campaign for years now. Not just because I am a sucker for an anti-warmonger tale, but because I have been DYING to play a tactics game. Alas, I have a family who eats at least five meals a day and thus have little to no time to get my strategy on… That is until I found the perfect supplement for my strategy cravings: Thayer and Back Again’s Trash of The Titans.
Trash Never Looked So Good
Trash of the Titans follows a group of rodents, commanded by a mysterious Trash Wizard to defend your heaps of garbage from the notorious RAT CRUE. Inspired by the solo dev’s daughter’s companion, Possomy the stuffed possum, and her wife’s love of “all stinky trash animals”, the strategy game clearly displays a deep and mushy love for these critters. The game’s easy to pick up hard to master gameplay feels right at home as an easy intro into the genre. Roguelike elements keep the early access title feeling fresh and engaging throughout its approximately 5-7 hour runtime leaving tons of fun to be had in mastering your party combos.
While the story aspect may seem light, especially compared to other big names in the genre, this is absolutely perfect for me to focus on just how sick the visuals are in the game. Each Act has a distinct theme, from sewers to the backyard each map has just the right amount of set dressing to dig into what’s really important. The choice of art direction here is an absolute treat, nailing the back street alley aesthetic through the expert use of dark blues and purples. Pixel graphics have been used to death recently. But here they perfectly meld into each character’s design and animation. Every attack, movement, and ability use hits with the perfect amount of crunch that really makes you feel like these garbage denizens are taking serious damage. If there was any knock on the atmospheric delivery here it would be that the music is just passable. Most of my time spent playing my ears were filled with the sound of whatever seizure-inducing YouTube video my son was watching at the time. This was possible due to the game's fantastic playability on the Steam Deck, giving me the privilege of being able to participate in my sons daily brain rot session while defending my own heap of rotten mush.
The Tactic To Curing Brain Rot
Strategy/tactics games are well known for having a serious learning curve. Shying newcomers away with stats and numbers that would make an Excel champion shutter. Min Maxing and party optimization are things strategy lovers come to the genre for. Again, I rarely have time for all of that. Though, while playing I found myself inherently understanding exactly what each character in my initial party did just by their design: you have a tanky badger, who can take huge damage and give it right back. A sorcerer skunk with strong AoE and support spells. The possum ranger allows for long-range attacks and a surprisingly diverse skill tree. And my favorite, the rogue raccoon, who uses his invisibility to hit for gnarly backstab crits. There are two other unlockable characters at the time of writing this who add some serious mixups to the party dynamic: A necromancer street cat that can spawn ratbone soldiers. And probably the most unique character, a paladin-esque squirrel who rides on a chicken to build momentum and strike down smelly foes. I spent hours with just the initial four troops learning each of their skill trees trying new skills each run and seeing which build is optimal. The icing on the cake for me is the Tetris-style point attribution system at the end of each map. Wherein you are given attribute points via a Tetris block and must place them on your character grid. This mechanic tricked me into min-maxing between each run, while still making it entirely accessible to pick up and put down.
I’m about 6 hours in and am likely about to hit the content wall of it being an Early Access title. However, I could easily see spending another 2 to 3 hours going back and trying different builds. Then spending even more time just getting a quick run in here and there. Development appears to be steady, with at least another character, multiple acts, and plenty of game modes still in the works. I feel optimistic about this title's longevity and success even when competing with time-sucking tactics competitors like Sword of Convallaria, which not only wants your time but your money as well. Both of which I believe would be better spent rummaging through the garbage of Trash of The Titans
*this is not a sponsored post I just really like the game
