Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons

Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons is the tactics game for fans of tactics games. It has an interesting story and a single-minded focus on just delivering a simple and easy to follow SRPG experience that's free of any extraneous plot or gameplay elements. This is its greatest strength, but it's also its greatest weakness. Those of you that need a little more something to go along with the deliberate and measured pace of a tactics game will be left wanting, as Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons is just 'OK' in this regard. We'd give this a recommendation to anybody who's looking for a short and simple SRPG, but would also say that with the caveat that you manage your expectations before jumping in.

Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons is the fifth instalment of the Mercenaries series that’s been released onto the Nintendo Switch. It’s a turn-based strategy RPG that takes place on an isometric grid. Whilst this doesn’t sound particularly unique, what sets Mercenaries Blaze apart from its competitors is a vast story and fairly interesting characters.

Mercenaries Blaze, like previous Mercenaries entries, is a budget-friendly, average-at-best tactical RPG experience.

Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons is a great entry in this SRPG series that takes retro systems and adds modern elements to make it stand proudly next to the greats. Its story doesn’t stick, but it also attempts to tackle some significantly difficult topics. Thankfully, the battle systems and accessibility options are sound and make this game a joy to experience.

The game provides a solid if unoriginal strategy RPG experience on the Nintendo Switch for series veterans and newcomers alike.

Throw in the superior character portraits, art, and musical score and Mercenaries Blaze represents a confident step forward. Of course, it’s not of the standard of a Fire Emblem, Disgaea or God Wars, but for people that enjoy the core gameplay loop of the tactics JRPG – and it is a very compelling one – Mercenaries Blaze is a lean and effective example of it.