This year’s strategy RPG hotness might just be Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga

It’s kind of the child of Ogre Battle and Advance Wars.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

If you had any doubt as to whether a game was a strategy-focused roleplaying game, a JRPG in the style of Fire Emblem or Ogre Battle, I can bet you’d be clear that it is when I tell you it’s called Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga. Preposterously grandiose name aside, this indie could be game of the year material if you’re a fan of the genre.

Since its launch earlier this month it has attracted some attention, pushing onto the bestseller list in some territories and racking up over 1,500 Steam reviews—96% positive.

The draw of Symphony of War is its richly detailed systems. You build up squads based on 50-some character classes for your troops, customizing and choosing who’s in them based on your leader characters and how you’ve moved through your faction’s tech tree.

It’s a game system with serious strategic depth layered on top of more standard strategy RPG systems like character relationships, marriages, and equipment. The campaign takes 30-some hours, per the developers, but by all accounts expect 40+ if you’re me and refuse to make decisions quickly.

You can also recruit dragons, which in case you didn’t know is one of those automatic “this game goes to 11” moments. You can findSymphony of War: The Nephilim Saga on Steamfor $20.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he’s not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

FF14 is finally fixing the fact my carefully-constructed portraits keep reverting to a goddamn driver’s licence photo whenever I change my goddamn gear

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s first patch adds some Mass Effect flair to your wardrobe

I desperately hope Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Disco Elysium inspire more RPG devs to reject the traditional drip, drip, drip of DLC and expansions