If you played the original Triangle Strategy demo last year, you might remember that the player was thrown into Chapter Four of a very complex ongoing saga. Though we were joining the tale mid-stream, there was enough juicy action, intrigue, cool characters, and fun powers to keep the player engaged. The player joined an already existing team, just as their world was falling apart.
I called the Project Triangle Strategy demo the video game version of Game of Thrones, as there were twists and turns, deaths and betrayals. It was great fun, but all too short, and the demo ended just when things were heating up. I was super excited, and I anxiously waited for the next bit of information about the final game.
That came almost a year later, with the release of the new Triangle Strategy demo - which, while less juicy, gives the player important background on the characters, the world, and how it all fits together. While there isn't nearly as much lurid fun in the new demo (which consists of the first three chapters in the game), we do get treated to a great deal of world building, as the game sets the table. Players learn all about the three primary kingdoms in Triangle Strategy (likely the inspiration for the title), and the push and pull of the political forces at work.
Playing Chapters 1-3 in the new demo is particularly delicious if you already know what's about to go down in Chapter 4, as the players haplessly move around the world with little knowledge of the hell that is about to break loose. I had a great time watching characters be introduced, and thinking things like "Don't be nice to them! They're bad guys!" while my little characters acted with grace and diplomacy. Sure, there's a little less "You must really use your head more often. The one atop your head, that is." and a little more "Yes, my lord, you honor me with such high praise.", but it's fine because we all know that the proverbial shit is about to hit the fan, and all of the niceties on display are going to go flying out the window.
The fun part about all of this is that the player still has no idea how things will all work out - all four of the available chapters still comprise the opening arc of the game. It's not as though we are in Star Wars prequel territory here, with everyone knowing the entire ending of the story. Releasing the demos in this way was a stroke of genius on the part of Square Enix and Nintendo, as it firmly entrenches players in the story and the world, making the desire to see what comes next even that much stronger.
Triangle Strategy is scheduled to arrive on Nintendo Switch on March 4, 2022.
