Bases and Bandits (2021)

Platforms: Game Boy Advance
Genres: Puzzle, Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS), Tactical
Main story: about 15 hours
Completionist: about 2.0 hours
Where to get it: Website

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A brutally restrictive Fire Emblem hack demanding careful strategy around fragile, fixed-growth units.

tacticalrpgpuzzlechallengingstrategicfan-made

About

This hack is designed around the restrictions of extremely weak player units. Each of the 8 playable units in this hack has 1 base HP and 0 base everything else. To compensate for this, additional restrictions are in place. Everything is locked at 100% hit, and growths are fixed. Weapons have had to be slightly altered to fit in with this style. FE4’s ring system is present in this hack, but the rings present all have explicit downsides, giving them more strategic use. P-Down, D-Up may help you take a hit despite your abysmal stats, but your damage output takes a heavy blow. Ring bonuses also stack. Thanks to the hack’s short nature, you can use weaker versions of Filia’s Might and Nini’s Grace wherever they may help you, without fear of needing them later. These two mechanics alone lead to very CQ-esque statstacking. This hack consists of 5 relatively short maps, each with a unique look and song. Enjoy the game’s gradual shift from puzzle to traditional FE as your options expand.

Screenshots

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.