Tactical Breach Wizards, a turn-based strategy game about spec-ops casters with a habit of throwing people out of windows, has a free demo after years in the cauldron

It might just be my history with City of Heroes—an MMO which had witches and wizards aplenty in its modern comic-book styled setting—or my love of Dimension 20's Fantasy High, but I'm a huge fan of modern magic settings. Give me a witch in a leather jacket and I'm basically there.

Tactical Breach Wizards, which we previewed back in May 2021, has been in the oven for a while—and, at long last, has a playable demo on Steam.

I was completely unaware of its existence until a friend excitedly shared it to me in a Discord server with the message 'blowing you all up' rendered in block capitals over the weekend, which I consider a solid recommendation to check something out regardless of personal tastes. I was then told by my fellow writers that PC Gamer alumnus Tom Francis made it—which makes me feel a little embarrassed, but hopefully impartial enough to let you know that I mean it when I say this game already rocks.

Tactical Breach Wizards is shaping up to be an excellent time if you're a fan of turn-based strategy games like XCOM (or, more recently, Capes)—although, in terms of moment-to-moment gameplay, the game plays out a little more like Chimera Squad, focusing on a squad of defined characters doing battle in tight spaces, though it already feels more well-realised than that game did.

Each level includes a series of rapid-fire breaches requiring cunning deployment of guns and spells to deal with foes like the druid mafia, cops (you're a loose cannon PI, naturally), and whoever's unlucky enough to get on the business end of your hexes. Positioning is key—requiring you to knock enemies out of windows, into walls, or into each other.

Similar to Capes, Tactical Breach Wizards allows you to meticulously plan out your turns by (through the power of time magic) rewinding all of your actions on any given turn after you understand the consequences. My only complaint is that you don't get an instant replay of the action, but it's an otherwise handy system for the