What Tales & Tactics is
Tales & Tactics is a roguelike autobattler set in a tabletop RPG world. You draft units, give them equipment, place them on a hex grid, and then the fight plays out on its own. Between fights you decide what to buy, which units to keep, and how to spend your resources. The whole thing runs as a single-player adventure across 3 acts, with rival characters and bosses along the way to the Grand Tournament.
Your squad can be built from a wide range of fighters: Fae, Dragons, Treefolk, Skeletons, Ghouls, Orcs and more, spread across roles like Tanks, Healers, Mages and Engineers. Their traits are what make the team work, so pairing units that synergize matters more than just picking the strongest individual. Along the way you find Equipment to hand out, grow your Army Size, unlock higher tiers of Units, and pick Level-Up Perks. Rewards differ from run to run, so each attempt asks you to build the most potent team you can with what you're offered.
Playing it with friends
The game itself is built for one player, with no time limits and no pressure between fights, so you can take as long as you want to think. Where friends come in is Asynchronous PVP: you build your squad and then battle other players from around the world, testing your tactics against their teams. Both ranked and unranked PVP are available, so a group can keep a friendly ladder going or just throw teams at each other without keeping score.
That makes it easy to play at different times without needing everyone online at once. You each run your own adventure, shape your own squad, and compare results afterwards.
Before you start
Runs are meant to be repeated. Winning or losing both feed an Unlock system that adds Perks, Units, Items and other features, and it's designed to expand depth rather than hand you raw power. Every unlock can be switched off, so you can switch new systems on gradually instead of taking everything at once.
Once you've won the Grand Tournament there's the Challenge Climb, which raises difficulty across 15 tiers and adds new mechanics as you go, plus a Custom Difficulty option. The numbers behind the build are large: over 200 items, over 200 perks, over 100 units, all leaning on unique trait synergies. Expect to experiment, lose a run, and come back with a different idea of what works.