A Pendulum, Not A Funeral
Turn-based tactics might be riding high after Baldur's Gate 3 dropped the old D&D-style pausing, but one of the genre's loudest boosters isn't ready to bury realtime-with-pause. "Realtime-with-pause is not dead," said Star Wars Zero Company lead designer James Brawley, arguing the format's best days could still be ahead. "It will have its day. Someone will make something wonderful in that space, and it'll take the world by storm again."
Brawley shared the perspective during a recent hands-on preview with PC Gamer's Ted Litchfield, offering a counterpoint to the idea that turn-based has won a permanent victory. He's building a team-based, turn-based tactics game in the Star Wars universe, yet he's not interested in picking sides. Instead, he frames it as a cycle. "It's like everything, these genres oscillate up and down over time," he said.
That swing, in his view, explains why turn-based combat is so prominent right now. Brawley credits recent design tweaks for broadening the audience. "Part of the reason why we see a resurgence of this kind of turn-based games recently is that there's been a lot of innovations in how we pace the action and the camera work, and the immersion that goes into the game has made these games feel a little bit more approachable and easier to play."
What Made Turn-Based Click Again
Brawley points to presentation as the quiet star of this revival. Firaxis helped set the tone with XCOM's roving, mobile camera and glass-shattering sprints that sold every move as a moment. A genre that once looked like chess with health bars started to feel immediate and tactile.
"Part of the reason why I think this kind of turn-based format, team turn-based format, was able to make a resurgence is because of innovations in presentation and pacing that keep it from feeling too sluggish or too menu-driven," Brawley said. Tight camera work, faster transitions, and clearer feedback all helped turn-based shed its reputation for molasses slow play.