Natural Doctrine is a tactical role-playing game set in a beautiful fantasy setting with an evocative soundtrack. It has a subtle, yet deep storyline set in a world where various races compete for scarce resources and humanity struggles to maintain what little civilization they have.

Geoff, Vasily and Zekelinde are swords for hire escorting Anka, an explorer in search of the ore "Pluton."  Magic in this world is key for humanity's survival, and Pluton is what allows for the use of magical science. Though poisonous to humans, it is mined by goblins safely. Humans infiltrate the goblin mines and take what Pluton they can from them, usually through violence. Our story begins with just such a mission, and from there we are thrown into the dark conflict of Humans and other races of ferocious goblins, savage orcs, the shamanistic lizardfolk, enigmatic dragons and a ruthless new species that threatens them all.

Gameplay is similar to other tactical RPG’s like Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem with your party taking individual actions and then passing their turn. The system varies from others with the Tactical Link system. It has a fairly steep learning curve and some compare it to Dark Souls in terms of difficulty level. When one party member dies, you get game over and can then reload from the last checkpoint to try again. It took me about halfway through the main storyline before I finally "got it," but once I did the depth of strategy increased and my enjoyment went way up. To surmise the Tactical Link system, basically you can advance another characters turn order and simultaneously have multiple characters take actions on a single turn. You can link your entire party and annihilate the enemies on the map before they even get a turn of their own. The problem arises when the enemies do the same to you, thus the depth of strategy is intense.

Each party member has a unique skill tree and can allocate skill points to increase their stats, abilities and class roles. Your main tank can be set to be your best gunner. Your healer can be a mage with powerful offensive spells and so on. The game is very flexible in this regard. And all skills can be reconfigured between map encounters and tailored to best tackle the stage at hand.

Although I reviewed this game on the PS Vita, there is a feature where you can upload your save to your PSN account, and then transfer it to the PS3 or PS4 versions of the game. Also included is a multiplayer mode where players build out their party with collectible cards and battle co-op or competitively. The story is quite serious. There are some heart-wrenching moments (which I won’t spoil), and the final boss battle really shines. There are no cinematic cut scenes as the character dialogue tells their story as you progress through events. The game has a lot of recognizable talent involved. The character designs are from Atsushi Ikariya, who has worked on tons of anime and was the character designer for Fate/Zero. And the amazing soundtrack was composed by Noriyuki Asakura (Monster Hunter, Ruroni Kenshin, Tenchu).

Natural Doctrine was a refreshingly challenging tactical RPG that pulled me in despite the difficulty. With a satisfying storyline, deep level of strategy and a wonderful soundtrack, Natural Doctrine is a natural selection for any avid strategy gamer's library.

Hint: If you fail repeatedly on a group of enemies, try shifting your skills around to best handle that encounter.

by Reginald Rhoades