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Oct 30, 2024

Even Tactical Breach Wizards' developer commentary can be used to knock people out of windows | Rock Paper Shotgun

Defenestration trilogy indeed I’m still a little giddy over how much I enjoyed lucarne-lobbing puzzler Tactical Breach Wizards. So much so that I mentioned in my review how I’m well up for another run

Defenestration trilogy indeed

I’m still a little giddy over how much I enjoyed lucarne-lobbing puzzler Tactical Breach Wizards. So much so that I mentioned in my review how I’m well up for another run of its fifteen hour campaign. I’d already got a few missions into hard mode. There's no more starting mana points! It’s a real...pane.

Now, I might have to start again, even if going out of my way to grab the tapes added in its developer's commentary mode is going to be extra tricky. Ah, but will being able to chuck the recorders at my enemies for a point of knockback afterwards make up for it?

There are 52 of these recordings to find, totaling over 3 hours of commentary, spread across the game's 15 hour campaign. They're a mix of designer/writer Tom Francis talking through his own thinking, and interviewing each other member of the team about their work.

We get into the reasoning behind design and story decisions, ideas we tried that didn't work out, the hardest challenges we have to solve, and get a little closer to understanding why this game took more than 6 years to make.

And when you're tired of listening to us, you can throw the tape recorder at an enemy to deal 1 knockback.

The optional mode is part of the game’s special edition, which is currently about 50% more expensive than the standard. Alongside the weaponised-fact rectangles, it also contains the soundtrack, and an early build demo. I wouldn’t normally write a news piece just for a special edition, but I asked around the treehouse this morning, and we struggled to come up with a comparably creative implementation of a commentary feature.

I also have an ulterior motive here. Namely, this gives me a chance for some whimsical hijinks. I figured it'd be fun to ask to you to link me your custom TeeBeeDubs levels. If, say, at least three of you do, then I can write up my experience of struggling through them for the site. If you missed it, the game features a level editor that’s apparently more or less identical to that used in the making of the game. This is a surefire portal to unrestrained nonsense, and I am more than ready to suffer for your amusement. Riddle me up, chums.