Skygard Arena's tactical skirmishes feel like a fantasy twist on Into The Breach

With the dream of XCOM 3 still very much just that, I'll leap on any chance to get a bit of turn-based tactical combat into my life. Skygard Arena is the latest newcomer to step up to the plate, and it immediately caught my eye with its fantasy designs and a battle system that's giving Into The Breach vibes. Developer Gemelli Games has just launched it out of early access on Steam after almost a year, with a new champion and full Steam Deck support among the inclusions, and it's well worth a look if you're craving a little strategy.

Much like the Firaxis-forged favorites and Subset's mech masterpiece, Skygard Arena is all about smart positioning, movement, and ability use on tight battlefields. Its showdowns take place on arenas that are scattered with key objectives such as pillars that, when captured, allow you to redeploy fallen team members. That introduces a little more territory control to proceedings, helping Skygard stand out among the best turn-based strategy games of its ilk. Many of the skills at your disposal are directional, or rely on line of sight, and there are plenty of options to move your foes around the battlefield and set up explosive combos.

Narratively, the world of Skygard is split into five distinct factions: The Katia are a long-held alliance of Elves and Dwarves who worked together to construct a flying city they call home. They're joined by the Scarlet Empire (relentless conquerors), the Clouds Clan (a fragile alliance of nomad tribes), the Guardians (who protect ancient magic), and the Silver Kingdom (a faction of zealots faithful to their angel queen).

You go into battle with a squad of three champions, but that's just the start of the strategic possibilities. Each character can be flipped between different personas that offer a unique spell loadout, and then you're able to equip them with relics that amplify their skills with powerful passive boosts. In total, Gemelli teases that there are "over 500,000 different team compositions" possible, so you'll likely be experimenting for quite a while to find your favorite.

The main draw is the story-driven campaign, but if you find yourself hooked on its asymmetrical battle system then you can keep coming back with skirmishes against a range of increasingly tough computer opponents inspired by chess engines. Once you've mastered your team composition of choice, you can head online and attempt to climb the PvP ladder. There's a ranked leaderboard or the option for casual matches, so you're free to take things at your preferred pace.

Skygard Arena 1.0 is out now on Steam, and a 35% sale means you'll pay $9.74 / £8.31 if you buy it by Thursday October 2. Take a look here if you've been craving some fresh tactical action in your life.

If it's the style of Skygard that appeals most, you'll find plenty more wondrous worlds to explore among our pick of the best fantasy games. We've also highlighted the best indie games in 2025 to make sure you don't miss any hidden gems.

Are you still keeping the XCOM 3 dream alive? Or have you found alternatives to fill the gap? Tell us about your turn-based favorites in the PCGamesN community Discord server, and maybe you'll discover something new in the process.