The closed beta for Tribe Nine recently ended and we got to spend a bit of time with the game. While the plot has the same general feel of games in the genre, there are some notable differences that make it stand out from the pack. First, this is a free-to-play release coming for Steam. Normally, we wouldn’t take much notice of free-to-play content but this is one of those rare titles with some meat to it. Tribe Nine takes you to a dystopian Neo Tokyo where the government has been co-opted by Zero, a maniacal dictator who puts the populace into death games and has pitted groups of teens against one another for his own mad entertainment.
You play Yo Kuronaka, a boy who is the key to saving Neo Tokyo from the machinations of Zero. Rescued by your friends with no memory of anything that’s happened, it’s up to you to piece together a solution and save Neo Tokyo. Yes that sounds generic but we’re purposely leaving out a very good intro plot here in order to preserve it because it’s a hell of a fun story. You’re going to want to play this one for sure and much like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the plot more than justifies the FTP gameplay loop. That’s not something that happens often in today’s gaming world.
Gameplay in Tribe Nine consists of a combination of 3D/2D pixel graphics akin to Dragon Quest III HD or Octopath Traveler intertwined with full 3D action sequences. The pixel graphics portions of the game are gorgeous, with HD retro pixel art and neat background effects. The main story plays out through these sequences and all of the character dialogue boxes and key moments feature full anime-style art in the vein of Danganronpa as well. Character designs are over-the-top of course but they’re quite good overall and Kuronaka himself is a great design. Even in the beginning of the game, there are some shocking moments that will absolutely hook you with the plot, expertly pulled off with anime-style cinema sequences combined with pixel graphics.
The pixel art is your overworld, allowing you to explore, talk to people, fight enemies, find items, and solve simple puzzles in order to progress. It’s slow-paced but satisfying and the design work and pacing between fights is balanced extremely well, leading to a gratifying gameplay loop. Honestly, even without the combat, Tribe Nine is both interesting and fun but there’s definitely more going on here.
When you encounter enemies in the game, things shift dramatically. Rather than endearing pixel art, the game shifts to an arena-style third person combat experience. Enemies start generating and it’s a frantic survival melee with you and the bad guys beating the crap out of each other. Combat is satisfying with a focus on dodging, parrying and riposting. You can dodge an enemy attack, which increases your speed, then dash around behind them while they’re slowed and beat them down from behind. This frantic no-holds-barred combat gets more intense as you gang up on enemies (or vice versa) and the overall experience is a furious slugfest that’s extremely gratifying. With strong attacks, weak attacks, and dashes combined with your special moves, this is one flashy experience that has a ton of excellent eye candy.
Depending on whether you sneak up on enemies or if they manage to spot you, the initial enemy strength will vary. Both you and your team and the enemies have a bar called Tension. The higher the tension, the stronger you both are and as you each land more and more hits, Tension increases. Each bar has three levels and when Tension maxes out, things get pretty wild fast. Once you’ve landed enough hits, you can start using special attacks activated by the d-pad, allowing each of your playable characters to drop some powerful cinematic attacks in the vein of Persona 5. There’s also a bar at the bottom of the screen allowing an incredibly powerful super move by hitting the right trigger once it’s fully charged, totally decimating the enemy.
The mix of visuals in the game creates a complex image of the characters as pixels, anime characters and 3D renders and ends up making individual characters seem more substantial. Combined with some excellent dialogue, Tribe Nine’s visuals really hit home across the board. That’s good for a free-to-play game as the genre can be quite inconsistent from game to game. The mix of dystopian backgrounds, vintage style, and outrageous anime flair just works even though you wouldn’t think the disparate styles would combine effectively. The combat is particularly flashy and engaging and that’s a good thing as the arena backgrounds are simplistic at best and you’re basically fighting in an empty coliseum. Audio is also good with solid Japanese voice work, though a couple of characters seemed a bit over the top. Sound effects and music are both excellent as well and while we didn’t get to spend as much time with it as we would have wanted, the overall soundtrack seemed very good.
Not only does Tribe Nine run well but the beta was entirely Steam Deck compatible, working like a charm with no issues in portable mode. Even a moderately decent computer can run the game and on an older I7 with a 1080Ti, Tribe Nine looked great in 1080p. Steam Deck controls were mapped well and while there were a couple of buttons that had incorrect labels, this is still a beta and that sort of thing will likely be fixed. The game plays just as well on an Xbox controller synced to the PC, so regardless of your chosen approach, expect the game to be responsive with a good interface when it releases.
It would have been great to spend a little more time with Tribe Nine but sadly it was not to be. What we saw so far has a lot of promise and depending on how thoroughly the microtransactions are embedded, this is looking to be a fun experience. As it stands, this is a game to look for when it finally releases to the public and not only is it fun but it’s well written too and runs smoothly on a variety of systems. There’s a lot to love here so hopefully the beta is a good sign that Tribe Nine is going to be worth your time, something we rarely say about free-to-play games (excluding Final Fantasy Brave Exvius).
This review was based on a closed beta of Tribe Nine provided by the publisher. It was played on a PC running an I7 with a 1080Ti graphics card and on the Steam Deck. Tribe Nine is a forthcoming PC exclusive at this time. Make sure to wishlist it on Steam!
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.