The second entry in the Ogre Battle series, the story takes place in the war-torn kingdom of Valeria, where protagonist Denim Powell works in a local resistance force against occupying powers, ending up caught in the ethnic conflicts driving the war.

Battles are turn-based, taking place on grid-based maps from an overhead perspective with a focus on positioning and using character class abilities.

Production lasted two and a half years, with Ogre Battle creator Yasumi Matsuno acting as director, writer and lead designer.

The storyline was inspired by conflicts in Europe and Asia, based heavily in personal and political drama over the fantasy-themed narrative of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen.

[5][6] Beginning the game, the player is asked to input the lead character's name, birthday, and answer a series of questions determining their alignment and statistics.

[3][4] Battles and all actions within take place on a small map viewed from an overhead diagonal perspective, with spaces and level geography appearing as a square grid structure.

[6][8] A key element to progress is branching story paths, labelled as "Law", "Neutral" and "Chaos", built around the lead character either accepting or rejecting the commands of authority figures.

After Dolgare's apparent death with no direct heirs, the three primary ethnic groups of Valeria end up in a brief civil war, dividing into dedicated territories of varying sizes.

After Galgastan gains the upper hand and declares itself ruler of Valeria, the neighbouring Walista are subjected to persecution and restricted to a small island.

[3][4] The story opens with a small Walsta resistance group−Denim Powell, his sister Kachua, and his childhood friend Vice Bozek−attack a group of roaming Zenobian mercenaries falsely believing their leader Lans Hamilton is the Black Knight Lans Tartare, a Lodis soldier who imprisoned Denim and Kachua's father Plancy in their childhood.

By this point, the revelations regarding their bloodline and the constant danger for Denim strain his relationship with Kachua, leading her to briefly join Tartare's forces.

Survivors of Tartare's Dark Knights use the stolen Zenobian sword Brunhild to break the seal on a portal leading to the realm of Asmodeus, attempting to use its power to repel Denim's forces but are instead killed.

It is revealed that Dolgare, overcome with despair over the death of his wife, made a pact with Asmodeus in an attempt to resurrect her and became an Ogre, one of humanity's ancient enemies.

Vice's fate varies depending on the route, either surviving as Kachua's ally, dying after killing Ronway, or being executed by Bacrum-Valeria to protect Branta Mown.

He wanted people to be immersed in a foreign setting, basing the world's history on the Middle Ages and its population and society on the Roman Empire.

[12] The scene between Hamilton and Tartare was written to convey the game's narrative themes of asking the meaning of justice and the reason people fight.

[21] He was also inspired by major events of his life in Europe including the fall of the Berlin Wall, which were beginning to see regular broadcast on Japanese television.

[19] Kachua's emotional instability and obsession with Denim was designed to contrast starkly against many fantasy heroines of the time, being compared to the later-common "tsundere" and "yandere" anime archetypes.

[21] Matsuno originally planned for more divergence in the story paths, but memory limitations meant these and other systems relating to unit loyalty were trimmed down.

A cheat was included in the final game to show it through the Warren Report screen, but Matsuno lost the memo describing it and was only found by fans in 2014 through data mining.

[31] Tactics Ogre was released in Japan on October 6, 1995, eighteen months after its initial announcement due to Matsuno wanting further polish in the character animations.

[7] Promotional items were made available on the game's release, such as metal figures of some key characters, as well as stickers for the Sega Saturn Backup Memory cartridge.

[47] The Super Famicom original was never released outside Japan, a fact attributed to the console's waning lifespan, its complexity in narrative and mechanics, and a lack of interest from Western players.

[6] Jeremy Tan of RPGFan was also fairly positive about the narrative due to its tone and variation,[59] and magazine PlayStation Extreme lauded it as better than that of Tactics.

[56] The PlayStation version was faulted by Western reviewers for technical issues including frame rate drops, loading times and bugs.

[62] In March 2006, the Japanese Famitsu magazine readers voted on their 100 all-time favorite games, and Tactics Ogre was named number seven.

[66] In 2017, IGN placed Tactics Ogre as the 20th best RPG of all time, citing the mature themes, and multiple story paths and endings.

[75][76] Banri Oda, a lead scenario writer for Final Fantasy XIV, cited Tactics Ogre as a direct influence on his storytelling for the expansion Shadowbringers.

[20][78][79] Minagawa would reassemble most of the original staff, including Matsuno, for a PlayStation Portable remake of Tactics Ogre, released in 2010 in Japan and 2011 in the West.

Released under its original title in the West and with the subtitle Wheel of Fortune in Japan, it received an expanded narrative, redesigned gameplay, artistic changes, graphical upgrades, and a new localization.