One of Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle’s new modes is a somewhat ambitious one that celebrates the cast of characters across the series – Territory Recovery Mode. This particular mode is interesting in that you essentially make your own campaign in order to retake Wall Maria, and perhaps whatever lies beyond that as well.
Make no mistake – this is what Koei Tecmo has included as additional endgame content, especially for those who have spent the time to master the content available before the Upgrade Pack. As I found out personally, starting off with this mode is not ideal, because the weapons and gear upgrade system is shared between this and Story Mode, meaning that everything – and I mean everything – is locked. Fortunately, there is also the Wings of Freedom currency that allowed me to unlock things early, but that meant that I was sacrificing a balanced difficulty Story Mode playthrough. It’s a bummer that you have to make this choice, so I recommend finishing Story Mode and unlocking everything before you do this one.
In Territory Recovery, you are tasked with taking back the land beyond Wall Rose via expeditions out of a newly established regimental base. As the base is freshly built, I was essentially gifted the plot of land and was asked to build it up using supplies found from expeditions and defeating Titans. Outside the base, the goal is to recapture new strategic points within the number of turns available (a turn is spent going between each point on the dotted lines).
As with these sorts of modes, the fun comes from watching as the area you get to explore, as well as your base, expand and open up. The game really makes you feel like a commander by letting you recruit new characters by completing missions with them on the field and filling their Invitation Point meter, and I was enamored by creating custom teams of characters who never got the chance to work together in the original work, thanks to them dying off early or betraying the main group. Characters can also build up support with each other, and you also need to manage their condition, including fatigue and injuries, so while early on the going is tough, the mode progressively gets more interesting in how you choose to deploy your troops and assign them in positions across your base.
It’s honestly a fun feedback loop, only hampered by a somewhat slow start before the ball gets rolling. But for people who’ve played through the original Attack on Titan 2, I can imagine that this endgame content will keep you playing for many hours more.
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Those with the original Attack on Titan 2 can purchase it as an upgrade, and it is also available as a standalone purchase featuring all three seasons in one package. You can read about our playtest of Character Episode Mode here.
