PC – Page 18 – Stately Play

Short Cut: Heat Signature

January 17, 2018 Nick Vigdahl 3

PC • You are a mercenary in the deep recesses of space. You take difficult, dangerous, and often downright foolhardy jobs in exchange for that most generic of space currency: credits. You infiltrate unfriendly spacecraft, sometimes leaving with something or someone. Sometimes you leave somebody (or a whole lot of somebodies) dead in your wake. You equip yourself with the best weapons and technology that latinum can buy. These are the tools of your trade, your toys. Using your guns, gear, and skill you make daring and improbable moves to get the job done. Malcom Reynolds, Star Lord, and 007 wish they were you.

Looking for strange? Pit People has you covered

January 16, 2018 Nick Vigdahl 0

PC • Bipedal cupcakes and mushrooms, spiders with knee-length socks, and rainbow-colored unicorns…sounds like a fantasy zoo straight out of the mind of Lewis Carroll or Dr. Seuss doesn’t it? These are just some of the many odd creatures that populate the fantastically bizarre, apocalyptic world of Pit People. Pit People is a strategy role-playing game that features tactical turn-based combat and a heaping portion of humor. It’s been incubating in Steam Early Access for a little over a year and is getting close to breaking free of the beta stage, so I figured now was a great time to give it a go.

Do you wanna build a spaceship? Cosmoteer thinks you do

January 12, 2018 Nick Vigdahl 0

PC (now), Mac/Linux (when it reaches Steam) • Did you play with Legos as a kid? Did you build elaborate spacecraft and make them fly around and fight each other? Do you have Legos around now, you know, for “your kids?” If you answer “yes” to those questions (as I do), have I got a game for you.

Slay the Spire has become my latest obsession

January 11, 2018 David Neumann 31

PC/Mac/Linux • I still haven’t figured out how to use Steam. I mean, I play games on Steam quite a bit, but scanning the store for new arrivals and Early Access gems isn’t something I’ve acquired a skill for. As such, I have to wait until I see someone tweet or post about a Steam title before I’m aware it exists. Slay the Spire is a recent example. I’ve been playing the Early Access version for a couple days, thinking I stumbled onto something special, only to find that it’s been available for 2 months now and we’re the only damn site that hasn’t written up something about it. So, just ignore the fact that Slay the Spire isn’t a brand new release and play along.

Harry Dresden and his card game have apparated onto mobile

January 9, 2018 David Neumann 12

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Harry Dresden is the other wizard named Harry who didn’t go to Hogwarts and doesn’t have a lightning scar on his forehead. I just wanted to let you know that I know the difference between Harry Dresden and Harry Potter before anyone gets angry that I mixed up the two worlds in the headline. I may be a muggle, but I’m an informed muggle. The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game landed on Steam back in November, and Nick quite liked it as did I when I finally gave it a go. All you mobile gamers out there can now join in on the fun, as it arrived for both iOS and Android devices Sunday. [yeah, it launched on a Sunday -ed.]

Antihero lands on mobile and it’s pretty damn great

January 3, 2018 David Neumann 7

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac • We looked at the Steam version of original board game, Antihero, last year and kind of loved it. We knew it was coming to mobile at some point down the road, but yesterday it just showed up on the App Store without any warning. Did we do something wrong to not get a press release? Does Versus Evil hate us? Probably, but I like to think they were just releasing it all stealthy. You know, like a thief in the night. Because it’s a game about thieves. Yeah, you’re right, they probably just hate us.

Review: Civilization VI

January 3, 2018 David Neumann 29

iPad, PC/Mac/Linux • My kids had nearly two weeks off school for the holiday break, which usually translates to some of my worst headaches of the year. Not only are the kids home, but they’re hopped up on gingerbread and peppermint not to mention the entitlement that comes along with being told they’re “good” based solely on presents received from a mystical fat guy. This year was a little different. First of all, two of my kids have seen the light in regards to Santa, so they know those Xbox games came directly from their already meager inheritance rather than an elvish sweat shop. Secondly, I managed to be good enough that Santa brought me a new iPad Pro [speaking of entitlement -ed.], so I spent these last two weeks breaking it in with marathon sessions of Civilization VI.

Yes, that’s the real Civilization VI on the App Store

December 22, 2017 David Neumann 63

iPad, PC/Mac/Linux • Yesterday saw one of the biggest surprise releases to ever land on the App Store, Civilization VI. Yes, THAT Civilization VI. The one with Sid Meier in the title and Boromir doing the voice-overs. The one that takes days to finish a game, with full tech trees, barbarians, city states, and enough different Civs to fill a tiny UN. It’s the real deal, with a real price, and it’s on the App Store.

Terra Mystica playing with Fire & Ice over the holiday break

December 19, 2017 David Neumann 3

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Digidiced‘s digital version of Terra Mystica brought one of the heaviest and most complex board game titles to our tablets earlier this year and, for the most part, did so successfully. I say “for the most part” because the digital version didn’t alleviate any of the game’s complexity, which is usually something you expect when the CPU is handling the rules and fiddly bits. I’m not saying they didn’t create a good port–I’m not sure how they could have fit everything TM has to offer in any other fashion–but it’s a daunting game to play and even those of us who have played the tabletop version need to dedicate our full attention to follow just what the hell is going on. It’s worth the effort, however, as TM is a pretty great euro game once you wrap your head around it. It gets even better when you add the Fire & Ice expansion which is currently being worked on in the Digidiced labs. Luckily, they need our help to iron out the bugs, so we’ll have a chance to try it out for ourselves over the holidays when it becomes available for owners of the TM app as part of an open beta.

Gorogoa is so beautiful it almost stopped me from throwing my iPad across the room

December 15, 2017 David Neumann 7

iOS Universal, PC, Switch • Every now and then you’ll see a screenshot for a game and realize you need to buy it even without knowing what the hell the game is about. I do this with board games all the time, and have shelves of games with gorgeous art that I never play because they’re dull as sin or just not something I could ever introduce to my game group. Gorogoa was released earlier this week and the screenshots are incredible–even the icon is cool as hell–so I immediately jumped on it. Would Gorogoa sit on a virtual shelf, unplayed, or would the gameplay match the visuals?