iOS, Android, PC/Mac •
For a bit it was looking as if Asmodee Digital was going to corner the entire digital board game market, pushing out more titles than anyone else could possibly manage. DIGIDICED doesn’t seem to be buying into that scenario, and has been just as active with releasing and announcing new board and card games for iOS, Android, and Steam. All but one of their titles, however, have been 2-player Uwe Rosenberg titles, so it’s hard to be surprised by any of their announcements unless, of course, they announce a non-Rosenberg, non-two-player game, which is what happened last night. Their next title will be Isle of Skye, and it’s coming in early 2018.
Isle of Skye won the Kennerspiel des Jahres award back in 2016, so you’d think I would have given it a try by now. I haven’t. In fact, the only thing I know about the game is that it looks a lot like Carcassonne, which is why I’ve steered clear. Carcassonne is a game I tolerate rather than enjoy. I’m probably being shortsighted. After all, Isle of Skye has whisky as a resource, so it’s got to be a little better. It also has variable scoring goals, depending on which tiles are revealed, so no two games will ever be quite the same.
#BoardGameApp news out of Essen…
⭐️⭐️⭐️#IsleOfSkye app coming from @digidiced!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can hardly wait! pic.twitter.com/Ey3IuEdN1l— SUZANNE (@425suzanne) October 30, 2017
I’ve heard nothing but good about Isle of Skye, so I’m excited to give it a go on my phone. Unfortunately, the only thing we know about it came from the all-knowing Suzanne Sheldon who seems to know everything before we do. She seems to know things before the publishers even know about them. HOW DOES SHE DO IT??? Ahem, sorry. All we know at this point is that it’s coming in Q1 of 2018. We can assume that it will have all the normal DIGIDICED flourishes, such as working online asynchronous play and decent AI, but we’ll ping DIGIDICED and see if we can nab any other information.
While you’re waiting, take a gander at Shut Up & Sit Down‘s overview/review of Isle of Skye and see if it’s something you should be getting excited about, too.
I have little but praise for Digidiced as they seem to be on board with what mobile gaming is actually capable of. My one complaint about their products is that I think their tutorials are generally very poor. I’d rather have a fairly comprehensive tutorial - with game steps in order and explained - than a half-baked narrative/tutorial hybrid.
I tried Isle of Skye once at 2p, and I found it okay, but assumed it would be better at higher play counts…
If we are taking this opportunity to provide our criticisms of Digidiced, it feels like it takes way to long to connect to their online server. Also, playing games with non-friends list people in Terra Mystica has resulted in half of the people in matches timing out every game. As always, I’ll point to the Playdek system with both an online lobby and friends invites as the paragon of multiplayer online.