iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux •
It’s been a rather slow news week on the mobile front with the big releases still far in the distance and nothing new coming to light. Leave it to Asmodee Digital, keepers of the keys to the mobile board gaming vault, to break that silence and give me something to write about other than stuff that happened 70 years ago. A bunch of Asmodee news appeared this week — nothing so grand that I felt I should stop playing Factorio to mention it — so here it all is in one place.
Ascension
When I mention Ascension most of you probably think of those gurus of the mobile board game scene, Playdek. Sure, Playdek is still the developer doing what they do behind the curtain, but Asmodee is the big, green, glowing head yelling at all of us to go kill the witch play their games. Earlier in the week, Asmodee added a new Ascension expansion to their list of beta tests, Gift of the Elements. While getting a new expansion is always nice, the big story here is that the PC version of the game has been completely overhauled. How? I don’t know, as it’s only for PC and I’m typing this on my Mac, but our keen-eyed peanut gallery has chimed in and it sounds like the update is pretty decent thus far. Have a PC? Like Ascension? Go sign up for the beta and start playing with the new toys, making sure to give your input so they can polish this thing to a nice sheen before release.
To access their beta page, go to Asmodee Digital’s website and sign in using your Asmodee account. There will be a menu on the left and at the bottom is “Beta Tests”. Click that and you’re home free. If and when these changes might come to the mobile version of the app is still up in the air, but I’m sure it will happen at some point down the road.
Potion Explosion
The Asmodee betas just keep rolling off the assembly line. Today they announced a new expansion for the digital version of Potion Explosion is currently entering beta and you can sign up for it using the same method we detailed in the Ascension section.
"The 5th Ingredient", the new #PotionExplosion DLC is coming on #Android, #iOS and #Steam! Be the first to try it out on https://t.co/QbF3tInpW2 #Beta Tests section. #boardgame #boardgames #app #mobile #free https://t.co/QbF3tInpW2 pic.twitter.com/0ZdjSJ7F3S
— Twin Sails Interactive (@TwinSailsInt) May 4, 2018
The expansion is called The 5th Ingredient and stars a young Bruce Willis as a cab driver in the future. It’s really weird! Oh, wait, I’ve just been handed an update that says I’m wrong on that one. Nope, instead the expansion has to do with mixing more potions. That would make sense.
The Fifth Ingredient adds the titular ingredient which is a bit of a wildcard and can fill in for any missing ingredients you might have. The expansion also includes four new potion types and professors who will smack you with a ruler when you mess up. No word on when it might go live, but head to the Asmodee account sign up page and apply to join the beta if Potion Explosion is your thing.
Scythe: Digital Edition
Information about the digital version of Scythe has been coming at a relatively steady pace ever since Asmodee streamed the game live back in April. Yesterday, the developers, Knights of Unity, opened the floodgates and let us know what we can expect and when we can expect it.
Posted on the game’s Steam page, the developer listed exactly what we can expect over the next three months:
May update – Early Access launch
- The much-requested Undo button!
- More challenging AI (part 1)
- Tooltips turned on by default
- A wealth of bugfixes to make the game more enjoyable
- and more…
Early June update
- More challenging AI (part 2) + division of the AI into several difficult levels
- Faster AI animations
- Ammo replaced by Combat Cards
- Implementation of the Factory Cards artworks
- Option to disable the need to confirm actions
- Option to prevent the Industrial Rusviet combo
- Localization: Polish language (not a pun)
- Low priority bugfixes
- and more…
Early July update
- Update of the tutorial missions
- Touchpad support
- Combat context
- Support for gifts of coins
- Traditional progress tracks for Stars, Power and Popularity
- Camera behavior customization
- Current score preview
- Final score screen overhaul
- Stats available for local games
- Promo Cards unlocked by completing achievements
- and more…
Early August update
- Mac OS support
- Spectator mode
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Brightness, gamma and contrast settings
- and more…
I’m most excited to hear that a Mac release is in the works, but I did notice that nowhere does it mention the mobile release. We know it’s coming to mobile, but when? It might simply be that the mobile release wasn’t mentioned because this was on a Steam update, but we’re looking into it.
Other than that, we won’t have long to wait until it arrives on Early Access later this month (for PC).
The Ascension update also runs on Mac. I believe you’ll have to purchase the game for your account on a PC (or get a Steam key from Asmodee - I no longer have to generate them) and you can access the beta branch on your Mac.
The interface has been completely rebuilt in Unity (preserving the old rules, AI, and network code), with the goal of bringing the other platforms up to match the quality of the iOS version. PC will definitely see the biggest improvement.
Quick Ascension question:
Regarding the portal cards in promo pack 5, can they be any card from any set, of only any card in the sets currently being used in that game?
It’s any hero or construct from any set, regardless of whether that set is included in the game (or if you’ve purchased that set within the app). Promo card will only be chosen if you are playing with that promo set. And cards that require energy to activate will not be chosen if you aren’t playing with Rise of Vigil or Darkness Unleashed.
This can lead to some oddities, like Dreamscape cards that basically give you something very small because you don’t use insight or War of Shadow cards that only get good when you have day/night (which most games don’t).
And since you’re responding on this thread, @Strangiato, one thing that’s happened to the wife and I a lot I’d like to mention.
This is on iOS.
We play with Realms Unraveled, Portals (Promo Pack 5), and Promo Pack 3 (we like Miles).
Of course, the portals can give you Dreamscape cards, cards that both give you insight and also add cards to your Dreamscape.
On the rare occasion when you have insight and also have cards in a Dreamscape to buy with that insight, if try to buy a Dreamscape card, the game crashes. I’m assuming because you’re not actually using the Dreamscape expansion.
I haven’t tried that on Steam with the new client, so maybe it won’t be an issue. But it currently is on iOS.
Is that something that’s been reported before?
Nope, hasn’t been reported. I’ll see if we can reproduce the issue in the new client.
The new client is fantastic. And that’s from someone who is using Parallels to run it off of Steam onto a tiny MacBook.
I’ve only tried the AI so far. I’m not sure I need another ID/password right now. But, man, it looks great.
Thanks for your work and your communication @Strangiato!
Hi Folks, I’m from Germany and a long time reader of the good old PocketTactics.
I was very happy to see, that Ascension will now run on my Macbook. I assigned the Asmodee beta, bought the game on steam and can run it on my old PC. But unfortunately the Steam-Download on my Mac doesn’t work.
@Strangiato: any ideas?
Thanks for reading
Sorry, it looks like there was an issue with the Mac version unlocking properly for Steam users who purchased the game (since the previous version wasn’t available for Mac). I believe I’ve fixed this now, so please try to install on your Mac again and let me know if it works.
Hi Strangiato, everything works fine now! Client looks beautiful!
Thanks for your fast work and reply.