Sorry this is coming at such a strange time, but I’m still all discombobulated and I’m traveling with the family for a short, lake-filled weekend. Still, everyone was eager to share what gems we were planning on dissecting this weekend, so I wanted to get this posted regardless of what time or day I finally managed to find a WiFi connection. Without further ado, let’s check in with the brilliant brains that make SP what it is. By the way, my internet connection sucks, so be warned that this version of scrying might be missing some links.
Pocket Run Pool
There’s not much time for gaming this weekend for me, which means most of my play will be in games I can pick up and play for a half hour here and there. I would probably play more Pocket-Run Pool, but I’m starting to think that it makes me a little too angry. I’ve picked up Gage’s last game, Flipflop Solitaire, to replace it for the time being, and Cinco Paus has also recently drawn me back in. Failure in those games is less infuriating than scratching on a break or losing because a ball stopped just short of a pocket, y’know?
I’ve also been working my way through Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition on Switch. I know Warriors games are a bit of an acquired taste, but sometimes you just want to mow down thousands of Moblins and not think too hard about things. The amount of #content in that game is frankly staggering. There are 29 characters that all play differently and level independently, and hundreds of individual challenges in the weird optimization puzzle Adventure mode. It’s nice to have a game I know I can pick up whenever I have twenty minutes to spare and can make some progress.
-Tanner Hendrickson
- Pocket Run Pool for iOS Universal, free
- FlipFlop Solitaire for iOS Universal, free
- Cinco Paus for iOS Universal, $5
- Cinco Paus for PC/Mac, $5
- Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition for Switch, $60
BattleTech
It’s been a month since my last scrying post, and in that time I’ve been playing a lot of Battletech. Still am, and I’ll have a Johnny-come-lately review for you soon. There are more finely honed and carefully balanced mech games out there, but Battletech nails the feel of the original FASA’s tabletop games (Battletech and Mechwarrior), and the balkanized, unstable, and multilateral Succession Wars setting feels prescient now, much more credible than the us vs them Cold War mentality of a lot of American games from the 80s.
I should be playing One Deck Dungeon, but a lack of hobby pocket money has left me playing Sentinels of the Multiverse again instead. It’s a damn good port of a damn fine game… though it is a bit of a mystery to me how Sentinels ever survived as a tabletop game with it’s extremely complicated set of interactions between cards. Handelabra does amazing work, and I expect to love One Deck Dungeon just as much as Sentinels… as soon as I budget the time and money for the experience.
Meanwhile, my fam is getting back into Super Mario Odyssey, now that we’ve built all the Labo sets and played out Kirby Star Allies. Nintendo’s still got it when it comes to family games, and the prospect of a proper Fire Emblem game for the Switch is enough to get my blood pumping. Dare I hope for a new (turn-based) Super Robot Taisen game?
-Tof Eklund
- BattleTech for PC via Steam, $40
- One Deck Dungeon for iPad, $10
- One Deck Dungeon for Android Tablet, $10
- One Deck Dungeon for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $10
- Sentinels of the Multiverse for iOS Universal, $7
- Sentinels of the Multiverse for Android, $7
- Sentinels of the Multiverse for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $10
- Super Mario Odyssey for Switch, $60
Brain Dead Stupor
I will be overseeing the birthday party of my twin eight-year-old boys populated by a herd of other eight-year olds, in-laws, and other family at my house (not my idea). Once that’s over I’ll very likely fall into a brain-dead stupor.
-Nick Vigdahl
Overwatch
Overwatch on PS4. I can’t explain it, really. I mean, I love the art and design work, but I’m just so terrible at the game that, even with a massive player base and mature matchmaking algorithm, they can’t put me in games with other players nearly as bad as me. I liked it at launch, but then set it aside once I felt like I’d gotten as good as I was going to get. I would be playing the relaxing puzzler Scalak on iOS, to which I am grateful to Martin Grider for directing me, but I couldn’t stop playing yesterday and finished it already. So it’s back to the classics.
-Kelsey Rinella
- Overwatch for PC, $20 (you can also get for Xbox and PS4, but my internet sucks and I can’t get the links right now)
- Scalak for iOS Universal, $2
- Scalak for PC via Steam, $2
PC/Mac - Overwatch, collecting loot boxes for the Anniversary. I am also very bad @rinelk, but it sounds not quite as bad as you. I consider myself on the good side of Bronze. Also, I have no idea what the console version is like. But if it ever comes on Switch, I might consider it.
Also, 3rd character for Slay the Spire is out this week. Fun so far.
iPad - Star Realms per usual. My gatchas right now are still FFBE and Marvel Strike Force. I also have a new love for Shop Heroes
iPhone - My quick waiting for my wife and daughter (or standing in line) handheld game of the moment is MineSweeper Genius. It’s ok. Not quite what I was hoping it would be, but it’s tough at times, so I appreciate the challenge.
I’ve been in a rut where I can’t really decide what to play and when I do try and give a game some time, I just doesn’t stick. I’m eagerly awaiting Jurassic Park Evolution in a few weeks so I probably won’t commit to much until then…although all this Overwatch talk is making me consider firing it back up. I’m a sucker for hero-based games. Insert Roadhog laugh
Welcome…to the Apocalypse.
The new app version of Carc is fucking shit. I’m playing it anyway because I have someone who I always play it with, but it is a disappointment on every level. More difficult to play, worse visuals, a real battery drain, and plenty of options aimed at quick 15 minute games between randos and nothing for long-established opponents.
That aside, it’s been Terraforming Mars, Underpants of the Tyradark, Into the Breach, High Society (new edition is gorgeous), and Codeword Cromwell.
Thank god I’m on iOS and never deleting the app I have
Switch - June 5 I’m buying BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle for Switch, that should help me get through the time to Smash on Switch. FE:Warriors Pokken, and Cave Story+ have been holding me over.
XB1: I was playing PoE, but it gets old…fast. So I jumped over to D3 only to find out that no XBLive means no season characters. So I jumped onto MHWorld some more…but it seems to lack the charm of the 3DS MonHun’s. The Hunting Horns all sound the same.
iOS: My current Gacha is SW:GoH. I can’t seem to get into MSF even though I like some of the mechanics a whole lot more. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, Exiled Kingdoms, and Space Harvester 2 were my goto’s on my vacation. That and some VainGlory. I’m starting to sketch in an ARPG since they’re all disappointing on iOS on some level (and on console) - so Pythonista for sketching in the code and getting something playable. I’m also debating Among the Stars or One Deck Dungeon for my next purchase.
Android, I assume?
Yup. Would never have moved to the new app voluntarily but the old stopped working.
Finished Nier:Automata last weekend. I can understand why it made Game of the Year 2017 on many many players list.
It is one hell of a genre mix, and usually way to fast-paced for me old penguin’s liking but I loved every minute of it. And I even did 25 of 26 endings (ok 20 are joke endings, one is an uber-secret boss fight (this is the one I didn’t do, and 5 endings are the real deal). Took me 62 hours altogether (36 for the first ending, 13 for the second ending, 11 hours for ending 3-5, rest for the joke endings)
Now horay for the rest of my existence for being socially and emotionally scarred for life…
The game narrative doesn’t pull any punches. And all of them go for the weak spots…Noggin, Gut and Heart