It’s a late, late night version of our look into our gaming future this week. Sorry for the delayed post! I’d try to write something witty [and, undoubtedly fail-ed.], but I know it’s late and we should just get down to business. Onward, Players!
Armajet and Kenshi
My cheque to the Black estate must have cleared, for it is, finally, the weekend.
Drying out in the free-time bain-marie are a couple of items. Armajet, but of course, remains the go-to. Seriously, I’m even in a clan now. What’s that all about? It’s one thing not just to find an action multiplayer game that consistently draws me in, but another to find myself actually able to comfortably hold my own in this era of getting soundly beaten by the young and supple. This old dog has found his new trick. It’s very curious. Myself and an old buddy, our two-strong whirlwind of 2.5D death-from-above, we put our domination down to growing up with Jazz Jackrabbit. Your COD antics can’t outdance us, whippersnappers. That extra dimension means diddly.
The other? Kenshi. I’ll save a greater spiel for, say, an end of year list (don’t get caught for insider trading there, Statelies), but suffice to say, Lo-fi Games’ development for the ambitious post-apocalyptic sandbox was as long as the map is sprawling. It’s old-skool RPG sandbox fare; no hand-holding, because Kenshi has pruned both arms. But even saying it’s an RPG is kind of a misnomer in the modern sense. If anything, the most apt comparison is something like Egosoft’s X series. Sprawling bootstrap simulators, where the going is slow and tough and the universe there for the taking. I’ve started up a Skeleton droid character, deliberately hunched in the character creator to offer an air of decreptitude. One stress-fracture away from snapping in half. He is General Grievous’ wayward son, dumped in wastelands so desolate, even a Tantooine raider would second-guess their instinct for survival. And I’m looking forward to building a fort, employing a mob of end-time scalliwags, trading and not, you know, dying alone in a sandy vale.
Have a fine weekend.
-Alex Connolly
- Armajet for iOS Universal, free
- Armajet for Android, free
- Armajet for PC/Mac via Steam, free
- Kenshi for PC via Steam, $30
Dying Light, Glass Masquerade, and Tower of Time
I just picked up Dying Light with the intent of playing co-op with a friend. Man, that game is intense. A mysterious zombie plague has struck a city leading to a quarantine. You play as a special-forces type who has parachuted in on a mission and must not only do the deed, but avoid dying and, you know, being consumed. This is not a hack and slash and kill all the things game and fighting is often a very bad idea. You are, however, a parkour master, so that helps. I’ve only played a little so far, but I’m intrigued and can’t wait to try co-op.
Glass Masquerade is currently my go-to game for quick sessions on PC. It’s stained-glass window jig-saw puzzles are gorgeous and a lot of fun to assemble. Each one takes 5-10 minutes, which make them perfect to tackle one to three per sitting. I’m excited for Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions, which is coming January 25.
This weekend I’ll look to fire up Tower of Time, an RPG with pause and slow-time features during combat that let you script out your team’s actions. I just bought it today after staring at it on my Steam wishlist since it came out. I’ve resisted 20% and even 40% sales so far because I wasn’t sure I needed another RPG, but GOG had it for 70% off ($7.50) as part of their one-day deals section so I got off the fence in a hurry.
-Nick Vigdahl
- Dying Light: Enhanced Edition for PC, PS4, Xbox, $60
- Glass Masquerade for PC/Mac via Steam, $5
- Tower of Time for PC/Linux via Steam, $15
Farabel and A Mortician’s Tale
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of “level-down” (rather than level-up) game mechanics ever since Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP pulled it off so simply and elegantly. I’m just starting to get into Farabel, so I can’t yet say much about it’s “play backwards through time” premise, but that alone was enough to get me to pick it up.
Another game I’ve been following is Laundry Bear’s A Mortician’s Tale, inspired in part by real-life mortician and “death-positive” advocate Caitlin Doughty. Have you ever wanted to enbalm a cadaver? Deal with corporatization of the rest home industry? Get to know death and accept your own mortality? If so, this is your game. As Charlie Patton sang “you’re gonna need somebody when you come to die.
-Tof Eklund
- Farabel for iOS Universal, $3
- Farabel for Android, $1
- Farabel for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $10
- Farabel for PC/Mac/Linux via itch.io, $8
- A Mortician’s Tale for iOS Universal, $3
- A Mortician’s Tale for PC/Mac via Steam, $10
- A Mortician’s Tale for PC/Mac via Humble Store, $10
- A Mortician’s Tale for PC/Mac via itch.io, $9
Marvel’s Spider-Man, Rebel, Inc., Fireball Island, and My Little Pony RPG
This weekend, I will not be playing Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics, because I’ve finally written a new review and am moving on to other things. But my console time will likely involve my recent failure to resist the hype about Spider-Man, which I just started. Mostly, I was thinking I’ll be in a Spider-Person mode once Into the Spider-Verse comes out, because early reviews are good, the animation looks amazing, and I’ve been a Phil Lord fan since Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel.
I’ve barely begun Rebel, Inc. on iOS, and it’s very promising. I never got that into Plague, Inc., but the COIN aesthetic seems like it’s getting me over whatever stopped me. My kids have a three-day weekend, and I’ll be running the first game night for their school Monday night, so I’m thinking this might a good opportunity to break out an early Christmas present for the family so that we’ll know how to play the new Fireball Island by then. It has such wonderful table presence for kids that I imagine it would be perfect for the setting. There may well also be more forging of keys and more of the My Little Pony RPG, which was a big hit last weekend. Sadly, my daughter has a fever, so inviting over a friend to join the party seems unwise.
-Kelsey Rinella
- Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4, $60
- Rebel, Inc. for iOS Universal, $2
- Fireball Island for tabletop via Restoration Games, $75
- My Little Pony RPG for tabletop via River Horse, $20
Dying Light is lots of fun, one of those games when you play it a fair bit, and upgrade your abilities a little, you realise you’re in a big playpit full of zombies with climbing frames everywhere. It may not have the purity of finding your parkour line like Mirror’s Edge, but it has most of that traversal plus an open world, zombies, and slo-mo first-person hack and slash and clubbery.
I can’t believe you’re being so insensitive as to play Rebel, Inc. I may be weeping but you don’t care, you only care about your counter-insurgency.
I will be polishing off the last of Sniper Elite 4, exploring Hitman 2 from stem to stern (or from ‘accident’ to garrotting if you like), am finally back on track with the Phoenix Wright series on my 2DS, and I have Dropmix to start on, Terraforming Mars (Prelude and Colonies), Songbirds, Gen7, and perhaps Betrayal Legacy on the table.
I have tried and tried to get into Kenshi, but I just can’t. Maybe someday I’ll fire it up and it’ll just click with me. Instead I’ll be doing a little Command Ops and probably taking that new, free Subnautica out for a spin.
Oh, and also Doom. Like, the original.
Smash. Smash. Smash.
@halfvoid mentioned Space Grunts earlier today in another thread, I’m digging it out of my backlog to put at the top of my list to try this weekend. I hope to make progress on giving some other ones in my iOS backlog a look this weekend, as well.
I suspect Legend of Solgard and Horus Heresy: Legions will face a decision at the end of the weekend as to whether I invest more time in them going forward. They are both enjoyable iOS games, but there are so many good games competing with them for time. I do enjoy the matching gameplay of Solgard, but the game that surrounds it doesn’t feel like the best fit for me, at least at the level I’m at. I appreciate all the modes that Solgard provides, but the cooldown timers I’m finding to be disruptive to my enjoyment. I do love the WH40K flavor in HHL, not sure I’m feeling a digital card game in my regular rotation right now.
Man, I love Space Grunts. Wish it had made the jump to Vita like some of the other dev’s work, because it’d just sing with physical controls. Have double-dipped and made do on iOS and Steam, but still. A man can dream.
I totally get that Kenshi-flavoured wall. I’ve restarted countless times, and it feels like pushing shit uphill just to get the ball rolling. Mods help, especially ones that don’t have you start in the poor house.
I’m 3/5 finished on brutal in rebel inc. I’ve got a feeling the 4th and 5th map are going to be particularly difficult. The game certainly peaked in normal mode where you’re learning the tech tree and how it reacts with the simulation. Finding an optimal path in brutal is a very welcome second peak, even if it doesn’t capture the imagination quite so much.
Ive got a couple of games of tta on the go with geographically local players who happen to be significantly higher level than me. I won the first game with some all in relentless napoleoning and I’ve got a solid Shakespeare going in the second. However I keep expecting the hammer to fall, I can’t believe my luck. One player has more games currently active than I’ve ever played, and another player is a Hardco esque all round threat in all the other games we’ve played at the table.
I’ve barely scratched the surface in star traders: frontiers. The main storyline instantly had my interest with its legal and political machinations between great houses. I also greatly appreciate that I don’t seem to have to get involved if I don’t want to. I’m given a 6 year timer where I strongly expect the story will resolve either if I’m there and involved, or a might come back from exploring to find the galaxy on fire. Can’t wait to find out
My Switch arrived. So Zelda BOTW and Mario Kart 8 pour moi
Edit. And a new set arrived in Eternal with lots of new keywords. So that wil certainly get some well deserved attention too
At one point in the beta I tried to talk the dev into releasing a mini game where you just dodged attacks, killed enemies, and navigated around fire in a small one screen map. Sort of like a turn based devil daggers.
I still want that game.
Enjoy BotW! Amazing game!
Dare I say that I am still playing Marvel Strike Force? Pure F2P, currently have a defenders team with 195k power. Been pretty amazing to play high tiers of a F2P game
I’ve rediscovered my love for Onirim.
Been playing a ton of it this weekend.
As well as Talisman on Steam.
I guess I’m on a nostalgia kick
@Baelnor I have a daily dip into Age Of Magic which has the same basic gameplay system/structure as Marvel Strike Force. @JammaTal tells me that they are both based on an earlier Star Wars (I think) game. Pretty good for FTP as the sense of progression, collection and learning is well done. The battle tactics deepen.
I don’t know much about Strike Force but a Defenders team of 195k seems astonishing. Strike Force (unlike Age of Magic) really keeps pushing the “pay unreasonably for a booster package” offers but I guess you just click through them as a reflex.
To balance that I will add to the good experiences with Teotihuacan City Of The Gods. I really enjoyed my first game and there is a strong pull for repeated plays. One that I haven’t played but definitely want to try - sparked by the reliably informative review by @whovian223 - is Architects of the West Kingdom. Otherwise the board games have mostly been some light new ones such as Tales Of Glory and some old favourites such as Notre Dame & Terraforming Mars (I have got to the stage of having a good instinct for which cards to keep - and no more taking an expensive one early because it just so good and then never playing it).
/cries
I have had such a laser focus on one team, dedicated farming, and it has unlocked heaps (they have amazing synergy too).
I almost can’t use energy to improve it any further. It has taken a solid 4 months