David Neumann

Pocket Tactics is wondering what we’re thinking, let’s help them out

July 11, 2017 David Neumann 5

If you haven’t read my Antihero piece from earlier today, you might have missed my descent into warm fuzzies for the good old days. I wasn’t sure what had caused me to slip into darkness until it dawned on me that I received a missive from my counterpart at our old digs, Pocket Tactics. Why would that send me into a state of depression? Well, it’s been just over a year now since I picked up my ball and went home and, yes, there are days I miss it. I love it over here at Stately Play, don’t get me wrong, but getting paid didn’t suck.

Antihero finds its way to PC/Mac

July 11, 2017 David Neumann 5

PC/Mac, (mobile coming later this year) • When I heard that Antihero had been released for PC and Mac it conjured up feelings of excitement for finally getting to see what the fuss was all about, and then sadness because all that fuss was generated by Owen way back when. In 2014, Owen was so excited about the promise that the first Antihero trailer made, I feared his head would explode and we’d be picking up bit of skull from all corners of Mt. Hexmap for weeks to come. Now it’s 2017 and things have changed, Owen is AWOL, and Mt. Hexmap is under new management. Why am I being so damn maudlin? Antihero is out, and so far it’s exactly what Owen would have hoped for.

Prison Architect just crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side

July 7, 2017 David Neumann 3

iPad, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • When Prison Architect landed on our tablets earlier this year, it was a big deal. It not only marked another major PC title making its way to mobile, but it was also published by Paradox as part of their new focus on mobile gaming. We never got around to writing a review for Prison Architect here, mainly because it’s too damn big and I just never felt like I got deep enough to have an opinion that’s worth a damn [as opposed to your other opinions? Okay… -ed.]. The parts I did play seemed pretty polished and right in line with what I was familiar with from the desktop version. Apparently, however, the game had more bugs than an entomologist’s fever dream. Version 2.0 was just released and, judging by the patch notes, all the bugs have received a death sentence.

Hearthstone expanding again, but this time I’m kind of interested

July 7, 2017 David Neumann 9

iOS, Android, PC/Mac • It’s no secret that Hearthstone has lost its luster since its glory days back in 2014/2015. I’m only speaking for myself, of course, as I know there are still millions of players who play and love it. It just got big enough that I lost track of what the hell was going on, kind of like life. It seemed easier to ditch the game than try to learn the new cards and metas and, surprise, I’m the kind of guy who usually takes the easier path. Today, however, Blizzard announced the next expansion for Hearthstone and it might just be what was needed to drag me back in.

Onirim expands the dreamscape in latest update

July 5, 2017 David Neumann 3

iOS Universal, Android • In a year filled with fantastic digital card games and solo time-wasters, Onirim stands out as one of our favorites. Its mix of quick, simple card play and a difficulty that seems just hard enough to keep you coming back for more is the peanut butter + chocolate combo we didn’t know we needed on our phones. Asmodee has been awfully generous with Onirim since its release, with it often going on sale for the price of a glass of tap water, but they also previously released a free expansion that added new glyphs and more doors (The Glyphs). Today another expansion arrived for Onirim (albeit not free), Crossroads and Dead Ends, and where The Glyphs made the game a bit easier, this one does not.

News cornucopia, aka all the crap we missed last week because we’re lazy bastards

July 3, 2017 David Neumann 2

iOS, Android, PC/Mac • Summer is a huge pain in the ass. Instead of talking to developers and actually playing games, I’m spending my days going to amusement parks and museums “building memories” with my kids. Gross, right? The worst part is that a small part of me is actually kind of enjoying it. Fear not, it’s only a matter of time before they ask me for money and the warm fuzzies quickly dissipate. The worst part of all this involves Stately Play getting the short end of the stick. A bunch of stuff happened last week that I didn’t get a chance to talk about simply due to time constraints. Considering that this week is probably going to be worse–tomorrow is a holiday here in the US, and I won’t be around to post–I figured a quick news dump was in order. Let’s start with our old friend, Solitairica.

When it comes to Slitherine titles, iOS 11 truly is an App-ocalypse

June 30, 2017 David Neumann 20

I was wandering over at the old digs yesterday and stumbled on an interesting comment at the end of their review of the Slitherine-published, Carrier Deck. It concerns the upcoming transition to 64-bit-only apps that we’ll see in iOS 11 and the many, many Slitherine titles many of us own. The news ain’t good, folks.

First look at upcoming Commands & Colors: Ancients

June 28, 2017 David Neumann 0

iOS, PC/Mac • The Commands & Colors series already has its share of digital versions available on Steam or the App Store. Memoir ’44 was pushed out as a free-to-play PC game well before Days of Wonder clambered under Asmodee‘s umbrella, Fantasy Flight published a take on BattleLore for tablets only a couple years ago, and, last year, HexWar launched the World War I title, The Great War, on both Steam and iPad. That’s all well and good, but we’ve been told for eons that GMT Games was bringing the ultra-blocky Commands & Colors: Ancients to the digital realm and, thus far, have nothing to show for it. This month’s GMT Update changes that, giving us our first look at HexWar’s take on the venerable C&C entry.

You asked for it, Age of Rivals has gone offline

June 28, 2017 David Neumann 3

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac • When Age of Rivals launched for iOS last week, I’m not sure anyone saw just how damn good it was going to be. Sure, I’d played it on my laptop a bit, but it took a tablet version for me to really start digging into it and realizing that the design is brilliant. Even more surprising is the lack of complaints from other users. Not to say gamers can be a picky lot, but there’s always something that the dev didn’t do right. The only complaint I’ve heard about Age of Rivals is that it requires an online connection, even when you’re playing the AI. In what might be the quickest response to a complaint by a developer ever, the always-online component is now history.

Missile Cards launches on iOS

June 28, 2017 David Neumann 0

iOS Universal, PC • We’ve talked about it, we’ve reviewed it, and today’s the day it finally arrived on the App Store. We’re talking about Missile Cards, which landed on the App Store last night and joined a handful of other card games that are trying their best to make 2017 the best year ever for mobile gaming.