PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch • It’s time to stop pushing Dogfight into that old BBC Micro. Care of Infinite State Games, those scalliwags behind Don’t Die Mr Robot and Fruitorius, Rogue Aces is hitting Switch, PS4 and Vita on April 12th. Let David Caruso and The Who take you to the next level, from Achtung! Spitfire to Ack-fun Spi-…just read on.
iOS Universal, Android • Onirim was one of our favorite solo time-wasters last year which was impressive for two reasons. First, it was a really good year for games and, secondly, what the hell is Onirim? It wasn’t one of Asmodee Digital‘s highly touted releases and just kind of showed up one day in its nearly perfect form. Since its release Onirim only got better, adding new expansions and going free to download with no pesky F2P shenanigans on the side. It’s been awhile since we’ve heard any news on the Onirim front, however. Yesterday Asmodee let everyone know that updates are on the way. Not only that, but they’re looking for testers to help get the updates out the door.
PC/Mac/Linux • Remember when Kurt Russell dipped that hot wire into everyone’s blood sample in The Thing and Palmer’s blood squeals and jumps out of the petrie dish? That was pretty great. Okay, so that has nothing to do with Flash Point: Fire Rescue but I was trying to remember anything about Backdraft for my intro and couldn’t, so I went to the first Kurt Russell movie I could think of instead. How different can movies be when the main character is Kurt Russell’s hair? Anyway, the cooperative board game Flash Point: Fire Rescue is now available on Steam. Or something. Sorry, I’m still thinking about Kurt’s curly locks.
PC, Android, Coming soon to iOS/Mac • The best thing that’s happened since we pulled this old lemon off the lot back in 2016 is the growth of our forums. Oh, haven’t been there? You’re missing out on the best part of the site. First of all, you don’t have to read my junk over there and, secondly, all the Stately Players [goddammit, I’m on vacation -ed.] are way smarter than me and have insights that the tiny bit of brain still present in my skull couldn’t even begin to ponder on my own. Seriously, head over there, the link is right up above this post. You can’t miss it. Why am I talking up the forums? Because this story came straight from our forums which are way better at tracking this stuff down than I have ever been. It involves a dungeon crawling card game, a genre we love around these parts, called Card Quest. It’s been available for PC on Steam for a bit, but has now released for Android with a Mac/iOS version coming…soon.
PC • Radvaĭ se, Vauxhall Viva fans and the confraternity of the Nissan Cedric Special! MinskWorks‘ Jalopy has left the detritus-strewn garage of Early Access and is now travelling the Eastern Bloc highways of a one-point-zero release! Put the State in your Stately Play car game of 2018. Read on!
iOS Universal, Android • Warhammer Quest 2 had a bit of a rough release on iOS with many Stately Players [it’s too early, don’t start -ed.] complaining that the sequel lacked the original‘s tension and difficulty mainly due to a lack of random encounters. Perchang was on top of it, however, and released an expansion as well as updated the game to include, you guessed it, random dungeon encounters. Suddenly our forums were full of happy stories detailing the latest TPK at the hands of some random beastie and all was good again. Or was it? Turns out Android users still weren’t able to play and were crying in their Oreos. Or is it Marshmallows? Or Honeycombs? I can’t keep up. Good news, Android users! Perchang has announced that the Android version of Warhammer Quest 2 will be arriving on Google Play this April.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • If there’s one thing I’ve learned after doing this at 164, Owen’s old site, and here at Stately Play, it’s that big news will always drop when I’m unable to reach a keyboard. I’ve been behind the wheel of a 13 year-old minivan the last few days, so getting new news up on the site has been…challenging. Luckily, Kelsey filled in and wrote something I can only describe as “don’t miss”. Still, I failed Czech Games and my favorite title of 2017 by missing the launch of Through the Ages on Steam. So, here goes: If you haven’t heard, Through the Ages is now on Steam!
Well, what do you know, miracles can happen. Imperial is one of the first board game apps to land on the iPad way back in 2011 or so, and it was not well received by the general public. Much of this was due to the opacity of Mac Gerdt’s original design which has the feel of 18xx, but looks like a Dudes On A Map game, but it was also because the app was, how to say this nicely, not polished. Graphically, it resembled something cobbled together using scans from the cardboard version and pieces created in Microsoft Paint, but under the hood it was a rocket ship. The AI was stellar and the app included all the advanced variants, something even the big publishers don’t always pull off today. Problem is, the app hadn’t seen any love from its developer since 2013 and when iOS 11 rolled into town, Imperial finally left its spot on the home page of my iPad. I’m happy to announce that, yesterday, I was able to reinstall it thanks to a surprise patch that updated it to 64-bits.
Rise and Fall available for PC/Mac/Linux • iPad version available w/o Rise & Fall expansion • Mac gamers are used to being disappointed when it comes to new games not making their way to our preferred platform. I know, it’s my own damn fault for expecting my MacBook Pro to compete with a Windows machine but, dammit, I so much prefer my Mac for doing what I’m doing right now, namely writing. So, without the resources to have both, I’m saddled with a Mac for gaming. I’m still waiting for Divinity: Original Sin 2 to come to Mac (I kickstarted it not realizing it was going to be Windows only) and have been waiting patiently for Aspyr to bring the first Civ VI expansion–which arrived on Windows in early February–to Mac. Today, I was totally surprised when I loaded up Steam and, lo and behold, there was a 2 GB update. What could it be? Yes, Rise and Fall has come to Mac.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • I haven’t spent a lot of time singing the praises of Digidiced‘s digital port of the euro-game masterpiece, Terra Mystica. Not because it’s not a great port or the game itself isn’t my cup of tea, the reality is that the game is just too damn confusing. Yes, I’ve played it on the tabletop, but I’m not sure I ever got my head around TM’s wheels-within-wheels design that seems complex for complexity’s sake. Seriously, there are so many different rules, ways to play, and mechanisms that it’s a very hard game to truly understand without many, many playthroughs. And all complexity happens even before you take into account the 14 different races, each with their own tweaks to the base rules. On the tabletop you can take your time to figure out just what the hell is going on, but the app comes at you full speed. There are tokens flying, actions being taken, and points being scored and I JUST CAN’T HANDLE IT.