PC So here’s another game I didn’t know was in the works. I know I’ve been gone for a couple months but I’m starting to feel like I just woke up from a 20-year coma. The game is Warhammer Underworlds which is apparently the full title of a tabletop game I simply knew as Shadespire all this time. It’s coming to Early Access in January and, holy crap, does it look amazing.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux, Switch We love Acram Digital here at Stately Play manor and not only because our forums were the cornerstone of their massive Istanbul tournament from last December. Okay, that’s part of it, but bottom line is they make some damn fine board game ports and even manage to pull off online multiplayer better than some of the bigger fish in the digital board game pond (cough**Asmodee**cough). They’re on the cusp of running another massive tournament–this time for Eight-Minute Empire–and it would be a shame if the Stately Players [you leave for 2 months and then pull this? You son of a bitch. -ed.] weren’t a big part of it. Jump past the break for details and signup info.
PC/Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One of the most unique gaming experiences I’ve ever had came from the prodigious mind of one Lukas Pope. Of course, I’m talking about the horror-simulation Papers, Please which I played way back in 2014 when it arrived on iOS. Completely unique and terrifying in how it roped you into hurting others to save yourself as you worked in the slowly grinding gears of an dystopian bureaucracy. It seems fitting that the next game that gripped me as much as that title also came from Lukas Pope in the form of Return of the Obra Dinn. An incredible mystery game that managed to be unlike anything before or since. If you’ve been waiting to play Obra Dinn for some reason, your time has come. On October 18 we can expect it on Switch, Xbox, and PS4.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac, Xbox The viking-themed real-time roguelite, Bad North, has been around for a bit now, having released on Switch way back in August of 2018. I’ve purchased the game on both Switch and PC and have yet to play it. I don’t know why. It looks amazing (hence the multiple purchases) but it just hasn’t been able to push aside whatever other game I’ve been sinking my time into. (This isn’t Bad North’s fault. Those other games are Slay the Spire and Factorio, so…) Now, however, I feel confident that I’ll finally give this gem the time it deserves because it can now fit in my pocket. Bad North arrives on iOS/Android on October 15.
Back in the summer of 2016 the folks at Righteous Hammer made their impression on the App Store landscape with a solitaire card game roguelike, Solitairica. Impossible to spell title aside, it was an incredible time waster and a perfect example of what a phone game should be. Three years later and the studio has been fairly silent. That changed this morning with the announcement of their next title, Zor: Pilgrimage of the Slorfs.
PS4, Xbox, PC, Switch While I’ve never been a huge Munchkin fan, I see the appeal. A easy-to-grok, take-that card game that plays with RPG tropes and is illustrated by John Kovalic can’t be all that bad. While I haven’t played the tabletop version for years, today Asmodee Digital announced a new video game version ‘based on’ the Steve Jackson staple. I have to admit, it looks and sounds pretty cool.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac While I’ve been on a bit of a Through the Ages hiatus for the past few months (mainly because I realized I would never, ever beat JS619 again), it still reigns as the greatest board game port I’ve ever played. Not only is the base game Vlaada Chvatil’s magnum opus and nearly perfect, but CGE managed to add enough polish and shine to the app that, digitally, it’s even better. The base game has been around since 2006 in cardboard form and there’s never been an expansion. It really doesn’t need it. That said, today we get an expansion and I couldn’t be more excited.
iPad, Android Tablet, PC/Mac/Linux I’ll be the first to admit I have an unhealthy crush on the guys from Handelabra. I’ve met the crew and they’re all incredibly nice–which is great and all–but they also make some pretty kickass card game ports including one that still gets a load of play on my iPad, One Deck Dungeon. Their latest has been in Early Access for a bit now but is ready for prime time. Prepare yourself for Aeon’s End when it releases next Tuesday, September 17.
Tabletop Keith Burgun is one of those designers who, when they announce a new project, I listen. The designer of 100 Rogues and Auro: A Monster Bumping Adventure deserves at least that much. He excels at making turn-based strategy games in which every move needs to be calculated and meticulously thought out. What’s not to love? His latest idea is a card game called Dragon Bridge and, unlike his previous games, this one isn’t digital.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac, Switch If you’re starting to feel that all the cool news is coming from the direction of Nintendo’s Little Console That Could, you wouldn’t be wrong. It seems that all the cool releases are landing on Switch with other mobile being an afterthought. For example, Dead Cells has been on Switch forever but just arrived on iOS a couple of weeks ago. Divinity: Original Sin 2 arrived on Switch last week and we’ll never see anything like that on our touchscreens. Thus, it’s good to hear about a game that was originally on iOS head the other way and come to Switch. Unless you skipped the title, you’re aware I’m talking about everyone’s favorite Darwin simulator, Evolution.