Stately Play

QA flagged it, but the devs were so pissed at QA by then it was "working as intended".

Review: Subsurface Circular

October 26, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 0

iPad, PC/Mac • Subsurface Circular exists primarily because of a willingness to experiment during a lull in the developer’s schedule, but it also seems to suit the needs of a maturing game-playing public. While its gameplay is aptly described as “text adventure”, the game deserves credit for establishing an atmosphere and an aesthetic using high-quality audio and visuals. This is possible in such a short window largely because it’s a single-room mystery: the game is played entirely on a train for robots, with the player taking the role of a robot detective smart enough that humans have rendered it unable to leave the train as a precaution.

It’s all about the beans when Bohnanza The Duel lands tomorrow

October 25, 2017 David Neumann 1

iOS Universal, Android • Usually when we’re told of a new release only a day before it’s coming to the App Store, I’d say we were surprised. When that release is Bohnanza The Duel and the developer is DIGIDICED, however, it’s less surprise and more of course they’re releasing that game. After all, it’s another 2-player Uwe Rosenberg title which, other than Terra Mystica, is what DIGIDICED does, so it was only a matter of time before it went digital. Now that the intro’s out of the way, are we ready for some bean farming?

The Shieldbreaker arrives in the Darkest Dungeon hamlet this Thursday

October 24, 2017 David Neumann 3

iPad, PC/Mac/Linux • How good has 2017 been? I haven’t played Darkest Dungeon in a few weeks and it’s easily one of my favorite iPad titles released this year. With Through the Ages, Halcyon 6, and Warhammer Quest 2 all coming since Darkest Dungeon’s release back in August, becoming distracted wasn’t exactly a difficult thing to do. Any other year, however, and an app of Darkest Dungeon’s quality would already be waiting in the green room practicing it’s GOTY speech. Red Hook‘s not content to let DD slide into oblivion, however. We already know that The Crimson Court DLC should be coming to the iPad version later this year and today we learned that a new class, The Shieldbreaker, would be making their appearance in the PC/Mac/Linux version this week.

Text adventure Subsurface Circular finds its way to iPad

October 23, 2017 David Neumann 2

iPad, PC/Mac • Hey, everyone! It’s Monday and I’m still sick! This announcement has nothing to do with the game we’re about to discuss or with garnering sympathy (I’ll take it, but that’s not the main point), but I wanted everyone to understand why content might be a little slow over the next few days. The flu I seem to have picked up is accompanied by migraine level headaches, and staring at a screen makes it about 100x worse, which is kind of an issue when writing a blog. Hopefully this clears up quickly and things can get back to normal, but I thought you should know. Back to our regular programming: Let’s talk about Subsurface Circular.

Counter insurgency war game, Afghanistan ’11, coming to iOS next week

October 20, 2017 David Neumann 24

iPad, PC • Back when Slitherine was in the business of publishing mobile war games, one of the best was Every Single Soldier‘s Vietnam ’65. It broke ground by focusing not only on battlefield tactics, but on winning over the local population and dealing with political problems back home. The theme worked fantastic in ESS’s follow-up, Afghanistan ’11, which was released for PC in March. Next week the PC-less of us will have a chance to give Afghanistan ’11 a go when it arrives on the App Store.

Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander beams onto the App Store

October 19, 2017 David Neumann 17

iOS Universal, PC/Mac/Linux • With everyone already hip-deep into Warhammer Quest 2, I’d like to remind you there is life outside of the dungeon. For example, I dropped the kids off at school this morning and then went home and fell asleep on the couch. Can’t do that in WHQ2! While meeting my wife for lunch, I ran over a couple traffic cones in a construction area and dragged them under my minivan for about 2.5 miles. Not only did it make my minivan-driving self look cool, but you can’t do that in WHQ2! I also downloaded a new game from the App Store, Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander. That’s something we can all do, but you can’t do it in WHQ2!

If you haven’t already sunk 12 hours into it, Warhammer Quest 2 is here

October 19, 2017 David Neumann 8

iOS Universal • Loaded up with Ny-Quil and Ambien, I attempted to go to bed well before my normal sleepy time last night in an effort to kill the virus currently treating my lungs as a waterpark. Twenty minutes later a tweet popped up on my phone announcing that Warhammer Quest 2 had arrived on the App Store. I tried–I swear I tried–to stay awake and play the hell out of it, but the drugs won and I managed to almost complete the intro/tutorial dungeon before blacking out. I know, this is probably the saddest story you’ve heard all week. Sorry to bring the room down. On a positive note, Warhammer Quest 2 is out and you should be playing it.

Returner 77 lands on the App Store

October 18, 2017 David Neumann 5

iOS Universal • Need to kill about 12 hours while you wait for a certain something to arrive on the App Store? I feel ya. You could fill a bit of that time with Underhand, but if you’re in more of a puzzle mood, how’s about giving Returner 77 a go?

Review: Underhand

October 18, 2017 David Neumann 0

iOS Universal • Since the release of Card Crawl a few years back, the Solitaire Card Game With A Cool Theme That Makes It Cooler Than Your Standard Card GameTM genre has really taken off. Tinytouchtales by themselves have released both Card Thief and Miracle Merchant, but there have been others as well, such as Guild of Dungeoneering and others that I can’t remember, not to mention that this opener is already getting a bit long in the tooth. Underhand is the latest game to arrive in the genre but, unfortunately, feels less like Card Crawl and more like the unholy love child of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books and Groundhog Day.