Star Realms creator back on Kickstarter with Epic Card Game

February 6, 2017 David Neumann 0

iOS, Android, PC/Mac • Getting an original CCG up and running on the App Store isn’t as easy as it sounds. Just ask Stone Blade how tough it was getting SolForge to actually make them any money. That’s not stopping White Wizard Games from trying with their Epic Card Game. Already available in cardboard form, the digital version is now on Kickstarter and should be making its way to our phones this autumn. For backers, however, you can play it much, much sooner.

Guild of Dungeoneering set to expand with Ice Cream Headaches

February 6, 2017 David Neumann 0

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac • Yes, I know it’s terribly flawed, but one of my favorite time wasters of 2016 was Gambrinous’ dungeon-builder-crawler, Guild of Dungeoneering. Featuring a combat mechanism that could have become rote, but instead was kept interesting via deck building and the promise of unlocking more stuff, GoD was one of my most played titles of the year. The problem came when there was no more stuff to find. Eventually the map is cleared and every new room in your guild has been built. Luckily, Gambrinous has kept adding new content starting with last year’s Pirate’s Cove and their latest expansion, Ice Cream Headaches, coming this week.

The Frostrune promises mystery and adventure based on Viking legends

February 3, 2017 David Neumann 1

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac • One of Owen’s favorite developers was Simogo, the devs behind such weird classics as Year Walk and Device 6. He followed their every move and forced the rest of us to get as excited as he was about whatever mysterious and bizarre teaser trailer they were using to push their next gig. It must have rubbed off on me a little because very little about The Frostrune would have caught my eye if it weren’t for the Simogo-ness of it all. The trailers are beautiful, yet completely opaque regarding what the hell is actually going on. In other words, it looks pretty great.

Talisman prepares to enter the Firelands

February 2, 2017 David Neumann 1

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac • If it seems like it’s only been a few weeks since Nomad Games updated their venerable flagship, Talisman, I can’t blame you. It’s actually been over a month, but the Talisman expansions are so numerous at this point it feels like there’s a new one each time you load up the app. Today is like that, except when I loaded it up there really was a new expansion waiting for me, The Firelands. It’s probably waiting for you, too. Go check, we’ll wait.

Review: Potion Explosion

February 1, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 2

iOS Universal, Android • The retreat from Game Center has opened a hole in the iOS board game development world. With Apple’s commitment to asynchronous multiplayer looking uncertain and the value of a unified multiplayer solution high, publishers of popular board games are likely to seek partnerships with developers who have proven multiplayer systems. That’s going to be very interesting to observe over the next few years. Potion Explosion is a Horrible Games/Cool Mini Or Not product in the tabletop world, but Asmodee Digital and Studio Clangore have brought it to mobile devices, which means you can use an existing account for any Days of Wonder or Asmodee title. That’s a pretty impressive catalog–just in my own iTunes library, I have Ticket To Ride, Small World (2, he added, rolling his eyes), the recently improved Colt Express, Pandemic, and Splendor.

An interview with the developer of Titan HD, Kristopher Giesing

January 31, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 15

iPad, Android • Titan HD was the first game I ever decided to review for Pocket Tactics more than year after its initial release. Its tabletop version was famously deep, challenging, and counter-intuitive, and is still played at conventions more than thirty years after its introduction into a hobby famously obsessed with the Cult of the New. More importantly, it’s also surging in popularity among users of our own forum, drawn not only to its classic gameplay but to an app which has been lovingly supported by developer Kristopher Giesing for almost as long as there have been tablets capable of holding it. I managed to track down Kristopher and grill him about one of my favorite iPad apps.

1775: Rebellion heading south

January 25, 2017 David Neumann 0

HexWar released 1775: Rebellion last year to much fanfare, only to have the initial release be received less than warmly. Since Matt’s review, the game has undergone several updates fixing many of the issues brought up in the review. They’re not done, either. They’re planning another major update that will not only fix bugs and improve the app, it will also introduce a brand new scenario created by the game’s original designers.

New mini-boss incoming to Solitairica, bigger plans down the road

January 24, 2017 David Neumann 1

One of 2016’s better mobile titles was a little card battler from Righteous Hammer called Solitairica. Following in Card Crawl’s footsteps, it was a quick-playing, fast solitaire card game whose true genius was less in the game’s mechanisms and more in all the extra doodads you can unlock the better you play. Solitairica sported several different classes and special powers to unlock so, even if you failed to make it all the way to Castle Stuck, there were rewards right around the corner. The problem is, eventually, you ended up with all the doodads in your pocket with nothing left to quest for. Lucky for us, it looks like Righteous Hammer has big plans for 2017 and making Solitairica something to come back to.

Short Cuts: Hidden my game by mom Series

January 13, 2017 Tanner Hendrickson 0

Since the dawn of electronic handheld gaming, there has been conflict between mother and child. The mother wants chores or homework to be done, but there’s always “just one more level” or a high score just out of reach. At some point, the mother will resort to simply hiding the device in the hopes of boring the child into productivity. The child, of course, instead leverages their boredom into searching for their game. They inevitably find the device, and the cycle begins anew. Japanese developer hap Inc.’s free Hidden my game by mom (sic) series distills and translates this conflict into a delightfully absurd escape room puzzle game format.

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