iOS, Android, PC/Mac • Back when Tokaido landed on mobile, it might have been the prettiest board game port we’d ever seen which matched the sleepy, zen-like nature of the game itself. It’s a bit slow, but that seems to be how people (and the designer) like it. To each their own, I say, and now people can enjoy Tokaido without their mobile device as it has just been released on Steam for PC/Mac.
iOS Universal, Android, PC • It’s a well known fact that the digital version of Tim Fowers‘ deck-building word game, Paperback, is one of the best word games available on the App Store. What’s less known–because it released at Gen Con and I didn’t have time to write a review that week–is that the digital port of his cooperative heist game, Burgle Bros., is pretty sweet as well. It takes a bit of work to wrap your head around what’s going on, but once you get it, it’s a nice solo puzzle to solve. Yesterday, Tim popped up on Twitter to let us all know that mobile isn’t the only way to enjoy these games, they’re also now on Steam.
iOS Universal, Android • While Civilization Revolution 2 isn’t exactly the highpoint of Sid Meier’s influential Civilization series, it’s the only one we’re likely to ever get on our phones, so it will have to do. If you’ve updated to iOS 11 since its release in September, however, you’ve had to do without. Civ Rev 2 was one of the victims of the App-ocalypse, remaining 32-bit when it needed exactly twice that many bits. It took 2K Games three months to fix the problem, and today they updated Civ Rev 2 to be 64-bit complian,t meaning we can all redownload it at our leisure.
iOS, Android • We’ve lamented the dearth of decent, non-freemium city-builders on the App Store in the past, leaving us to be content building metropolises on our laptops via City: Skylines or the old Impressions titles. By the way, who do I have to pay to get mobile versions of Pharaoh or Zeus? Seriously, people, if you’re going to bring old PC games to mobile, can we start there? Anyway, back to the sorry state of city-building and management on the App Store. I was perusing Touch Arcade this morning and stumbled on a post they had about a little game called Pocket City. I’m intrigued.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac • Back in September, Czech Games Edition did what we’ve been waiting nearly 4 years for them to do: they released Through the Ages for iOS and Android. To say it managed to live up to the hype would be an understatement, as I still can’t get enough of picking Michelangelo even though I have no temples or wonders producing happiness. WHY DO I DO IT EVERY TIME? While the mobile version is about as polished as the underside of András Hadik’s horse, CGE did tell us that they were hoping to release on Steam, eventually, as well. It’s not out on Steam yet, but the beta is starting soon and signups are open.
iOS, Android, Kindle • While those of us in the US were spending Friday sleeping off hangovers, the rest of the world was still hard at work making things. One of those things is of interest to us, a digital port of the board game Metro from Queen Games. While it sells itself as a train-builder circa 1900, don’t be fooled. Metro is about as abstract a title as you can get and bears little resemblance to the Metro that currently runs under the streets of Paris. Still, if you like Tsuro but thought it was a bit too simple, Metro should be right up your alley.
iOS, Android, PC • Come. Sit. Don’t be nervous. Today we will be recalling our dearly departed who…what’s that? There’s a crack in my crystal ball? Yeah, well, I picked that up at a Ren faire back in ’04 and, after too many leather mugs of Miller Lite, tried to dunk with it on the hoop in my driveway. Still looks kind of neat, though, right? Anyway, we won’t be using the crystal ball today. Join hands and close your eyes, today we will communicate with the spirits of the dead! Think of your loved ones. See them in your mind’s eye. THERE! I see them! Wait…it looks like Asmodee Digital and they’re bringing us a message. What is it, spirit? An expansion for Mysterium? Secrets and Lies? Available now? They’re fading…fading. Ok, that will be $20.
Tabletop, iOS, Android, PC/Mac • Back at Gen Con in 2016 we were introduced to Mansions of Madness Second Edition which removed the need for a GM and made MoM one of the best exploration/narrative/dungeon crawlers out there. Around the same time we were also introduced to the Road to Legend app for their actual dungeon crawler, Descent 2.0. This, also, removed the need for a GM and did all the work so players could complete whole campaigns while all working on the same side. Both of these additions were met with critical acclaim, but gamers are a finicky bunch and instead of patting Fantasy Flight on the back, screamed about wanting the same type of companion app for FFG’s Star Wars themed dungeon crawler, Imperial Assault. Well, it’s coming.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac • I’ll admit that I didn’t get the first Reigns. I know it was everyone else’s 2016 GOTY, but I just couldn’t get into it at all. Swiping left, right and ending up…somewhere? I just couldn’t figure out what all the hubbub was about. Apparently, if you stuck with it, all sorts of special story-driven stuff happened, but I didn’t have the patience [or common sense -ed.] to keep playing. That said, it remains on my phone. One of these days I’ll really dig into it and realize I had an awesome game right under my nose all this time and it will be great. Or, I might delete it and just download the sequel, Reigns: Her Majesty, which is coming to all platforms on December 7.
iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Regardless of how theme-heavy you like your games, I think everyone, deep down, has a soft spot for abstract games. Something about the simplicity, beauty, and nostalgia of playing a game in which pieces only come in two colors with the winner decided by a battle of wits instead of labyrinthine combat rules involving card drafting, custom dice, and a DNA sample. Hell, Chess and Go have been around for millenia; will we be able to say the same thing about 7 Wonders? Well, not us. We’ll all be dead, but you know what I mean. Bottom line, abstracts are kind of cool and it looks like we have a new one heading our way from rookie developer, Bearwaves. It’s called Feud and, much like their name, I don’t quite understand what I’m seeing.