Tag: Software

We’ve had some great games set in Ancient Rome recently, from Anno 117 to Citadelum or Pompeii: The Legacy. With Bloodgrounds, however, we delve into an entirely different genre, since we blend roguelite with RPG and turn based combat. The result is quite surprising, because you get to live your dream of battling in the arena, while also using tactics to tackle some really tough enemies. Right off the bat, you take the role of a wealthy patron, and your focus is to create a team of gladiators that complement each other. Your focus is to try and get revenge against the emperor, because you were a gladiator yourself, and you barely survived. The premise itself is quite interesting, and it certainly gives you the motivation you need to focus and create the best gladiator team that you can. That’s when you enter the management phase, where you get to manage your gladiators, heal them in the inn, equip them with stuff, level them up and so on. That’s important, because ...

These days, games try to one-up each other with stunning visuals, but they don’t always stick the landing when it comes to gameplay. That’s where Tokyo Underground Killer manages to shine, because it helps push the boundaries in ways you would not expect, while being one of the best-feeling melee games I played in the past few years. Tokyo Underground Killer is all about completing your mission and slashing through hordes of enemies in this version of cyberpunk Tokyo. They do a very good job when it comes to bringing the world to life, and it truly is very spectacular and unique. As an assassin, you get to explore this beautiful cyberpunk world, while also trying to complete your mission. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it does provide a variety of blood powers that you can use aside from your trusty sword or other weapons available. Other than that, you have very simple controls. Sure, you use your katana, but aside from that, you can pick up firea...

Exile to Albion feels like a way to make warfare inevitable, the only way for a settlement to survive. The Empire is in a state of flux, and the Celts don’t much like the Romans encroaching on their islands. I really don’t want to create a standing army, mainly because it costs quite a bit, and I think all that money would be better invested in a few more farms and workshops. Creating a thriving town doesn’t differ much from doing the same in Latium. There, I was overproducing most consumables, including garum and sails, and had a decent positive cash flow, with more than 100 freedmen and plebeians available for work. In Albion, it will take some time to gain that level of prosperity. The marsh is harder to exploit, and there are leaders who are more interested in winning battles than in making money. Anno 117: Pax Romana is developed by Ubisoft Mainz and published by Ubisoft. I played it on the PC via Ubisoft Connect, with the title also offered on the PlayStation...

Many of us play games just to waste some time and enjoy ourselves. And then we have titles like Dreams of Another, whose focus is to tell a story, but also make us rethink how we approach life. In fact, the game builds around a philosophical theme of creating and not destroying. And while this is a third person exploration and action game where you have a gun, your focus is to create the world and not destroy it. That’s where the major twist of Dreams of Another comes into play. You will enter a world that’s been destroyed, people are struggling, and you try to solve their quests and figure out a way forward. In this case, the idea is to create things and help others, instead of just destroying. That shows a very distinct perspective of humanity, one where we don’t just focus on wars and hating one another. Instead, Dreams of Another manages to show that we can rebuild things and recreate the dreams of other people. That’s really cool, and it certainly makes you th...

I should have experimented some more with my stable of combat creatures. I focused too much on keeping as many of them alive while upgrading their powers when possible. But I ended my run in failure, defeated by a powerful boss yet again, with three unused syringes in my backpack. I need to become more willing to extract unique power from one creature, even if that decreases its combat power. For my next run, I will ponder how different abilities can interact and then transfer them to my best fighter. I plan to play with the rat pack once again and, with a little luck, I plan to tame no less than three enemies in the first two battles. That should provide a solid enough platform to get to the boss. Decktamer is developed by Horizon Edge and published by Assemble Entertainment. I played using Steam on the PC, and there is no option to play it on another hardware platform. The video game combines card-based combat, a run-driven backbone, and a variety of cool monster...

The autobattler genre continues to evolve all the time, and one of the latest games in this niche comes from a team of ex-Lionhead developers. Called Konfronto, the game is rather simple and easy to understand. You take a ship and customize the items you want to add, similar to FTL, and then you engage enemies in autobattler-like encounters. Depending on the buffs, attack benefits and other benefits brought by your items, you will either defeat the enemies or lose. Granted, there’s a lot of strategy involved here, but the main appeal comes from preparing the ship and figuring out ways to battle potential opponents. Konfronto doesn’t have a campaign mode during early access, but there’s still a lot of content to enjoy anyway. The Warp Mode is their skirmish mode basically, where you get the full game experience as you prepare the ship and battle opponents. Then, there’s the Great Balls of Fire mode where you have a similar premise, but meteor storms start randomly an...

Ball-based puzzle games have been around for quite some time, and if you enjoy the genre, these are definitely worth your time. Orbyss is the latest release in this niche, and honestly, it does seem to be the best offering right now. It’s been in development for over 10 years, and it definitely shows. The game comes with very good, tight gameplay, stunning visuals, and maybe the most important thing, no crashes or performance problems, at least in my experience. At its core, Orbyss is an abstract puzzle game where you take control of an orb. There are many orbs in the world, and they will interact with the Construct’s internal functions. However, not a lot is shared about the Construct or what it does, what its purpose might be, etc. Instead, you are limited to the orb and what it can do, how you roll it around and so on. You will need to move and as you do that, you encounter a variety of puzzles that are rather chaotic at times, but also innately interesting and ...

The Black Death did a number on Europe, so I decide this is the best time for Bohemia to expand. It’s far too messy to deal with the many small states of the Holy Roman Empire, so I am pushing East, alongside my Austrian partner. Poland has already lost some land, and we might soon force it to become a vassal, unless it manages to find a strong defensive alliance. Why not simply try to conquer it outright? Because this is the 1400s and administering provinces that are more than one day's horse ride away is pretty difficult. It will take time to integrate already acquired territory, and a rebellion of the conquered pops is a distinct possibility. I also have to deal with the demands of my nobles, who have a lot of power but want even more. Worse, they aren’t very interested in literacy for all and centralization, two of my long-term priorities. The plan is to consolidate gains while boosting the economy. I need to build more roads, and the people are demanding more ...

GUG is one of those games that immediately tries to mix different genres, and the results are quite interesting right off the bat. The main focus of this game is to bring you a creature collector aspect where you find and collect a variety of GUGs, but at the same time, there are also intense, fun turn based battles that you have to engage in as you play. I will say, right off the bat, the game doesn’t do a great job at explaining how you play and what you need to do. There are some tutorial elements, but I would personally like to see a lot more than that. Regardless, getting past the introductory part of the game and right into the battles felt seamless. GUG’s main ideal and marketing system focuses a lot on the idea of creating GUGs just by typing anything that you want. Based on what you type, the game will automatically spawn a GUG for you, which has its own stats and it’s definitely a very interesting idea to say the least. The fact that they have a plethora ...

This three-way war is not going well. I might have been too ambitious with my initial objectives, especially when considering that I did not start with a golem ready for battle. Now half of my mushroom force is dead, along with one enemy base, but the other two are still spitting out monsters. I place one of my rally markers next to the bonus hut that I’ve ignored before, while the other is right in front of my keeper. Basically, I’m playing defense, hoping to gain an advantage and enough Glymphstones to build enough Golems to turn the tide. Beyond the Grove is developed and published by Not a Duck. The game is in Early Access on Steam right now, allowing players to engage with it even as the team adds new content and features. The title combines real-time auto-battler ideas with a run-based structure. The story setup is easy to understand and kind of original. Players take on the role of a Grove Keeper who witnesses the tranquility of their patch of forest destro...