You probably don’t need another Starfield review. But the myriad things that drag the game down still need discussing. I need to vent all that frustration, mostly with all the game design choices that make the game frictionless. And what do I mean by that? For the purpose of this post, friction is “obstacles that require skill and adaptation from the player.” As Starfield stands right now, the only player trait you need is tolerance of checklists.
Continue reading “Starfield guide: frictionless game design”Never Mind the Billhooks Deluxe | Fortified Niche playtest!
After strong recommendations and a bit of wait, the pod finally got its grubby mitts on Never Mind the Billhooks Deluxe. Seeing how I have long wished to see reasonable amounts of plate-armored men-at-arms on a table, a late medieval ruleset for small battles and large skirmishes was just the thing.
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Continue reading “Never Mind the Billhooks Deluxe | Fortified Niche playtest!”The Doomed | Fortified Niche playtest!
Once someone spilled the beans that miniature wargames could be played in a cooperative capacity, it was like an opening of a flood gate. Or so it seems from our podcaster ivory tower. In any case, there’s no denying that The Doomed, a post-apocalyptic game of hunting monsters, features quite a bit of cooperation… if you care for that!
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Continue reading “The Doomed | Fortified Niche playtest!”What a Tanker! | Fortified Niche playtest!
What if your favorite online multiplayer tank game was a miniature game? Fortunately, that’s the precisely the future in which we live in. You can finally have a use for the miniatures from the Gale Force 9 World of Tanks game with What a Tanker! from TooFatLardies!
Continue reading “What a Tanker! | Fortified Niche playtest!”Your strategy game map campaign is bad
Phantom Brigade and Company of Heroes 3 are two very different games. The former is a turn-based-simultaneous-resolution tactics game about mechs, the latter a base-building WW2 RTS. However, they both feature map campaigns that suffer awfully from lack of variety. We’re fighting boring, repetitive battles against supposedly distinctive enemy formations that all feel the same. These shortcomings do not encourage sticking with it to the end. They’re not, however, unsalvageable. With some elbow grease, we could make them work.
Continue reading “Your strategy game map campaign is bad”Dread Nights | Fortified Niche playtest!
Boy, everyone is hunting monsters these days. The blood of alien behemoths had barely dried on our hands before we were thrust into a damned Victorian metropolis where werewolves, vampires and stranger beings stalk the darkness. This time, we’re rounding up a crew of five souls to brave Dread Nights, a standalone Forbidden Psalm expansion.
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Continue reading “Dread Nights | Fortified Niche playtest!”Signalis review – Kulturarbeit ist Friedensarbeit
I don’t often get to play the games I tried the demos of during Steam Next Fest. I also usually have better reasons than “damn, the protagonist looks hot on the cover” for playing things. Funny how Signalis, a sci-fi survival horror game, managed to get around both of those tendencies.
Continue reading “Signalis review – Kulturarbeit ist Friedensarbeit”Eagles of Empire | Fortified Niche playtest!
When it comes to the 19th century, the wargaming crowd is usually split between the Napoleonic War and the American Civil War. But you know what other very important war happened in that century? The Franco-Prussian war! I guess it was too short – only lasted six months – to leave a lasting impression. This historical (wargaming) injustice is rectified by Eagles of Empire, a very interesting miniature wargame!
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Continue reading “Eagles of Empire | Fortified Niche playtest!”Majestic 13 | Fortified Niche playtest!
Gamers have long been aware and ready to shoot the threat from beyond the stars. That’s why keep trying to get more of that sweet XCOM nectar. From here, a very logical outcome develops: a miniature wargame about a brave human fireteam skirmishing with disgusting aliens. And that’s basically what Majestic 13 from Snarling Badger Studios is!
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Continue reading “Majestic 13 | Fortified Niche playtest!”Verrotwood | Fortified Niche playtest!
You know what? Enough of being being “heroes” and “roughly competent people.” It’s shitty cultist time to shine! That’s right – that’s who you’re playing in Verrotwood, the fantasy skirmish game of folk horror!
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Continue reading “Verrotwood | Fortified Niche playtest!”