SuperHot! - An innovative look at FPS

First Person Shooters were something big for me when I was like between 9-12 years old. We played a ton in internet clubs...yeah it was that long ago. Anyway, back then I really liked the genre but with time things somehow changed and I stopped playing those games. I think the last fps I played was Halo CE in 2006. That continued until this year when SuperHot came out. You will ask what this is?! Doesn't sound like anything shooting related! But to this I will say - does Hotline Miami sounds like one? It doesn't but look at it.

Anyway, we are here to talk about SuperHot by...SUPERHOT Team. The game started as game jam in 2013 I think, it drew a lot of attention and this year from a demo it became a full game on the market. There is a story in the game and its idea is interesting, but very short, so I will not talk about it at all. Skipping the story part let’s take a look at the gameplay - what is SuperHot and why so many people are interested in it?

When you launch the game the first thing that will get your attention is the DOS styled menus, this is theme and story related so I will not go into details but it is interesting touch to the game. After you finish the story mode which is a bit more than two hours (it depends how much you die :D ) you will unlock all sort of challenges and unlimited mode to test your newly acquired skills. Are you impatient enough already? Ok, ok...sorry.

What made so many people interested in SuperHot is its core mechanic - the game moves only when you move. My first though when I heard about it was " Oh, so it’s a turn-based kind of FPS?". Well, it’s not it’s more like infinite bullet-time FPS. Often the game will put you against multiple enemies with better weapons, coming from different directions, coming out of cars which try to hit you and so on.  You will have to plan your moves carefully as there are no hit points in this game while at the same time you will also have to be quick and able to adapt as here enemies will shamelessly spawn behind you and in places where you have already checked. 

The game doesn't grab with its look. The menus are DOS like and the other parts of the game have strange rectangular art style with enemies seemingly made of red glass which shatters when they are hit. But it grabs with its gameplay. It really does! It’s a great feeling when you complete a level, when you run by your enemies slashing them with a katana while dodging swarms of bullets. You feel badass! Powerful! Good! Like the main character in an action movie. And then you die, because as we know "Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer". It is an interesting and unique, from what I have seen, mix of a puzzle and FPS in almost equal measure.

Easy to grasp, hard to master, satisfying, clean gameplay.  A ton of replayability. I loved it!  If you are too looking for adrenalin filled title which at the same time offers something new SuperHot is your game!

Where to find it:

Official site

Steam

"Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer" is quote from Red Hook's game Darkest Dungeon

Crashlands - Return of the survival

I think I have never mentioned it before but I used to be into Minecraft a lot! I loved it! Later Terraria came by and liked this one even more, I even still play it from time to time. Since then I have tried a few games of this type more famous of which are Don't Starve by Klei and Starbound by Chucklefish. But why I'm telling you this? Isn't this whole genre thing of the past with the market being overflown with such games? Well, I don't know honestly, but I'm mentioning these games because today I'm about to tell you more about one new game which fits perfectly among the mentioned above. This is Crashlands by Butterscotch Shenanigans. I still have not beaten it, so this is just first impressions after around ten hours of gameplay.

Fluxed with Hewgodooko and Juice

In Crashlands you take on the role of Flux who together with his robot friend Juicebox are working for intergalactic delivery company and are in the middle of important delivery when their ship is destroyed by the alien Hewgodooko. Flux and Juicebox manage to save the cargo before crashing on unexplored planet but now they are stuck there and their boss won't be happy if they are late with the delivery.

From here the story continues with you helping a lot of locals who have different problems some related and some not with your quest which is only to get the parts needed for you to build a device with which to call for help.

Roaming Woanope

From all of the mentioned in the beginning games Crashlands reminds me mostly of  Don't Starve, but with the strong equipment crafting element of Terraria. Similar to those two you will go into the wild to gather materials, craft tools and weapons also you will learn more and more about the strange world in which you have dropped. Butterscotch have managed to create vast, colorful world for you to explore. World filled with bizarre but unfriendly wild animals as well as strange nature worshiping locals. The art style of Crashlands is one thing that sets it aside from Don't Starve and Terraria. I mean both of those games look very well in their respective art styles, but neither is so bright and in both there is feeling of loneliness, even in Terraria where NPCs will come join you through the game. Here you're accompanied by Juicebox everywhere, talking with him all the time exchanging jokes, receiving advises. Also the locals will speak with you and give you quests. The game sets a totally different mood while you play it. Its more...lively! Mentioning the quests...

The biggest thing that separates Crashlands from the others are the quests. In the game as I already mentioned you will get quests and they are from what I have seen so far(around 10 hours into the game) the main progress mechanism of the game. You are free to explore the world without doing your quests but there are recipes which you won't be able to find. Interesting thing is the elaborate fighting system. Here unlike Don't Starve and Terraria or even Minecraft you won't be able to kill anything if you just stand there and mash the attack button. Every enemy that you meet will telegraph his attack in a way similar to the monsters in Wild Star for example and if you don't dodge you will be quickly stomped, bitten, electrocuted or poisoned to death. The fun starts when you aggro more than one enemy and your whole screen becomes ridden with attack patterns...

The crafting system is the same as the one in the two others - you gather materials, use the appropriate crafting station and voila you have a new item. Here you will also find the same random chance to craft different rarity of items as in Terraria. But unlike there here you get better and better when you craft one and the same item again and again.

I have not finished the game, but from what I heard it is pretty long so be prepared for some serious roaming, crafting and fighting - a charmingly bizarre world is waiting for you. But don't worry Juicebox will be there with you, not to mention that you can even tame pets who will fight for you. 

Conclusion

Crashlands is great addition to the genre even if you think that there are too many games like it. The game is colorful, lively and challenging, introducing some new and clever mechanics. With one of these it solves the biggest problem people usually have with the genre - they cannot find what to do. In Crashlands there are quests...and humor, a lot of it, not always good quality but in big quantities. Crashlands is great for those who enjoy the genre and are not tired of it and it is also great intro game with quests to help you progress when you are tired of farming ores or slaughtering nasty bugs. Crashlands - definitely charming.

Where to find it:

Official site

On Steam

iTunes Store

Google Store

Butterscotch shenanigans

Tharsis - Rolling dice and eating people on the road to Mars

Tharsis is a small game made by Choice Provisions and it's about the first manned mission to Mars. From the Tharsis region on Mars is received a mysterious signal. Quickly a crew is gathered and sent to investigate. On millions miles away from home their ship is struck by a meteor storm and it is severely damaged and two crewmates are dead. Now it’s all in your hands.

Or at least this is what the game wants you to believe. Actually you control very little in the game. Tharsis on its own is very simple. You have four crewmen each with its own special ability and number of dice. That's right you are rolling dice in this game, but let me continue. Tharsis is turn based game in which every turn your ship is struck by different misfortunes (events), to fix those you will have to complete their dice threshold. If you don't manage to do this there will be negative effects which can vary from minus dice for your crew to minus food, more stress, direct damage to the ship or to your people. 

Other important thing to know is that every section of the ship is different and important. There is a medical bay; there is a garden which produces food, flight control, and life support and operations room. Each of those sections can give you some bonuses if you send someone there to roll. This will force you to choose do you want to repair something or do you want to get something. And this I like, its a strong strategy element which can really change your game. 

Let me go back to the damage and fixing it. When a section of the ship is damaged, there, depending on the section will be some negative effect which will affect your dice and make them...malfunction. For example they may get in stasis and you will not be able to re-roll them or even be directly voided and disapear, other effects include things like wounds which equal the rolled number. When all of your astronouts have spent their dice and all unsloved events are resolved you will be given choices regarding the dispensation of resources like food, dice, stress and hull integrity.

It’s a lot like a boardgame honestly. And it really well manages to create the feeling of desperation and doom with things getting harder and harder, more crew dying and in the end...even eating some of them if things get extreme. There is also a solid dose of mystery with the signal from Mars and with advancing in the game you will receive more messages from the Red Planet. Definitely creates its own atmosphere. 

But..

Tharsis doesn't really know what it wants to be. It gives you hard strategic options and in the end the only thing you can do is rolling dice, which you cannot really manipulate. True when you see the dice almost getting the number you need but in the end failing its really frustrating and it creates the feeling of desperation that I mentioned but relaying only on luck to get you through this voyage is...optimistic at best. 

If you like space games and the travel to Mars interests you Tharsis definitely have something to offer, but only if you can endure the sheer randomness of the game.

Where to find it:

Official site

Steam Store

Humble Store

Mordheim: City of the Damned

Games Workshop are probably best known for their Warhammer 40K Universe. The fact is though that through the years they have made many more board games among which titles like Blood Bowl, Warhammer Quest, Necromunda, Warhammer 40k, Mordheim and more. Today I plan to tell you more exactly about Mordheim and specifically about its recent transfer from board to digital - City of the Damned. The game was Honourable mention in my Top 10 reviewed games.

Games Workshop have two main universes both being Warhammer but set in different time. The first is Warhammer Fantasy which is the dark fantasy setting and the second is 40K which is the dark sci-fi setting. Mordheim is taking part in the first one.

The City of the Damned

The once striving city of Mordheim has fallen into darknes and is punished by the gods - a comet destroys it and scatters the precious pieces of wyrd across the city. Now mercenary bands will do all they can to gather as much wyrd as possible and sell it. You are leader of one such band, sponsored by a nobleman who demands what he pays for. 

Warbands

In the game you will have the choice between Skirmish and Campaign. In both modes you will be able to choose between four factions - Human Mercenaries, Skaven Clan Eshin, Sisters of Sigmar and Cult of the Possessed. The humans are the most balanced warband and are great for beginers. Clan Eshin are masters of stealth and poison. Their warriors might not be the sturdiest but you will have hard time finding them if they don't want you to. Also when you are against the Skaven don't forget to watch your back. Sisters of Sigmar are the holy maidens who seek to cleanse both the city and their name. The exactly opposite of them is the Cult of the possessed - all kinds of mutants and nonhumans gather under the banner of Chaos.

After you have made your choice of Warband, you will be able to tweak it further with the selection of the classes that compose it. Balanced, heavy melee, range specialists only, whatever floats your boat. Mordheim is not picky he will kill anyone. With your progression in the game you will be able to hire more mercenaries, equip them with items and improve their skills.

A twist in the turn-based action

City of the damned is a skirmish game very similar to Necromunda but set in different world. Every time you lead your warband out in the city you will have certain sub-objectives and one main which is usually kill all enemies or turn them into rout. I will not go in depth in explaining the game mechanics as they are rather complicated but I will try to cover the main ones which make the game stand out.  Mordheim is a turn-based game and during your turn you will be able to act with only one character. Your characters will have two types of action points - movement and battle ones. Different actions will require one of those or even combination of both. What is interesting is the movement mechanic of the game. When you take control over one of your characters you will see wide blue circle around him. This is the range in which you can move for one movement point. If you cross the circle you will need another point to continue move. This system lets you even backtrack and take a different road, this way giving you a lot of freedom when exploring the city and at the same time keeping the tactical element of turn-based game. All characters have a variety of actions and skills which they can use during skirmish for a cost of action points. The actions and skills will be different for all characters depending on their classes and skills but the most classes will have a Perception check, Ambush, Parry, Dodge stance and few different kinds of attacks. The stances are amazing so master them quickly. And because this does not make the game complicated enough there are also a ton of status effects most negative as well as a bunch of skill checks when you perform actions like jumping and climbing. Those can have a lot worse consequences than just taking some damage when failed. 

When the hunt is over and you engage with the enemy there will be only two options you will either die or win. Not much to explain either - you attack he tries to block/dodge, gets hit or not. It’s that simple actually. The strategic element is not so much when you engage but more when to engage. Catching lone enemies off guard is extremely beneficial, but be careful because running into ambushes is really easy and can turn a 2v1 quickly into a 1v1. Also end small encounters quickly as the enemy won't leave his mercenaries to die if he can bring reinforcements. 

Back to base

Once when a skirmish is over is time for summary of the mission. What objectives you have completed, what items you have looted and what injuries your men and women have suffered. If you are lucky your guys will miraculously recover from their fight wounds and will be ready for the next fight. But don't put your hopes on this as it will not happen often, especially if you have lost. More often than not the injuries of your soldiers will at best put into recovery for some time during which you will not be able to use them( kind of like in Darkest Dungeon, but here they don't run off to have drunken orgies). Sometimes their injuries may even cost them parts of their bodies which will change their stats and abilities. For example losing an eye will cause a character to be less accurate while losing an arm will make him unable to dual wield while at the same time will make him harder to be hit. And in the worst case scenario your precious mercenaries will die...forever, there is only permanent death in Mordheim. 

To make it even harder you will have to also fill quotas of wyrd for your sponsor and will have to pay your mercenaries their treatment and wages. If not payed they won’t go in fight and will leave at some point. Acquiring the requested wyrd is also very important and it will have band consequences for you if you fail to do so. 

Conclusion

Mordheim: City of the Damned is a hard skirmish tactical turn-based game where you will lead bands of mercenaries in search for the precious wyrd. But your band is not the only one which is looking for the magical stone. The game is set in Warhammer Fantasy and is as dark and gritty as a Warhammer game can be. Mordheim will challenge you not only on the battlefield but also out of it where you will have to manage the payment of your warband, requested quotas of wyrd and treatment of injured mercenaries. Despite its hard learning curve (for which the greatly detailed tutorials help a lot) the game is excellent title for everybody who is looking for a challenging tactical game. I guarantee you that if you are into dying a lot and losing many times you will enjoy Mordheim even if you are not fan of Warhammer. 

Where to find it:

Official site

Steam Store

Top 10 reviewed games for 2015

Through 2015 I have written here on this blog about 33 different board and pc games. Today I plan to tell you which of those are the 10 best in my opinion. I mean everything here is my opinion, but just to be clear. I must say that all these 10 games are excellent pieces, I have enjoyed playing them a lot and it was really hard for me to put them in any order.  Here we go:

Number 10 is Invisible Inc. by one of my favourite studios - Klei. The game is turn based stealth action game in which you take control over a team of agents which are ultimately fighting against the global rulers. With its clean gameplay, greatly working game mechanics and beautiful art style Invisible Inc is definitely one of the best made games I have played this year. Full review you can find here.

Number 9 is Age of Decadence by Tower Studios. The game has very interesting and strange setting. It is a mix between the fall of The Roman Empire and post-apocalyptic... By genre AoD is RPG where you will always start from the bottom and will never grow to become a half god, half man killing machine. Because this not the style of the game. Instead you will have to talk your way through mostly anything avoiding any fights. Despite this 100% peaceful playtrough will be impossible and when you have no other choice you will have the pleasure to use very deep and precise battle system. Great choice if you want to play something hard, with interesting story and great gameplay. Detailed review here.

Number 8 is Armello by League of Geeks. In my review of the same game for bigboxgamers I said that Armello is the best digital board game and I still think this is true! The story of the game is that the King is dying and each of the Clans should make so the next King is one of their own. Through out the game you will control one character from Clan of your choice and with many battles or ton of backstab and deceit you will have to make so you're the next who will sit on the throne. And because your oponents will not be enough of treat you will have to also battle the forces of darkness and the Royal Guard if you decide that the shortest path to the throne is the death of the King. Detailed review you can find here.

Number 7 is Ori and the Blind Forest by Moon Studios. Ori is classical adventure metroidvania game in which you play as the lost and later orphaned Ori who tries understand and save the Forest in which he lives. The game has a beautiful hearth melting story and looks gorgeous. Sadly the truth is that the game is for hardcore metroidvania players as it has some very complicated and hard jump puzzles in which you will die again and again and again until you manage to solve it in the end...or just leave the game and never finish it. Which will be big miss on your side as this game is truly great. Read full review here. 

Number 6 is Jotun by Thunder Lotus Games. In it you take control over Thora a young, fearless warriores who have died but not in battle and now she should prove herself in front of the Gods if she wants to ever see Valhala. Jotun is a adventure-exploration game and is for all of you who enjoy hard battles with huge bosses. And when I say hard I mean very very hard. Bosses will kill you with two strikes which is understandable when you are as big as their toe. The other main feature of the game is its atmosphere achieved by it amazing art style and great music and narration. Wholeheartedly I recommend you to try Jotun. Detailed review here.

Some rare gems right there guys and gals. Each and every worthy of your time. But let us continue with the second half of the list which if not else are as good as the first five.

Number 5 is Sunless sea by Failbetter Games. Failbetter became famous with their browser adventure game Fallen London. Sunless sea is taking place in the same dark and mysterious world but focuses on the zee exploration instead of the streets of London. You will take the role of a ship captain who have some goal connected with the zee. During the game you will gather crew, explore, smuggle goods, help the government, get insane and even kill your whole crew...or they you. In Sunless sea there is something very Lovecraftian...the mysteries, the monsters, the characters you meet. This really is one of the most atmospheric games that I have played this year. It does have a bit of a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it you will quickly sink in the world of Fallen London. Full review you will find here.

Number 4 is Massive Chalice by  Double Fine Productions. In it you are the king of a land surrounded and slowly taken over by the Cadence. Your only hope is to hold it back until the Massive Chalice manages to charge its energies and repel the treat. This you will do by creating and helping the royal bloodlines to survive. In return they will give you their best warriors to fight in a X-COM style turn based battles against the Cadence. Your warriors will level up, learn new skills you will also have the ability to upgrade their equipment. And in rare cases when the best of them die they will leave their legendary weapons for the next generations. Very cool turn based strategy with some very interesting mechanics. Hot recommendation if you are into this kind of games. Detailed review you can read here.

Number 3 is Duelyst by Counterplay. My newest mania! Duelyst is a digital card collecting game with huge twist! Once summoned your creatures turn from cards into "real" monsters which walk around on the board and smack each other. The target of the game is to kill the enemy General. By implementing only one new thing Counterplay have brought so much new things to the genre while at the same time keeping their game quick, competitive and well balanced. If you want something quick like Hearthstone but deeper Duelyst is your game! Full review read here.

Number 2 is Darkest Dungeon by Red Hook Studios. Darkest Dungeosn is a 2D side scrolling roguelike. Roguelike! Not rogueLITE but LIKE! This game will kill you for every small mistake you make. Hell you can even die in the tutorial! Its great! Dark, grim, hard, true enjoyment for the masochistic fans of the genre. In the heavily inspired by Lovecraft world of Darkest Dungeon you will lead a group of heroes into different dungeons ultimately trying to find out what happened to the place. While in the dungeons your characters will die..a lot, but that is the smallest problem. They will also get insane, gain perks both negative and positive, betray their team mates, coward from fights, get phobias and many other things which will let the game kill you off in the most merciless way possible. The worst part? After every fail you see clearly that it is possible to win. Great roguelike. Read full review here.

And now THE number one game reviewed on this blog is........

Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian. Yes, that's right! The newest masterpiece of Obsidian. Pillars is cRPG game in the best traditions of this genre. It has epic turn based battles, deep character development and story that grabs and does not let you until you don't finish it. What impressed me mostly in the game is how well it is written. Every dialogue, every book you find lying on a dusty floor in some forgotten ruin. Not to mention that every word you say matters. You can literally decide the outcome of more than few future meetings in the first few hours of the game. And while I think that if you don't try to read every line in this game you have missed like 90% of it I cannot skip the fact how well the battles are done. You didn't read your whole line before selecting it - too bad this whole town don't like you. You didn't activated your skill at the right time...oh well your whole party is dead.... You decide which is worse. Really, really good game I must really nit-pick to find any flaws in this piece. Full review you will find here.

Honourable mentions: Rebel Galaxy and Mordheim: City of the Damned. Both seem to be great games, but both are massive, massive time sinkers and I just didn't have the time to finish and review them, so I leave them out of this Top 10 list. 

With this list I'm not trying to say that any of this game is better than Wild Hunt, Fallout or...whatever triple A title took the top of different lists that are posted all over the place. This is simply the best 10 games that were reviewed here on the blog. If I have reviewed Witcher or Fallout they might have been in this list. Actually Witcher would have been for sure. But...yeah. Enoy this list, I hope you like it and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

Armello - EN

On 22nd of January in Steam appeared a new addition to the very popular Early Access, which allows you as you're aware to play games while they're still in development. Now I rarely use Early Access and usually use only to mark things which to follow. But in this case the game I'm about to tell you about grabbed my interest so hard that I couldn't resist. Armello looked like the perfect combination between boardgames and modern technology.

"From the Rat to the Bear
The Clans declared
Time has come
To take the Throne"

I think that this short quote pretty well tells you what the objective of the game is. But although it seems that all agree on what must be done Armello is not a co-operative game. In fact it is just the opposite. But first let's tell you more about the Clans.

"From Great Horrors
Great Heroes emerge"

The Four Clans have chosen their Heroes and they will have to defeat all dangers that the world will throw at them. And on top of that they will have to face the other clans.

The Chosen ones are:

• Thane of the Wolf Clan - The Wolfs are the knights of Armello, they're fair, honest, proud and their only task is to protect the Clan. If for that the King must be killed, so be it.
• Sana of the Bear Clan - The Bears are the oldest Clan in Armello, heirs of the ancient Druids. This Clan has served the Throne for many years, but the most important thing for them always has been to protect the world of Armello. And now the corruption of the King is threatening this world.
• Mercurio of the Rat Clan - The Rats are the most numerous clan and this is their biggest straight. They're everywhere. There is no event in the Kingdom without a Rat present. There is no crime without a Rat sniffing around. With the huge amount of money and influence that they have, The Rats are the rulers in shadow.
• Amber of the Rabbit Clan - The Rabbits were the first who found the underground treasures of Armello. And took them for themselves, fashioning them into beautiful jewellery and mighty weapons. This allowed them to stood together with the other Clans.

When you're ready with choosing a character it’s time to leave your clan grounds and try to save the Kingdom. But your time is limited! The corruption eats the King and he is dying. If your Clan is not the most influent when he is gone, you will have missed your chance. But if the influence race doesn't fit your taste there is another way - sneak into the palace, pass by the Guards and stand against the King. But don't underestimate him, The Lion might be sick, but he will be no easy opponent. To do this you will have to prepare yourselves. This you can do by completing Clan quests and gathering equipment.

"Sana was walking through the forest. The Sun was setting behind the threes. Worry had grasped the bear's heart, because she has heard rumours about disappearing Bears in those forests, but there were no clues who might have done this. It could have been the Rats or the Rabbits....suddenly there were noise on her right! Sana turned ready to defend herself. Towards her was running Amber from the Rabbits, but there was something wrong, her sword was sheathed, her eyes were filled with fear.

- Run! - The Rabbit shouted while darting past the Bear. But Sana had no time to follow as the huge Bane was already upon her..."

Armello is separated in two big parts - Day and Night. Few things depend on those phases of the game. For example dice roll results, Bane spawning and Declarations.

Banes and The Kings Guards are the "neutral" sides in the game. The Banes are enemies of all and The Guard minding their own business most of the time. But they can jump on you if you enter the Castle or someone chooses the right Declaration. At some point you may even be forced to attack them because they have the habit of standing in your way. But be careful they're strong opponents in the beginning of the game.

"Mercurio was just passing through the small town when he heard some noise nearby. The Rat sneaked in that direction and peeked carefully behind the corner while one of his hands was resting on his long dagger. There he saw the source of the noise. Thane of the Wolfs and Amber of the Rabbits were fighting. The Wolf skilfully swinging his sword, but the smaller Rabbit was easily avoiding all his attacks..."

The battles in Armello are done by rolling dice. The idea is very similar to the one in The Witcher - if you roll more swords than your opponents rolled shields you score hits and vice versa. There are also some differences and strategies, but I'll let you find them by yourself. The results from the battles are also few - you kill your opponent and win 1 prestige point for that(unless he is a Guard, then you lose 1), your fight ends without a winner, then nothing happens or you die in which case you lose 1 prestige point and respawn at your starting position. The one who have most prestige when The King dies is the winner.

Digital boardgame

League of Geeks unlike others have utilized at 100% the resources of modern devices and computers. Armello is fully 3D, every character is fully animated with his own moving, attacking and defending animation. The board, cards and characters are various and unique, also well drawn. Now I agree that this kind of puts the game further from "classic boardgames", but at the other hand it turns it into something that is enjoyable to play on the computer. It might even attract players who don't play boardgames.

Players interaction

When the game is competitive its very important the scale on which players can interact with each other or with other words how much you can hinder them. In Armello this is main part of the game, there are a ton of ways to make it harder for the other players. Starting with simple things like taking their towns and choose nasty Declarations and get to poison apples, stealing items,  laying traps and ambushes. The big amount of interactions is probably the reason why killing players give you prestige. Because believe me, the game can easily turn from peaceful questing to vicious head-hunt.

Conclusion

Armello is great combination between classic adventure boardgame and a PC game. In it you will control one character bit it will not be just some pawn on the board but it will stride, fight and defend. At the same time you have limited actions per turn, roll dice and play cards.  

But it's not only beautiful to look at, it is also pleasure to play it, because even in this early stage the game have polished and various gameplay, because of the pre-generated board and different characters playstyle.

In my humble opinion Armello is a link that may make fans of both PC and boardgames to sit and play something together.

The game as always you will find on the links bellow. 

Let your Clan be victorious!

Links:

Official site

Steam

Myths at war - The end of the Age of Men!

This time I intend to remind you that this blog is not only about video games, but also about boardgames. Here some of you will say "But you wrote about some digital board games recently, we remember." , but what I mean are "real boardgames" like Dungeon Raiders and Discworld: Witches.

Today I will tell you about Myths at War! Designed by Francisco Gallego Arredondo and published by GMD, Myths at War is a game where you will build your own deck and will summon armies of Gods and Warriors who will fight against each other. Sounds familiar? Well it has almost nothing to do with the one you are thinking.

Myths at War has 6 sets released so far and each one introduces a new faction composed of Gods and mortals. The main idea is to create decks from those sets and fight against each other with them. The winner is the first who get to 30 points(power cubes). Here comes the first difference with other similar CG games - players don't have health points. Neither do their creatures. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First the cards themselves.

Each set includes two pantheon cards, 20 gods cards(characters,events and resources) and 30 designs. The sum of these numbers is also the minimum size of your deck - 51. Pantheons are cards which will define your strategy, because they are a must and there are only two of them for each faction. They will also tell you with how much power cubes you start and will mark your Pantheon are, but more for that later.
The gods cards include characters which are Gods, Mortals and Summoners. The Gods are powerful cards from which you can have only one in your deck. Mortals are limited to maximum of two and are used for sacrifices for the Gods or to help each other and be stronger together. Summoners are also mortals which are the only ones who can use Incantations which are something similar to equipments but reduce the characters statistics and give them new abilities.
Events are cards which together with the others from the Gods deck form your Oracles from where you will reveal cards. when event is revealed it resolves immediately. They can be both positive or negative and will be main part of your strategy.
Resources are special cards which will help you to accumulate more power cubes which are both resource and victory points.

The designs deck include equipment and actions. The first are item cards which you equip to your characters and they boost them. There are faction bound items and also items which cost less for certain characters or give them abilities. The actions are one time use cards which can have various effects on the game. They have different control effects so to say. For example they will exhaust other cards, kill characters, remove cubes etc.

Building a deck might be a taunting task at first.  And it may even look like there are not many strategies in every faction, but once you become familiar with the cards and play few games you will see more and more strategies within the decks. Battle oriented decks, cubes control, Incantation/Actions heavy are just few of the options.

Now that you have an idea about the cards let me guide you through a round of Myths at War.

When all players(up to 5 by the way...I don't recommend it though you will hate the game if you play it with five) are ready with their decks everyone put their Pantheon cards on the table, take as much starting cubes as shown on the Pantheon card. Next to the card will be your Pantheon area. After that shuffle and separate the Gods deck into four face down piles. It is not necessary for those to be even just start from right to left and put one card in each until you run out of cards. These will be your Oracles. When all players have their Oracles ready, shuffle your Designs deck and draw 5 cards. This is your starting hand. When all this is ready decide who will be first player. MaW have its own complicated way to decide who is first but everything will do so the way is up to you.

First phase is revealing the Oracles. Everyone in order flip the top cards on all of their Oracles and then they can discard one card from the Oracles which doesn't have any cubes on it.

Next is Transfer phase, this is probably one of the most important phases if not the most important. During Transfer you will move cubes from your reserve to characters and resources or from characters who already have cubes to other characters. Remember that only cards with cubes equal to their cost can enter your Pantheon. Transfer is also done in order and each next player have one more transfer than the previous player - the first player have one, the second two etc. You can transfer as much cubes as you want per transfer action. If any cards have their cost paid with cubes they are moved in play(in your Pantheon). All characters keep their cubes while any resources in play have theirs removed back to the common pool.

When the Transfer is completed is time for Influence phase. In this phase you have two basic actions which you can always take - Equip and Meditate. Equip allows you any number of times to equip one item to one creature after paying its cost. Equipments are played from your hand. Meditate gives you the option to tire(tap, sorry Wizards, please don't sue me) one character and take two cubes from the common pool. Other than that you can play and/or use any actions and abilities which say that take effect in the Influence phase. Important to rembeber is that players alternate in playing cards until one of them passes two times in a row. Influence is the time for last preparations between the clash between your armies. Last chance to disable this one scary God or get in play your own monster of character. When everybody are done with this phase is time for...

Confrontation is the long waited clash of sorcery and steel. Players in turns asign characters to the battlefield. All characters which are in the Pantheon can be asign if they have at least one power cube on them. This is the cost for entering the battlefield. When everybody have asign what they want to the battle is time to see who wins. All players count the force of all their characters on the battlefield. Tired characters count for half of their force. Exhausted chracters and such with negative force do not count. The player with lowest force remove from his pool as much power cubes as is the difference between him and his opponent.

After the end of the battle all creatures are returned to your Pantheon. All effects that don't specify continiuos effects are removed; each player draws one card from their Designs deck; any Tired creatures are returned to normal state. The player on the left is the new first player.

This continues until one player have 30 power cubes in his reserve or until only one player have any power cubes.

Conclusion

This was one very long explanation. Sorry about it, but I think that without it you would have no idea what I'm talking about. Now that you have an idea let me tell you what I think of the game. 

I will start with the components and the rulebook. The cards are well made with nice and thematic drawings. Unique for each faction. Unlike them the rulebook is...horrible! May be one of the worst rulebooks I have ever read! Its worse even than the rulebook of Heroes of Might & Magic. The rules are written in two languages and are eleven pages long...eleven! For a game this complicated! I have no idea what GDM have thought when they have written this rulebook... There is even some difference between the wording in the rules and on the cards! Anyway after some guessing and some research on the internet I have figured how to play the game. And oh boy was it worth it?! Myths at War is amazing!

Through the years I have played a good amount of CCG games(HEX, Hearthstone, Duel of Champions, Infinity Wars, Duelyst are some of the more famous ones) and while most of them offer some difference from the original formula(MTG) they are heavily based on it. Players have health points, they need some sort of mana to play cards, cards kill each other in battle. Myths at War is nothing like that and I love this about it. There is basically no board control here because every turn all creatures return to your Pantheon and you need to keep them supplied if you want to bring them to battle again next turn. Because of this well running engine which produce stable amount of cubes for you is extremely important.  These mechanics turn Myths into a lot more strategic and harder game.