Islanders - Сити билдър за едно кафе време

В пренаситен пазар на видео игри, като днешният е изненадващо как въпреки всичко игрите, които наистина си заслужават успяват да изплуват над всичко и да достигнат до хората. Това за жалост не винаги става на време, което може да е фатално за малките разработчици. Изглежда обаче, че случаят с малкото инди студио Grizzly Games не е такъв. След тяхната първа игра Superflight, те се завръщат с Islanders. И в случай, че не сте се досетили от заглавието, тя ще и темата на това ревю.

Какво са Островитяни?

Islanders е малка, минималистична, бърза и лесна за научаване, но не без дълбочина "city-building" игра. На много места видях играта определена, като стратегия и докато съм съгласен, че в сити билдърите има стратегия и че дори те самите са вероятно съб-жанр на Страгетиите, то смятам да се придържам към съществуващият, но за жалост позабравен жанр - сити билдър. Islanders e сити билдър.

И тук мога да се впусна в спомени и обяснения как едни от ярките ми спомени за една от първите игри на първият ми компютър са свързани с Ceaser II и колко чудесна игра беше тя и как ме открехна за жанра, но...няма да го направя. Та за Islanders.

Islanders е много странна смесица, защото хем играта е с много успокояващо темпо, хем в същото време е състезателна...но само ако искаш...ама не баш. Сега ще обясня...

В Islanders единственото, което правите е да поставяте сгради и сега ще кажете "Ми нали е сити билдър бе, какво друго да правим?!". И ще сте прави, но имам предвид, че е само това, няма хора, няма богове, няма технологии, няма ресурси, просто слагате сгради, там където може. Къде е стратегията? Не случайно споменах Ceaser II по-горе. Двете игри всъщност имат общо и това са подобните им механики за това какво къде да строите. В Цезар гражданите ви си ъпгрейдваха къщите, ако имаха нещата, които искат наблизо. В Islanders постройките ви дават повече точки, ако ги строите до правилните ресурси или сгради. И губите точки, ако ги строите до грешните такива. Например мелниците дават повече точки, ако са достатъчно близо до полета, къщите дават повече точки, ако са до много други къщи или цирк или центъра на града и т.н. По-интересното е, че има сгради, които когато ги поставите са -Х точки, като например Храмът, но много сгради дават добри точки, ако са до Храм. Същото е и със златарите. Тези сгради са инвестиции, които имат шанс да ви се възвърнат многократно. 

Преди малко казах, че в играта няма ресурси и малко излъгах - такъв има, но само един и това са точките, които сградите ви дават. Всеки път, когато съберете определен брой точки играта прави две неща - дава ви нов пакет сгради и ви отключва нов остров. Ако не можете да построите нищо и нямате отключен остров, то играта приключва и трябва да започнете отначало. Целта е да минете, колкото може повече случайно генерирани острови. Играта дори ви записва точките и можете да се състезавате с приятелите си...а може и да не го правите. 

Заключение

Islanders е малък, бърз и много приятен сити билдър, в който вие поставяте сгради до други сгради, така че те да ви дават повече точки. Събирайки точки вие получавате още сгради, които да можете да слагате, както и нови по-трудни острови на които да се пробвате. Можете да играете както и просто за удоволствие, така и за да изкарате повече точки от приятелите си, което добавя приятен, незадължителен състезателен елемент към играта. Ако се чудите какво да правите докато пиете кафе сутрин и сте фенове на жанра, то застроите един остров...или пък десет.

Къде да намерите:

Steam

Wargroove - Малката, дълбока стратегия

Късна нощ, навън буря разкъсва небето. В коридорите на замъка многовековен вампир безмилостно върлува и си пробива път към тронната зала. Кралят е мъртъв...време е принцеса Мърсия да покаже, че е готова да управлява кралството си и да се справи с предстоящата война.

Какво е Wargroove ?

Wargroove е походова стратегия, в която вие командвате армия и трябва да победите противникова такава. По време на боят имате два начина да спечелите - да убиете противниковият командир или да превземете замъкът му. Всяка страна почва с няколко единици войска, като разнообразието е голямо. В редиците си ще имате всичко от обикновени копиеносци до дракони, та дори и кораби. Боят е базиран на кой има повече и кой ще удари първи, което си е скучна и проста система. Докато не вземете предвид, че всяка единица има някакво специално умение, което разчупва иначе неоригиналният начин на бой. Копията ви ще правят повече поражение, когато две единици от тях са една до друга, стрелците ви ще правят повече поражение, ако не са мърдали преди да стрелят, конниците ви правят повече поражение, ако се засилят преди да ударят и т.н.

Когато две единици се срещнат в боят те просто си разменят по една атака, като ако едната бъде унищожена напълно не получава шанс да отвърне.

Това, което най - много не ми харесва относно единиците е че за всички фракции типовете единици са едни и същи, просто се казват по различен начин и имат различен модел.

Всяка армия също си има и командир, който сам по себе си е страхотен боец, но освен това има свое специално умение, което се зарежда по време на битката и използвано в подходящият момент може да обърна боят. Само трябва да внимавате да не ви умре командирът, докато го хвърляте да размята противниците, защото тогава ще загубите битката(да, точно така, случи ми се).

Освен двете армии и евентуално замък на картата, където се случва битката има и още няколко неща, които определят стратегията ви - сгради и терен. Реките ви намалят хода, в гората не ви виждат, на хълмове и планини някои единици виждат по-надалеч, а по пътят всички се движат по-бързо. Сградите от своя страна са Села и Казарми от три различни вида - за наземни, за въздушни единици и за кораби. Селата ви дават пари всеки ход, а от казармите срещу пари можете да си наемате нови единици по време на битката. Всяка от сградите си има защитници, освен ако не е неутрална, които ако ги победите можете да вземете сградата за себе си.

Как е Wargroove ?

Когато играта беше обявена, преди около половин година, въпреки че арт-стила ми допадна много, битките ми изглеждаха прекалено прости. Двете единици се строяват една срещу друга удрят се, едната поема загуби и ако не е унищожена отвръща с текущата си останала сила. С излизането на играта мнението ми за битките не се е променило - никакъв контрол, твърде прости, никакво участие на играчът. Но цялостното ми мнение за играта се промени, защото важното в Wargroove не е самата размяна на ударите, а как ще се подготвиш за нея. Като подготовката много често може да е няколко хода преди планираният сблъсък - къде ще сложите конете си, къде пиките ще се наредят една до друга, от къде стрелците ще покрият най-много без да се местят? Това са въпроси, които постоянно ще ви занимават. Преди това кои сгради ще вземете, от къде ще тръгнете, ще оставите ли хора да пазят сградите ви и така нататък и така нататък.

Wargroove черпи много вдъхновение от Advance Wars, но на мен много повече ми напомня на Pit People или дори Into the Breach. Основните механики на играта са много лесни за разбиране и е лесно да навлезеш в играта, но веднъж там, пред теб се открива цял свят от възможности, стратегии и главоболия. Главоболия, да, защото ще видите, че докато по-късните мисии в Wargroove носят повече удовлетворение от първите(ако ги спечелите, забележете, че не казвам "когато)", то много рядко ще изиграете повече от една наведнъж без след това да се чувствате психически изтощени.

А, да, щях да забравя... Играта си има и история, която не е ужасна, но не е и нещо особено. Запълва мястото между битките и ви запознава с нелошо измисленият свят на Wargroove. Но едва ли ще е причината да играете Wargroove. Битките са причината. 

Заключение

Wargroove е малка, приятна, стратегическа игра, с чудесна пиксел графика и лесни за усвояване базови механики. В играта трябва да превземете вражеският замък или да убиете вражеския командир, за да спечелите. За тази цел по време на боят ще завземате села за пари и казарми за да можете да си купувате подкрепления. Голяма роля играе и теренът, тъй като различните видове от него ще ви помагат или пречат и ще трябва да планирате стратегиите си около него. 
Две неща не ми харесват в Wargroove. Първо всички фракции имат едни и същи типове единици, просто моделите са различни. И второ самите сблъсъци между единици са някак си между другото. Когато две единици се счепкат едната удря първа и другата, ако още е жива отвръща с текущата си сила. Нямате никакъв контрол върху тази част. И заради това е много важно как ще се подготвите за сблъсъка използвайки специалните умения на единиците си. Ако сте играли Advance Wars знаете за какво става въпрос. На мен много ми напомня и на Pit People, където нямате контрол кого удрят героите ви, само къде да застанат. 
Ако харесвате Advance Wars, Into the Breach или дори Pit People, то Wargroove има какво да ви предложи, но играта не е велика стратегия от рода на Total War, Civilization или Endless сериите, имайте го предвид.

Къде да намерите:

Официален сайт
Steam

Into the breach - Pacific Rim meets chess

Few days ago I realized that I have not written about Into the breach. So I am here to fix this mistake.

In 2012 a small studio called Subset Games created their debut game - Faster than Light - FTL. Despite the small team and niche genre FTL was a hit and turned into classic, becoming benchmark for many people in the industry. In February 2018 Subset returned and on the market appeared Into the Breach.

Small piece of perfection

I usually like to separate my reviews into sub-sections about the different aspects of the game, but Into the Breach is too small and too simple of a game for such thing, so here comes everything.

In the game you take command of a special time traveling squad which goes into the distant feature attempting to prevent the end of humanity. Similar to  FTL Into the Breach is also roguelike where when you die you teleport back to the past, re-assemble your team and can try again. During the game by completing objectives you will unlock new mechs for your squad. 

When you choose from your mechs and you are ready to start, the game transports you to the future. The world consists of islands which consist of regions. Each island have its own climate which can lead to thunderstorms, earthquakes, sandstorms and erupting volcanoes. Each region have also different objectives, some with buildings which if you succeed to keep whole to the end of the battle will provide you with bonuses and sometimes even units. 

If in a run you cleaned an island next time you will be able to start from it. 

Speaking of battles...

When you choose an island you will have a choice between few regions on this island. Each region with different advantages and disadvantages for you. What is important about the island's regions is that you will not be able to save all, some of them will fall to the insects, so you will need to choose carefully what you want and what you need. When you choose a region it is time to squash some bugs.

The battlefield is a small 8x8 square and on it the whole battle takes place. Before the battle you will have the chance to deploy your troops and this can be crucial for the battle to develop in your favor. What was surprising to me was how simple the game is and what big variety of units ( both mechs and bugs) there is in the game. The first make the game really easy to pick up and the second make it tactical masterpiece. The two together make it the gem it is. Among the bugs and the mechs you will see melee, charging units, tanks shooting in straight line, flying bugs and aircrafts, siege cannons, units creating  lightning and dust storms, bugs which bind targets stopping them from moving and more and more. The combinations and tactics are enormous amount. You will unlock thematic squads of mechs, but you can freely combine mechs from the pre-made squads into a custom squad. 
But how do you win? ( or lose at that matter) A good question. In each region you have buildings and you have power grid stat. If your power grid reaches zero you lose the run. When a building is destroyed you lose one grid and it is not restored after the battle. To win a battle you must survive X number of turns only, even in the bossfights, BUT in most battles you will also have side objectives which in some cases will give you grid, stars for unlocks or upgrade cores for your units. 

Conclusion

Into the Breach is simple game with simple mechanics. What make it so good is how well the mechanics are picked and how well they work together. It is not overburdened with complicated stats, skills or units, it is clean, only what is necessary and at the same time the game will make you bang your head against the wall and carefully plan every click you make. 

Where to find:

GoG
Steam
Humble

Battle Brothers - No mounts, but plenty of blades

Men sweating, blades singing, blood, screams and flying limbs...your band is broken you just have seen the captain fall. You are in charge now.

This is how Battle Brothers starts. You barely manage to get away from the last battle with nothing more than three men, some money and few provisions. But you are not desperate, being the experienced mercenaries you are you know the company can be rebuild. And you will have to...or die.

Battle Brothers is a turn based RPG game where you command and manage a company of mercenaries, trying to recover the band to its former glory. To do that you will need to hire new men, acquire money, items and most of all reputation.  How? By traveling. A lot of traveling. To get all of the other things you will need money. Money come from contracts and contracts are found in towns, but once you complete a contract there is no guarantee there will another in the same town so you will need go to another. At the beginning you are barely known band of ruff-raffs which will chase robbers and escort caravans for little money. The loot will not be good either, but probably will be better than the farmer clothes your new recruits are wearing. Mentioning those guys...

New Recruits

When you arrive into a town you will be able to visit few different locations including smith, market, chapel, tavern, volunteers and few others, but the ones mentioned are the ones you will visit most and find in most towns. I am sure you can imagine what most of those are used for, so I will tell you more about the one where you will find yourself often - volunteers. In each town depending on its size mainly you will find different kind and number of men who have decided that the life of a mercenary is better than whatever they have been doing. Each volunteer has price, upkeep cost and biography. The biography is always the same for all men of a single type(all farmhands will have the same biography.) so it is not really that useful when you are hiring someone. All in all is a wild guess what abilities the man you are hiring will have(they can even have disadvantages like tiring quickly or eating more), but you still can guess some things. 

For example a trader is not very good in the shieldwall as he is weak. A priest will not flee easily, because of his hard resolve, but he is not used to fighting etc. In bigger settlements you will find better man. Some of them will come with good equipment or will even have few levels under their belt, but they will cost a lot more. The more men you have the more money you will need to pay them and more food you will need while on the road. The maximum size of your company is 20 men, but you will find yourself expanding slowly because of the scarce resources you have and the fact that you will lose men from time to time. And while it is easy to just go hire 1-2 new guys and put on them the equipment of their dead comrades you will notice that guys who are 4-5th level are a lot more useful than inexperienced new recruits. Not to mention that the game scales to really high levels of difficulty and you will need to train different men into different things so they can take on different roles on the battlefield. Making characters "specialize" so to say will make losing characters at later stages even harder to compensate for. It is kind of the Darkest Dungeon case where each level of a character make him/her more and more valuable and irreplaceable.

To battle!

And little by little we get to the main attraction -  battles. In battle as in the whole game your characters are represented by cute pawns, but that is pretty much all the cuteness you will see in this game. The battles are turned based and take place on hexagonal battlefields ridden with terrain obstacles which you will have to take in consideration during battle. Those include different terrain height which will affect damage and hit rating; trees which will block line of sight and even tall grass which is able to fully hide enemies and allies alike. But the things to keep in mind continue. 

Against different opponents different tactics work. If your enemies are undead or wild beasts pike wall is great. If they are humans you will have to advance as they will not throw themselves at the spears. Also when you are against armored opponents certain weapons work better etc. Also during battle you need to keep an eye on your brothers's resolve as if it drops they might flee. Many things affet resolve - being surrounded, seeing ally fall, seeing some being incapacitated.  You can even, no you will have to use formations and specialize troops to do different roles during battle. Or in other words the battles are complicated and will need deep strategizing if you want to win. Not to mention there are also crisis which when happen enemies become more numerous and start to raid cities and caravans. Making a well armed and skilled party very important if you want to survive the crisis. 

Conclusion

Battle Borthers is ok looking game. No flashy effects, no high detailed models, nothing visually impressive. But oh my how deep is this game! You will have to manage your company, be careful what brothers you hire, to have enough money, food and supplies. Which brothers you will take to battle, who will you hire, how will you arm them, what formation you will use. There is a ton of things, ridiculous amount of depth. The biggest downside for me was the lack of overarching story, but you can easily make your own. You will meet enough strong enemies, you will have more than enough epic battles to do so if you want to. You will even have the chance to get into a war between the royal families. Plenty of material to make your own story. Another nitpick which might turn people away is the low fantasy profile of the game. You will fight orcs, goblins and undead, but there is very little magic in the world of Battle Brothers.

If I have to compare Battle Brothers to another game it is definitely Mount and Blade with bigger focus on the fights and turn-based, but similar in many ways. Great, sadly niche game which will not get the attention it deserves. It is hard, it is far from casual and takes a lot of time to progress. But great, great game nonetheless.

Where to find:

Official site
Steam

   

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Ninjas are like commandos after all

Long ago when I was a small kid and was wasting most of my money in the local PC club I remember seeing some of the older guys playing interesting game where a group of commandos was lurking through a city trying to do something. I did not understood the game back then, but later a stumbled upon it again and learned its name, purpose and how good it is. I am of course talking about the Commandos series by Pyro Studios.

But why I am mentioning these old games? Because last year came out a game which can be easily called their successor - Shadow Tactics. The game grabbed my attention with two things. First it is a new title in an almost forgotten genre and second it is published by a favorite studio of mine which is known for a totally different genre - Daedalic Entertainment(the game is developed by Mimimi Productions).

But let us go in order. Commandos was not extremely popular even back in the day and I doubt it is now when its genre is almost forgotten, so let's start assuming most of you do not know what I am talking about. It is the safest approach. I will not miss anything and you will not be confused at the end.

Welcome to the country of the rising sun

Unlike Commandos Shadow Tactics is taking place in feudal Japan, somewhere around the Edo period in the middle of the rising of a new Shogun. To assist his ascend to power the Shogun hires five individuals to accomplish tasks for him. From intelligence gathering to assassination and sabotage. But the sub-title is this for a whole different reason. Playing Shadow Tactics you will feel like you are in Japan. Everything in graphical aspect is done with so much care, with every detail in its place - from the the surrounding nature through architecture to the clothes of the characters and NPCs. I have not researched but I will not be surprised if it turns out that the places you see in the game are historically accurate not only in name.

Shadows, Tactics and Blades in the back.

Shadow Tactics is a hard-core, real time, stealth game where you will lead small team of...gifted individuals. On each mission you will have different objectives which you will have to complete while attracting as little attention as possible. This is where the "hard-core stealth" part comes in.
Any of your characters cannot openly take on more than two guys and that is if he is lucky, but even if you manage to deal with the first enemies who found you, you will be either forced to retreat because more enemies will soon come or you will die. If you run back and hide somewhere out of their patrolling range this is not the end as alerted enemies will become more vigilant until the end of the mission and they may even change patterns and act differently. When even one of your guys dies the mission fails. So if you are found you are probably dead already. On the bright side you can save your game whenever you like. That does not affect the difficulty of Shadow Tactics in any way. Second thing enemy patrols have complicated patterns with looking in different directions, returning, turning back. Different patrols will even cover each other's blind spots.  It is a must to stay hidden and observe how enemies move. A mindless rush will probably cost you the mission. 

But what can you do against such enemies? Well you have more than few tricks up your sleeve, but the most important thing is to learn that stealth and silence is not something thrown in there just for theme, it is your friend, it is the way the game is meant to be played. Of course when kills cannot be avoided(or you are just a bloodthirsty beast) you will be able ti backstab, set traps, snipe nested on high towers and lure enemies into ambushes. And when you cannot safely sneak up to someone there is probably a way to kill them using the environment around them(There is nothing like killing five people by making a bull kick them). Just do not forget to hide the bodies. 

Conclusion

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is hardcore, team based stealth game, made by Mimimi Productions(and published by Daedalic Studios) and it will bring you straight to feudal Japan in the middle of a conflict for power. The game is not turn-based only planning and observing your enemies sometimes will take so much time that it will feel like one, but dare to take hasty actions and you will die. If I have to compare it to another game, just to make it easier for you, it is definitely inspired by the old series of Commandos by Pyro Studios. But while it has taken a lot from its "predecessor" it brings a lot of its own character and flavor making it worthy of your time if you are into this kind of games. 

Where to find:

Official Site

Mimimi Productions

GoG

Steam Store

  

Elder Scrolls: Legends - Bethesda gives it a try too

This review should have been done last week and I even said publicly in the Something podcast that I will write it for last week. Problem is that I really struggled with this review. What to say, how to make it useful on what to accent. After all it is just another digital CCG, but then again when I played it I felt it is worth it to tell you about it so...In the end I decided to just do the same I did with some of the previous CCG reviews which I did. I will keep it short and accent on the things which make it different. As in previous reviews games for comparison will be Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. Here we go...

As you can guess from the title this is Bethesda's card game and it takes place in the Elder Scrolls universe. I was not overly excited when I heard about it as I am not really a fan of Elder Scrolls, but my love for CCG games prevailed and I subscribed for the beta. I will kind of spoil the review but after I played it I actually like it and think it is really good and interesting CCG. 

First ESL have tutorial merged with an interesting and well done, for a CCG, story which will give you not only cards but few whole decks and bunch of crystals to craft cards with if you so desire. In other words - really great way to learn and start the game is to play the story. Always a nice thing to have.

The core gameplay differs from other CCGs too. You still play on board against your opponent (being player or AI) but here the board is separated in two lanes and each can have certain passive effects which affect it. For example most of the times left lane will be normal, while the right will be Shadow lane, in which every minion played cannot be target by another creature for one turn. In the solo campaign you will see other effects too. The two lanes really change things and you will have to constantly think where what to play, to focus one or to try and play on both etc. It takes some time to get used to it, but it makes the game deeper and more strategic. This deep and strategic gameplay gives a more of a Magic feeling to the game. You know I heavier card game. To some degree the rich lore which can be felt from the story and even from the cards contribute also for this "Magic" feeling.

Another interesting innovation is that ESL has two Arena modes - one solo and one versus other players. This again shows some deep understanding of how card games work and how hard is to learn when you start. The solo arena costs the same as the other variant, but you play against AIs which become more and more powerful the more wins you get. In the end you fight a boss AI at the end of the Arena. 

Elder Scrolls: Legends use the same class system as Hearthstone, but here they are races instead. By playing different races you unlock different cards depending on the colours this race use mainly. The big difference is that some cards (marked with green arrow in the top right corner) you can level up when you level up. When you level a card you will get two possible choices and will have to choose one. The differences can range from stats to abilities. Getting one of the two variances of a card does not stop you from getting the other from packs so you can end up with both variants.

And last but by all means not least is probably the most unique mechanic Legends has and that is the runes. When you fight around the portrait of your character you will see blue runes. For every 5 health which you lose one rune breaks and you draw a card. Affected by this are two types of cards - ones which tells if a rune was broken this game somethings happens and the more interesting ones are the ones having the keyword "Prophecy". If you draw a "Prophecy" card from broken rune you may play it immediately for zero mana. 

Speaking about keywords something else which made me feel like playing Magic are the amount of keywords and subtypes. Every race from Elder Scrolls is present in the game and then some more like beasts and certain animals. This opens the possibilities for a lot of decks built around those subtypes and new keywords. 

And while on the subject of deckbuilding there are some things which should be mentioned. ESL's decks are bigger than those in Hearthstone - they can go as far as 70 cards. Also they can contain two colours of cards (should I even mention Magic here?). The colours determine to some degree the style of play the cards tend to be. For example red are aggressive and purple are more control oriented etc. 

Conclusion

I went in a bit more details than I intended but that is why conclusions exist. Elder Scrolls: Legends is a sibling of Magic: The Gathering for players who look for something faster and more casual but at the same time caring the same feeling and depth which MTG have. At the same time it brings a lot of new things to the table as well as some improved mechanics which have stood the test of time. You will find everything you like in a CCG and then some more. Try it, it is free and at the time of this review it should be already in open beta.

  

Where to find:

Official site

Steamworld: Heist - Welcome to the Wild Wild Galaxy

Have you played Steamworld: Dig by Image & Form Games? I have not, but I played their latest creation which it seems to be taking place in the same universe. Yes, I am talking about Steamworld: Heist.

In distant future our Galaxy is inhabited by robots driven by steam. Among those one pirate stands out - Captain Piper! You will take control over her and her crew as they fight their way through evil invaders made from the scraps of other robots, and trying to take over the pirating in this part of the Universe.

That is pretty much the story of the game. Of course it develops a little with playing the game. You will learn why Piper has become pirate and such, but the story is not anything impressive and it will not be the reason for which you will pick this game. The reason you will pick Steamworld and not leave it for days to come is the gameplay. Oh yes!

When I talked to a friend about the game I compared it to X-COM but it’s actually a lot more like a mix between Worms and X-COM. You have a team of robots and you fight against other robots in tactical turn based battles. During the fight you will have to take in account the diversion of the shots, surrounding floors, covers, types of enemies, weapons you use etc. The X-COM resemblance comes from the different robot classes, cover system, special abilities, skill shots, equipment system...oh and your base of operation and ship where all your robots are stationed. The difference here is that you manually aim each shot which allow you to perform amazing skillshots and ricochets. The best part? All this is really simple and easy to grasp, but at the same time immensely fun. If I have to go into more details - the game consists of galaxy map ridden with mission spots, beating one unlocks you the next one. Each mission takes place at the enemy ship and you have certain objectives which you should complete. They can vary but are mostly loot the ship, save someone or kill/destroy something. When you complete the objectives you will have to go to the evacuation point where when your whole team gathers the mission will be counted for complete. There is no other way to win a mission. If someone dies in mission but you complete it he/she will not get experience but you will be able to use them next time. If you lose a mission it will cost you water which is the main currency in the game. From the enemy ships you can loot water, weapons, bombs, med kits and of course hats. The last are just for visuals but believe me or not you will find yourself risking whole missions just to get that one hat which you do not own. Speaking about visuals...

This is something else which together with the excellent gameplay and music will not let you leave the game. Steamworld is somehow at the same time both futuristic and retro with its black and white intro and everything being steam powered, but sentient robots ruling the Galaxy. The game is also surprisingly atmospheric for such light title. The robots are really steampunky and each one of them has its own unique visuals and character. I was surprised how much out of their way they have gone to make all those characters being unique, with background story and all.  But its great because it adds a lot to the game giving it this feeling of finished and well-polished product.

Sadly as much as I want to say that this is a perfectly executed game there are some flaws, the biggest probably being the variety of missions. More specifically the objectives which are too repetitive and even when the battles are fun the whole thing become a bit boring when you have to do the same thing again and again. The work around this (in case you really want to finish the game and like me have grown attached to Piper and her crew) is to play it in short sessions this way not burning yourself. 

Other than that I cannot say the game has any serious flaws. Image and Form Games have had very clean idea what they wanted to create and they have succeeded. Steamworld is light, fun turn based shooter implementing in itself ideas from classics like X-COM and Worms, so if you like these two you will love Steamworld Heist.

Where to find:

Official site

Steam

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

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. 

Legends of Eisenwald - Чували ли сте за Strategy First

Попаднах на Legends of Eisenwald напълно случайно, всъщност приятел ми каза за нея и реших да я пробвам. Оказа се точно като за мен. Играта е тактическа стратегия с RPG елементи и походови битки. Дело е на белоруското студио Aterdux Entertainment и излезе на 2 юли 2015г.

Света, който ви заобикаля...

Действието на играта се развива във фантастичен свят, вдъхновен от Германия през 15ти век. Вие сте млад благородник, който след като се завръща в земите си открива, че там е настъпил хаос и всичките му васали са се хванали за гушите. Върху вас пада задачата да върнете реда в земите си. Самата история не е нещо особено и лесно можете да я пропуснете, но ако решите да я четете тя ще даде своя принос за това да се потопите по-лесно в един свят на постоянни интриги и предателства, където никога няма да знаете кой наистина ви е приятел. Е, не достига висините на Игра на тронове в това отношение, но си има и своите добри попадения. 

Но дори и да решите да пропуснете историята, вие ще имате удоволствието да се насладите на един много...исторически коректен свят. В Legends of Eisenwald ще видите много замъци, които са вдъхновени от истински такива. Същото важи и за предметите, които ще ви попаднат по време на игра - изключително точни от историческа гледна точка. Тези две неща допринасят за създаването на един сравнително реалистичен свят...със зрънце магия, тъй като във войската ви ще има магьосници и лечители, както и за противници понякога ще имате и различни фантастични същества.

Мисля, че сме се срещали преди...

В ревютата, които четох за Legend of Eisewald, играта е сравнявана с Heores of Might and Magic, както и с King's Bounty и докато тези сравнения не са неточни, то на мен LoE много повече ми напомни за една друга много любима моя игра - Disciples II, дело на Strategy First. Вярно играта има същия "безкраен хода", като King's Bounty  и битките малко напомнят на класиката на 3DO, но нека ви обясня и ще видите колко общо има и с Disciples.

Като споменах "безкрайния ход" може би тук е мястото да кажа малко повече за начина на играене, тъй като това е важна механиката в играта. Вие имате два варианта - всички ще се движат, когато и вие се движите или класически RTS вариант, където всеки ще бъде независим от вашите действия. И двата варианта имат своята употреба и вероятно ще ви се налага постоянно да преминавате от единия към другият.

Нека започнем с разликите между LoE и Disciples. Първата и може би най-сериозна е тази че вие няма да развивате замъците си. Вместо това на всеки от тях е зададено какви възможности ще ви дава. В някои от тях ще можете да се лекувате, в други да си купувате войска, а в трети няма да можете да правите нищо. Следователно и втората разлика - за еволюцията на единиците ви няма да са нужни специални сгради, а единствено определено количество опит. Друга много голяма разлика е възможността да давате предмети на единиците си. Точно така. И не само можете да ги екипирате с предмети, но някои от тях ще могат да ползват и по няколко вида оръжия, които дават още по-голяма възможност да за различни войскови формации. 

Сега да видим по какво си приличат двете игри. Най-голяма прилика и това, което ме накара да си спомня за отрочето на Strategy First беше възможността бойните ви единици да  еволюират, когато вдигат нива. 

По същия начин, като и в Disciples това става бавно, но всяко ниво наистина има значение и може да обърне играта. Това което Aterdux са променили тук е, че дърветата на единиците са по..."неспециалиризани". Например, ако сте играли Disciples и си спомняте, там лечителя ви можеше да стане такъв, който може да лекува една единица или такъв, който да лекува всички. Тук на същия тип войска е даден избора да бъде лечител или вещица, като двете имат коренно различна роля във войската ви. Същото важи и свещениците ви, при първото им вдигане на ниво ще трябва да изберете дали те ще бъдат помощни единици или такива, които ще влизат в ръкопашен бой с противника. Както и в Disciples и тук избора ви е перманентен, щом изберете един клон, то другият е заключен за тази единица. Тъй като обаче еволюцията на единиците не е продиктувана от сградите, които имате в замъците си, то вие може да имате едновременно единици и от двата клона, стига да пожелаете.

Другата прилика, колкото и да е странно са битките. Защо да е странно? Защото в Disciples II битките са статични, тоест единиците не се движат, а могат да нападат само най-близката до себе си единица. В Legends of Eisenwald войската ви се движи по бойното поле, но пак може да напада само най-близките до себе си противници. Това да си призная е начина по който си представях, че ще са направени битките в Disciples III.

Заключение

Legends of Eisenwald ми напомня за игра, която обичам и към която съм се връщал множество пъти - Disciples II на студиото Strategy First. И двете игри са стратегии премесени със RPG елементи. Друга прилика между тях е механиката позволяваща на единиците ви да трупат опит и да се развиват с времето. Тук Aterdux са доразвили идеята от Disciples според мен, като са позволили на играчите да имат единици и от двата клона на еволюционното дърво. Също така и самите клонове са по-разнообразни и различаващи се. Най-голяма разлика за мен дойде от това, че тук на единиците също могат да се дават предмети, като дори някои видове войска могат да ползват повече от един вид снаряжение.

Друга голяма разлика в двете игри идва от обстановката, която създават. За разлика от предшественичката си LoE създава усещането за един сравнително реалистичен свят, в който има само зрънце магия и митични създания. Това в голяма степен е постигнато с множеството замъци, които са вдъхновени от истински такива, както и исторически точно пресъздадените оръжия и доспехи на войската ви и героите, които ще срещате по пътя си.

Legends също така изглежда добре и има прилична история, която не е фатално обаче ако не следите. Не може да се мери с тази създадена от Strategy First.

Единствените недостатъци на заглавието, които трябва да се насиля за да видя са това, че за много хора няма да изглежда много добре, както и факта, че ако сте хардкор играчи, то играта няма да ви предложи това което търсите. LoE е предвидена да бъде играна по-скоро на кратки серии, отколкото на сесии от по няколко часа.

Ако тези недостатъци не ви притесняват, то ви препоръчвам Legends of Eisenwald. Играта крие много повече, отколкото се вижда на пръв поглед.

Линкове:

Официален сайт

Steam

HumbleBundle Store