Railbound releases tomorrow on pc and mobile. Real Cosmic Express vibe to this one. From the creator of Golf peaks and Inbento.
Also really interested in Circus Electrique, which is a fantastical, steampunk, turn-based tactics game drawing inspiration from Darkest dungeon with a side of circus management.
I enjoyed the Railbound demo during the summer. :)
I tried out the slice and dice demo a couple months ago and enjoyed a run - it’s definitely on my watch pile so I was very intrigued when I saw this video today from Retromation about Slice and Dice 2.0 (it’s in beta but the beta version is on itch) - it’s not done yet but looks to be a substantial upgrade - 60 heroes has now been upgraded to 100 heroes, more gear, changes, etc.
I did notice that if you get it on itch you can download binaries for all the platforms.
I played Road 96 over the weekend, and I mostly enjoyed it and would recommend it. On the plus side of the column, I think it succeeded in something that another game that I mostly enjoyed, Citizen Sleeper, did not - it kept me as the player on my back foot, always struggling to claw my character into a successful place but never really dominating the game. I was (almost) always lacking in money or energy or enough time to accomplish what I needed. I did get better at shepherding my resources over the duration of the game to get several characters successfully to the border but I never felt like I was really in control. It kept to its theme of being ground under by powerful forces very effectively.
On the other hand, kind of similarly to Citizen Sleeper, your choices never really expand all that much. You’ve got a few options to try to reach your destination - if you have money, you can call a cab or ride a bus, or you can walk or hitch a ride. These will deplete energy as you travel so you’re going to need food and/or money to buy food and a place to sleep. You’ll meet a lot of folks along the way, some who are in the same situation you’re in, trying to escape their lives, and some others who are pretty happy with how things are going and who are, at best, indifferent to you problems and at times actively opposed. It does make an interesting conversation working out who this person that’s picked you up on the side of the road might be, and where their sympathies lie. But it does get pretty rote after a few repetitions - and you’ll get plenty of repetitions trying to ferry folks to the border.
But it’s still a pretty quick game, and an interesting perspective. I’m still not entirely clear why all these teenagers are so keen to bail out - it seems the government arrests kids who are fleeing the country and sticking them in mines for free labor, but that seems it could be avoided by not running? Which would still leave them in a pretty crappy country I guess. But, kind of like Papers, Please and This War of Mine, it does get you into the shoes of a refugee for a little while, and gives you a little to think about.
Damn, wish Zachtronics solitaire was on iOS
Chambers of Devious Design is an unabashed variant of the Castles of Mad King Ludwig (the dev is a big fan), but it has some unique wrinkles, like sabotage rooms for attacking the enemy (and I think the perks/abilities and/or the room interactions may also be a difference). Nice campaign mode with various types of matches (score X points, Last man standing, destroy X rooms) for each character (completing the sequence with one, unlocks a new character to play through the campaign).
Enjoying this so far.
After the Collapse has left early access. Rimworld-like.
Slice & Dice has had a major update with new heroes, items, and enemies. The best news is that the developer expects to bring it to Steam and iOS soon. I think it will become huge when it does.
Very much looking forward to the update appearing on Android!
This looks pretty good, just released today.
If you’ve previously played the Roadwarden demo, dig up your saved data and delete it before playing the full version. Otherwise this happens on the main menu:
You say that like it’s a bad thing. Double G getting all those achievements, DoubleG!
Yeah, this game rocks. If you’re tolerant of text-heavy RPGs that you play entirely through dialog prompts you should pick this up. It’s like Quest For Glory + Oregon Trail.
Anyone heard about Foretales? It’s a card-based adventure game that looks pretty well done. Released today and amazingly not another early access game. It got a favorable write up by Rock Paper Shotgun.
It looks really interesting. The mechanics are built around giving you all kinds of ways to approach problems by using different resources (gold, fame, grim, food) or character abilities.
I really enjoyed playing Norco on PC Game Pass recently, and wanted to point out that it’s coming to Playstation and Xbox soon (as well as Xbox Game Pass). Totally worth a look if you’re into point and click adventures.
This is giving me good good Gitaroo Man vibes:
OH! And great news! The sequel to Butterfly Soup is coming in October. One of the best written visual novels of all time.
(The original is free, here. PLAY IT)
That Trombone Champ trailer made me grin!
And this Steam review:
Y’all are giving me the Joneses.
“Rogue Glitch” is a lot of fun; can anyone tell me if online mode is worth it? $5 is a lot to me, these days (quietly sobs)