Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2018/09/13/julian-gollops-latest-gem-is-not-xcom-and-is-out-now-chaos-reborn-adventures/
iOS Universal, Android •
The wonderful folk in our forums directed me to some questionable reviews posted on the just released mobile strategy title Chaos Reborn: Adventures. One of them gives the game one star on the sole basis that Julian Gollop, the creator of the original XCOM, created this game and it’s nothing like XCOM. I found this funny as hell because we usually criticize when creators keep redoing the same thing over and over but now Chaos Reborn is being flogged because it’s not just like another game that the designer created 23 years ago. What’s even better is that Chaos Reborn: Adventures is actually a remake of a game that Julian Gollop designed well before the idea of cryssalids ever entered his brain. Anyway, I’m rambling here. The major point to take from all this is that Chaos Reborn: Adventures is now available for both iOS and Android.
Chaos Reborn was a remake/sequel of a 1985 game designed by Gollop called Chaos: The Battle of Wizards and was released on Steam back in 2015. Chaos Reborn: Adventures was developed by Big Blue Bubble and seems to take everything from the big-screen version and squish it down to fit on our touchscreens. Players play battling wizards using cards to cast spells and place their summoned creations on a hex grid where they can battle it out, chess-style.
You may be able to tell from my description that I haven’t played either the 1895 original or the 2015 reboot, and I haven’t had time to play the new mobile version either. I could be all wet on their similarities, but just reading descriptions and looking at screenshots I’m sticking to my story. For a better description let’s blurb it out:
From the creator of X-COM [even though it's nothing like X-COM -ed.], Chaos Reborn has arrived on your mobile device with Chaos Reborn: Adventures!Defeat magical wizards in tactical turn-based combat in this spellcasting strategy RPG! Chaos Reborn: Adventures combines RPG-style turn-based combat with the tactical positioning of chess and the bluff of poker to create an entirely unique strategy game. Customize your wizard with 100s of gear items, spells, and mythical creatures to secure victory!
Battle your friends in a head-to-head competitive multiplayer mode, or try your hand at a robust single-player narrative campaign as you discover a complex tale of warring wizard factions, mystical realms, and supernatural forces. The choice is yours!
FEATURES
• Tactical turn-based combat
• Competitive multiplayer
• Challenging single-player campaign
• Gorgeous 3D graphics
• Deep and enthralling lore
It sounds a bit like Magic: The Gathering without the billions of cards and brain-burning deck building. I’m in and, if early reviews are accurate, I’ll be staying for a long time. There’s a campaign for solo play as well as online multiplayer once you wrap your head around the card-based combat not to mention the “deep and enthralling lore”.
The game is $10 for iOS Universal and Android but it’s a purely premium title with no IAP in sight. At least not in my first pass through the app which, thankfully, contains a multi-chapter tutorial for newbs like me.
https://youtu.be/FdJVnhT5R-o
