Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2018/05/04/our-weekly-not-actually-weekly-asmodee-asmodee-digital-actually-update/
iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux •
It’s been a rather slow news week on the mobile front with the big releases still far in the distance and nothing new coming to light. Leave it to Asmodee Digital, keepers of the keys to the mobile board gaming vault, to break that silence and give me something to write about other than stuff that happened 70 years ago. A bunch of Asmodee news appeared this week – nothing so grand that I felt I should stop playing Factorio to mention it – so here it all is in one place.
Ascension
https://youtu.be/w2sWLnLexR8When I mention Ascension most of you probably think of those gurus of the mobile board game scene, Playdek. Sure, Playdek is still the developer doing what they do behind the curtain, but Asmodee is the big, green, glowing head yelling at all of us to go kill the witch play their games. Earlier in the week, Asmodee added a new Ascension expansion to their list of beta tests, Gift of the Elements. While getting a new expansion is always nice, the big story here is that the PC version of the game has been completely overhauled. How? I don’t know, as it’s only for PC and I’m typing this on my Mac, but our keen-eyed peanut gallery has chimed in and it sounds like the update is pretty decent thus far. Have a PC? Like Ascension? Go sign up for the beta and start playing with the new toys, making sure to give your input so they can polish this thing to a nice sheen before release.
To access their beta page, go to Asmodee Digital’s website and sign in using your Asmodee account. There will be a menu on the left and at the bottom is “Beta Tests”. Click that and you’re home free. If and when these changes might come to the mobile version of the app is still up in the air, but I’m sure it will happen at some point down the road.
Potion Explosion
https://youtu.be/Hmn2y7nKHH4The Asmodee betas just keep rolling off the assembly line. Today they announced a new expansion for the digital version of Potion Explosion is currently entering beta and you can sign up for it using the same method we detailed in the Ascension section.
The expansion is called The 5th Ingredient and stars a young Bruce Willis as a cab driver in the future. It’s really weird! Oh, wait, I’ve just been handed an update that says I’m wrong on that one. Nope, instead the expansion has to do with mixing more potions. That would make sense.
The Fifth Ingredient adds the titular ingredient which is a bit of a wildcard and can fill in for any missing ingredients you might have. The expansion also includes four new potion types and professors who will smack you with a ruler when you mess up. No word on when it might go live, but head to the Asmodee account sign up page and apply to join the beta if Potion Explosion is your thing.
Scythe: Digital Edition
https://youtu.be/-usrOi_SRK4Information about the digital version of Scythe has been coming at a relatively steady pace ever since Asmodee streamed the game live back in April. Yesterday, the developers, Knights of Unity, opened the floodgates and let us know what we can expect and when we can expect it.
Posted on the game’s Steam page, the developer listed exactly what we can expect over the next three months:
May update - Early Access launchI'm most excited to hear that a Mac release is in the works, but I did notice that nowhere does it mention the mobile release. We know it's coming to mobile, but when? It might simply be that the mobile release wasn't mentioned because this was on a Steam update, but we're looking into it.Early June update
- The much-requested Undo button!
- More challenging AI (part 1)
- Tooltips turned on by default
- A wealth of bugfixes to make the game more enjoyable
- and more…
Early July update
- More challenging AI (part 2) + division of the AI into several difficult levels
- Faster AI animations
- Ammo replaced by Combat Cards
- Implementation of the Factory Cards artworks
- Option to disable the need to confirm actions
- Option to prevent the Industrial Rusviet combo
- Localization: Polish language (not a pun)
- Low priority bugfixes
- and more…
Early August update
- Update of the tutorial missions
- Touchpad support
- Combat context
- Support for gifts of coins
- Traditional progress tracks for Stars, Power and Popularity
- Camera behavior customization
- Current score preview
- Final score screen overhaul
- Stats available for local games
- Promo Cards unlocked by completing achievements
- and more…
- Mac OS support
- Spectator mode
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Brightness, gamma and contrast settings
- and more…
Other than that, we won’t have long to wait until it arrives on Early Access later this month (for PC).