I’m actually a fan. I think their games have been good looking and very functional. Not deep, by any means, but what they’ve done has been solid. Noch Mal was an obsession with my wife and I for a while. Hex Roller and Quixx use the same UI and everything is clean and easy to pick up and play. Quixx seems to have disappeared from the App Store, though.
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I personally thought that Upper Deck went the completely wrong direction with their Legendary app. I could live with the loss of the Marvel IP, but the game is slow, with bad UI, and requires internet connection. Ah well. Anyways, there is a spin-off app on the App Store called Legendary DXP: 007 which, as you can imagine, is all Bond themed. I have no idea how long this has existed.
Edit: For what it is worth I tried the game. I also played it concurrently with a vanilla Legendary DXP game. My opinion is still that Upper Deck could have done something great and instead tried to turn a board game into a money machine. 007 uses basically the exact same UI though it does run quicker and smoother. There are 2 different currencies and there is energy required to play, though I believe the basic unlock removes all energy requirements. The other currencies seem to be mainly for cosmetics. I prefer the generic fantasy art on the original over the Bond screen gabs, but that’s purely subjective. Still, requiring these games to be online so that UD can run a cash shop for cosmetics is just a terrible idea. The games in general could be cleaner but I’d have been happy to pay to a more traditional deck builder with offline campaigns. As is, there are better options like Aeon’s End or Xenoshyft if you want co-op or a myriad of competitive deck builders.
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Thanks for the heads up. While it does just feel like a Legendary reskin with the exact same clunky UI, it’s a interesting diversion.
Actually, I’ve spotted 1 new aspect in 007 I kind of like which I don’t think would be very feasible in a physical game nor do I recall being a mechanic in Legendary, which is the fact that cards can get modified by other cards for the duration of the current match. Simple annoyances like now all of the cards in your market cost an additional coin or beneficial like 1 of your cards has permanently gained an additional faction affiliation.
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Probably not new, but new to me. Exhaustive list of board games on iOS!
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It is new. The old list wasn’t kept up by its originator so couldn’t be updated.
Maybe we can get some updated comments on them, too. I like to know what is working and what isn’t, even it it is still listed on the store.
Has anyone tried Dark mist? It is apparently a rogulike card game and has rather good reviews on iOS. It is also 80% off right now.
I really enjoyed it for it’s pretty novel mechanics.
Your cards are your health. Your discard pile acts as a bit of a buffer but any damage above that is the taken from your draw deck. The cards removed from damage are then held by the creature that did the damage to you until you slay it, at which point they’re added back to your discard pile. Each of the game’s distinct classes have their own unique ways of dealing with this system be it ways to steal back cards from monsters or cards that have additional curse effects to the baddies when held by monsters.
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+1
Also quite enjoyed it here. Played it originally on Steam but it’s also out on Android too.
Regicide’s one of my favourite games to play solo with a deck of regular playing cards.
You use all the A-10 cards to kill off all the Royals (J-K) without running out of cards in your hand or remaining in your deck. Lots of clever usage of suit based abilities (Hearts restock your deck from the discard, diamonds draw extra cards, clubs deal double damage, spades shield you from royal attacks) and each royal negates their own suits ability from being used against them. You can only play up to a card value of 10 each turn, can only play doubles or triples of the same card number (but you trigger all the suit abilities equal to the total value) and Aces only count as 1 value but can combo with any card up to a 9.
They’ve recently implemented the entire solo game in their companion app for under £2. Definitely worth the money if you’ve not played it before, otherwise grab the rules and a deck of playing cards and you can try it out on your table freesies.
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Never even heard of the game before but I will definitely snag the app and learn it.
There is a new card game on iOS called Heck Deck. It is a card-based Roguelike bullet hell game…or something like that. I have idea if it is any good but I like new ideas and mixed-up genres.
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Had it wishlisted on android. Looks pretty fun by haven’t tried it yet.
Dropped the 2.99 cause why not, and Steam reviews seemed positive. Plus, I like shmups and I like deck builders, but also what in the ever loving mess is this thing?
The art is barely on par with Dream Quest, not that that matters, but there’s no tutorial, no idea what I’m doing, it’s hard to control, and on the phone at least my fat fingers cover the entire area I’m supposed to be “steering” the thing.
Will watch a video later but not feeling enthused so far.
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I’ve played about a half hour and have some of the same concerns as Jon–particularly the controls and lack of tutorialization–but I think they’re taking the “learn from (bad?) experience” aspect of a roguelike pretty seriously.
re: Control issues–enabling “touch offset” in the controls helped me a ton. Rather than touching the spot you want to go to, the target is a bit above your finger, making it easier to see.
I watched the first couple of minutes of this video before I pre-ordered on iOS, and it covers some basics pretty well.
Ah, ok, video makes it make a little more sense now. h/t.
Humble Bundle is offering Surviving Mars, its OST and all DLC aside from the newest one for less than 9€. It is one of the best colony/space survival sims out there in my opinion. The price is a steal in my not so humble opinion.
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MSFT reportedly buys ATVI for $68.7 billion.
Price of ATVI shares are soaring pre-market.
Personally, I had picked up some at a discount recently, so this is good news for me financially. Although I have to say, this probably means the end of Mac OS development from Blizzard, which is sad.
This opens up a whole rat’s nest of “what ifs” that all us armchair businessmen can contemplate. Generally speaking, I don’t think I consolidation is ever that beneficial for consumers (Admodee, anyone) but Microsoft also has an opportunity here to right a few ships, if it chooses. There are also interesting (and unknowable) economic discussions about whether Microsoft will make Call of Duty and exclusive and lose an enormous player base but if console sales will make up for that, etc. This also puts a burden on Sony to secure IP, develop competing IPs, and maybe find ways to actually get the system they are basing their future on into the markets…
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