I’ve been looking at that today as well wondering if I should take the plunge. I bought a copy of Red Rising (Stonemeier Games) which is a fun filler game and evocative of the books IP. I read a design diary by Jamey Stegmeier a few days ago where he explained he based Red Rising upon the mechanics of Fantasy Realms. However really hoping Brettspielwelt still have Eclipse 2nd Dawn of the Galaxy planned for release?
I haven’t played Red Rising but I’ve watched some reviews. While mechanics are similar, Fantasy Realms is a simple deck of cards with very clean play. Red Rising looks like it took the mechanics then added an bunch of bloat.
So I took the plunge and downloaded it today given it costs 1 Universal Unit of Currency aka a cup of coffee. Initial impressions is typical BrettspeilWelt production values - definitely rough around the edges and lacking polish. I can’t give an opinion on multiplayer as I always play solo but options for solo play include AI (up to 3 opponents - no option to adjust AI difficulty) plus solo challenge. I totally get now your thoughts about Red Rising vs Fantasy Realms and the extra bloat. The synergies between the cards in Fantasy Realms seem to have more meaning / weight than RR without having to worry about the distraction of the additional scoring tracks. Despite the rough edges enjoying it so far.
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I really enjoy Fantasy Realms (shameless plug), but am leery of the app.
Not sure how much I would enjoy playing it solo all the time.
Will have to check to see how much it is up here and maybe I’ll take the plunge.
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What is the solo play like? How is it scored? I’m a sucker for high score chasers but I can’t imagine how this one works solo.
TBH I skipped past solo straight to playing the bots. Solo looks a little like their Cartographers app with 3 different modes. However it appears….broken? Maybe it’s just me but I can’t find a way to make the first play. The biggest positive from the app is zooming in a card in hand shows the modifiers the card is applying to others in hand and modifiers applied by other cards.
As far as I could tell, play consists of drawing a card from the deck or taking back a discard (getting up to 8 cards) and then discarding a card to take you back to 7 cards.
You don’t “play” any cards, it’s just about having the highest total possible in your 7 card had by the end of the session by carefully adding cards that play nice with your existing cards (as all cards have a base value and then all sorts of listed bonus or penalty conditions (+15 for every other flame card or -20 if you have more than 3 blue suit cards, etc.). The game will always tell you both your current total hand points as well as even give you a detailed breakdown of every bit of bonus or malus being added to each individual card.
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Interesting. I’m at work at the moment and quickly downloaded the app to my phone and the solo mode works perfectly as you’ve described . On my IPad the card deck has an angry red halo and doesn’t allow card draws. Could be a classic case of PEBKAC but I’ll check when I get home.
I’ve heard that there is no mid game save. That true?
And if you leave the app, does the app fully restart?
Are you talking about Fantasy Realms? I can’t answer your question but I’d imagine you can play a game against the AI in about 2 minutes…
Yes was talking about FR. didn’t realise it was such a short game. Not such a big deal then.
So solo mode works fine on my iPhone SE 2nd gen but not on my iPad Air 4th generation. The deck has a red border around it similar when playing the bots and it’s the bots turn. If the app gets kicked out of memory there is no auto save and no option to save mid game that I can see. As Mirefox said, games are short - usually well under 5 minutes per game for me and I’m still having to read the cards in detail to absorb the different synergies. (The app does summarise all modifiers on the card and caused by the card - so the fiddly math is taken care of) Enjoying the game - the app is bare bones but the underlying game play is great. Biggest downside for some will be the lack of online multiplayer although pas n play is supported. Art work on the cards is good - I assume they have used the original game assets?
Well after using Google translate to compose and send a nice email in German to BWS support, promptly fired up the app and -found solo now working.
(Issue definitely PEBKAC)
So, does anyone have any thoughts in Myst?
I remember thinking it was amazing however many decades ago when it first released but I haven’t played it since.
There is apparently a new version coming to iOS this week that has updated graphics to make it “console quality.” None of that matters if the game feels grossly dated, though.
I know there’s a Dawncaster fan club on here so I’m a little surprised no mention yet of the “Trial of the Sunforge” update which hit recently and introduced a draft mode.
Anyone had a play of this mode yet and any thoughts?
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Definitely a fan of Dawncaster here. Probably like it more than even Slay the Spire at this point.
Just need to finish up my current run that I had running on Holiday last weekend and I’ll be trying the Sunforge out next.
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Seconded that’s it is more fun that’s StS. I played enough of it that I took a little break so I haven’t tried out the new additions yet, either. I’ll give them a look soon but if anyone does, post your thoughts on the rogue like thread.
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Embarrassingly, after I finished everything I wanted to do in Dawncaster from two expansions ago, I tried out Dream Quest again, and got hooked again. I think I’m going to stick with it a while longer before returning to Dawncaster.
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Would you be playing on an iPad or phone? I can’t imagine playing it on a phone. I’ve a played a bunch of versions of Myst and it might feel dated. The graphics will probably be fine but there is a decent amount of back tracking and tapping everything to see if you can interact with it. Puzzles are still great. I don’t know if you’ve played The Witness but it’s a similar type game with environmental puzzles. I know it was ported awhile ago but I think it would probably translate better to a phone or tablet.
I tried The Witness and quickly lost interest after a few puzzles. Should I give it another go?
As for Myst, I don’t know where I’d play it. I have a phone and a tablet and while I generally prefer to use my phone for things I’ll pick up the tablet any given app is difficult to see or use on the phone.