Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2018/05/25/stately-scrying-what-were-playing-this-weekend-11/
My long European adventure is nearly at an end. As I write this, I’m about 12 hours from boarding a plane and heading back to the midwest, far away from phenomenal mass transit. I admit that I am looking forward to driving a car again, but I’m really going to miss being able to just walk a few blocks down the street, walk down some stairs, and be able to get anywhere in the city.
I’m sure that none of you give two bits about my wanderings and wonderings, so let’s get back to business. I’ve not been able to get a scrying article out the past few weeks, but today we’re back. Sit back, read what we’re playing, and wish you were us.
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
https://youtu.be/h8iiaky4UN4As our dear Leader Neumannium prepares to put his chair and tray table in an upright position for the trip back to Liberty Central, it was time to pick up the old weekender quill and pen a list of planned delights.
I’m currently putting the inbound Battlestar Galactica Deadlock DLC through its paces, ahead of its May 29th release. Being an unashamed booster for Black Lab Games’ terrific fleet strategy, the Broken Alliance expansion is a very tasty addition to an already fine game. This hefty update brings a raft of new features to the table, with all sorts of faction-related missions, more vessels and tactical grit. Very satisfying. So say we all.
Elsewhere, I took a punt on Destructive Creations’ Ancestors Legacy. Think Dark Ages Company of Heroes, with all the fastidious detail you’d expect out of an Eastern Bloc real-time tactical affair. The game is exactly what the doctor ordered. A crunchy, barbaric and nuanced game, Ancestors Legacy feels like a descendant of Pyro Studios’ Praetorians, whereby smaller unit numbers and condensed squads offer flexibility in place of sheer quantity. The game has alarmingly good production values, thankful brevity in scenario design and just feels like a right winner to play. Thumbs up so far, and no doubt a weekend of similar elevation.
Finally, it only took a year for Spacehulk Deathwing to come good. I’m not even mad, but those genestealer slideshows of the PC launch era were disheartening to say the least. But now, with a free Enhanced Edition update hitting concurrently with the shooter’s debut on console, lumbering around the gothic bowels of ancient starships with my AI brutes is a pleasant, double-digit experience. Whether this fibreless thumper of a co-op shooter has legs is another story, but the game is visually impeccable and peerless in presentation. Bolter rounds sound like they’d pulverise tugboats. We’re off to a good start. Thus, my digital weekend laid bare.
-Alex Connolly
- Battlestar Galactica Deadlock for PC via Steam, $40
- Ancestor's Legacy for PC via Steam, $40
- Space Hulk Deathwing for PC via Steam, $32
Crashlands
https://youtu.be/q5M6qTEtsSQI’m doing far more gaming on my iPad than PC these days, due largely to spending way more time outside. The recent COMBOver update reinvigorated my interest in Crashlands. I never finished it and had forgotten how good it is. It’s a great mix of crafting/survival sim and action RPG.
As for newer stuff, I’m playing the recently released digital version of the dice-based, dungeon delving One Deck Dungeon by Handelabra. It’s a lot of fun and much easier to keep track of all the cards and dice on my iPad than my kitchen table.
My short-play session game is Sir Questionnaire by Orange Pixel games. It’s a turn-based roguelike where you go delving deep into a dungeon and have two options per turn: fight or run, search a room or move on to the next, and that kind of thing. It plays quick and has all the usual RPG elements (loot, character progression) as well as some persistent benefits that help on your next play through.
-Nick Vigdahl
- Crashlands for iOS Universal, $7
- Crashlands for Android, $7
- Crashlands for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $15
- Crashlands for PC/Mac/LInux via GoG, $15
- One Deck Dungeon for iPad, $10
- One Deck Dungeon for Android tablets, $10
- One Deck Dungeon for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $10
- Sir Questionnaire for iOS Universal, $3
Destiny 2
https://youtu.be/z6ejXKYCZCMI’m finally deep into Civ VI on the iPad, picking apart the systems I had ignored at first. I’m still not totally sold—it might be a great experience if a few systems worked more sensibly. So much to adore here, though. And Destiny 2 has turned out to be excellent-it requires a bit of discipline to avoid being sucked into playing the way the game wants you to play, rather than the way you want to play, but getting it at a bargain price means I don’t feel the need to do everything or really commit to it. It’s much like my experience with epée in college: a boring grind if done well, but if you put a couple epées in the hands of sabre fencers, there’s a lot of fun to be had. Even casual space wizard fighting offers a lot of content, so I’ll be playing that for a bit, still. And, of course, I’ll be grumpy-old-manning my way into the Ascension update on iOS. Right now, I hate it, because the thousands of games I’ve played so far mean that even a minuscule change in interface timing throws me off, but I’m hopeful that I’ll stop yelling at clouds once I’m used to it.
-Kelsey Rinella
- Civilization VI for iPad, free ($60 to unlock full game)
- Civilization VI for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $60
- Destiny 2 for PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One
- Ascension Chronicle of the Godslayer for iOS Universal, free
- Ascension Chronicle of the Godslayer for Android, free
- Ascnesion Chronicle of the Godslayer for PC, $10
Pocket Run Pool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqsaiDLKN7gPocket Run Pool has consumed my thoughts. I have stayed up way too late the past few nights trying to perfect my bank shot technique. I think I need a support group or something, because very few games in recent memory make me this angry at myself for screwing up. For some reason, I will always go for the trick shot, even when there’s a lot of fake money at stake. There’s not even replay support to show off when I’m actually successful! Please help me.
-Tanner Hendrickson
Plane Games
https://youtu.be/DR01YdFtWFIAs I mentioned, I’m heading back to the US tomorrow and have a 9+ hour plane ride to look forward to. This seems like a perfect time to get a marathon game of Civ VI in on my iPad, but I know that I won’t play that the entire time. Instead, I’ll be playing a mix of different games while trying to keep my eyes open. Civ VI on the iPad, Factorio on my Mac. I’ll play Twilight Struggle and Through the Ages and, probably more than any of them, Sherlock and/or Honeycomb Hotel. For some reason, logic games and flying on planes seems to be my chocolate and peanut butter.
What will I play after I land? Considering I left my wife alone with three kids for three weeks, I’m assuming that my game playing days are over for a long, long time after those tires hit the runway.
-Dave Neumann
- Factorio for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $30
- Twilight Struggle for iPad, $10
- Twilight Struggle for Android, $10
- Twilight Struggle for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $15
- Through the Ages for iOS Universal, $10
- Through the Ages for Android, $10
- Through the Ages for PC/Mac/Linux, $15
- Sherlock ZEN for iOS Universal, $6
- Sherlock ZEN for Android, $6
- Sherlock for PC/Mac via direct download, $20
- Honeycomb Hotel for iOS Universal, $6
- Honeycomb Hotel for Android, $4
- Honeycomb Hotel for PC/Mac, $20