Originally published at: https://statelyplay.com/2018/12/14/stately-scrying-what-were-playing-this-weekend-30/
It’s a late, late night version of our look into our gaming future this week. Sorry for the delayed post! I’d try to write something witty [and, undoubtedly fail-ed.], but I know it’s late and we should just get down to business. Onward, Players!
Armajet and Kenshi
My cheque to the Black estate must have cleared, for it is, finally, the weekend.
Drying out in the free-time bain-marie are a couple of items. Armajet, but of course, remains the go-to. Seriously, I’m even in a clan now. What’s that all about? It’s one thing not just to find an action multiplayer game that consistently draws me in, but another to find myself actually able to comfortably hold my own in this era of getting soundly beaten by the young and supple. This old dog has found his new trick. It’s very curious. Myself and an old buddy, our two-strong whirlwind of 2.5D death-from-above, we put our domination down to growing up with Jazz Jackrabbit. Your COD antics can’t outdance us, whippersnappers. That extra dimension means diddly.
The other? Kenshi. I’ll save a greater spiel for, say, an end of year list (don’t get caught for insider trading there, Statelies), but suffice to say, Lo-fi Games’ development for the ambitious post-apocalyptic sandbox was as long as the map is sprawling. It’s old-skool RPG sandbox fare; no hand-holding, because Kenshi has pruned both arms. But even saying it’s an RPG is kind of a misnomer in the modern sense. If anything, the most apt comparison is something like Egosoft’s X series. Sprawling bootstrap simulators, where the going is slow and tough and the universe there for the taking. I’ve started up a Skeleton droid character, deliberately hunched in the character creator to offer an air of decreptitude. One stress-fracture away from snapping in half. He is General Grievous’ wayward son, dumped in wastelands so desolate, even a Tantooine raider would second-guess their instinct for survival. And I’m looking forward to building a fort, employing a mob of end-time scalliwags, trading and not, you know, dying alone in a sandy vale.
Have a fine weekend.
-Alex Connolly
- Armajet for iOS Universal, free
- Armajet for Android, free
- Armajet for PC/Mac via Steam, free
- Kenshi for PC via Steam, $30
Dying Light, Glass Masquerade, and Tower of Time
I just picked up Dying Light with the intent of playing co-op with a friend. Man, that game is intense. A mysterious zombie plague has struck a city leading to a quarantine. You play as a special-forces type who has parachuted in on a mission and must not only do the deed, but avoid dying and, you know, being consumed. This is not a hack and slash and kill all the things game and fighting is often a very bad idea. You are, however, a parkour master, so that helps. I’ve only played a little so far, but I’m intrigued and can’t wait to try co-op.
Glass Masquerade is currently my go-to game for quick sessions on PC. It’s stained-glass window jig-saw puzzles are gorgeous and a lot of fun to assemble. Each one takes 5-10 minutes, which make them perfect to tackle one to three per sitting. I’m excited for Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions, which is coming January 25.
This weekend I’ll look to fire up Tower of Time, an RPG with pause and slow-time features during combat that let you script out your team’s actions. I just bought it today after staring at it on my Steam wishlist since it came out. I’ve resisted 20% and even 40% sales so far because I wasn’t sure I needed another RPG, but GOG had it for 70% off ($7.50) as part of their one-day deals section so I got off the fence in a hurry.
-Nick Vigdahl
- Dying Light: Enhanced Edition for PC, PS4, Xbox, $60
- Glass Masquerade for PC/Mac via Steam, $5
- Tower of Time for PC/Linux via Steam, $15
Farabel and A Mortician’s Tale
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of “level-down” (rather than level-up) game mechanics ever since Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP pulled it off so simply and elegantly. I’m just starting to get into Farabel, so I can’t yet say much about it’s “play backwards through time” premise, but that alone was enough to get me to pick it up.
Another game I’ve been following is Laundry Bear’s A Mortician’s Tale, inspired in part by real-life mortician and “death-positive” advocate Caitlin Doughty. Have you ever wanted to enbalm a cadaver? Deal with corporatization of the rest home industry? Get to know death and accept your own mortality? If so, this is your game. As Charlie Patton sang “you’re gonna need somebody when you come to die.
-Tof Eklund
- Farabel for iOS Universal, $3
- Farabel for Android, $1
- Farabel for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $10
- Farabel for PC/Mac/Linux via itch.io, $8
- A Mortician’s Tale for iOS Universal, $3
- A Mortician’s Tale for PC/Mac via Steam, $10
- A Mortician’s Tale for PC/Mac via Humble Store, $10
- A Mortician’s Tale for PC/Mac via itch.io, $9
Marvel’s Spider-Man, Rebel, Inc., Fireball Island, and My Little Pony RPG
This weekend, I will not be playing Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics, because I’ve finally written a new review and am moving on to other things. But my console time will likely involve my recent failure to resist the hype about Spider-Man, which I just started. Mostly, I was thinking I’ll be in a Spider-Person mode once Into the Spider-Verse comes out, because early reviews are good, the animation looks amazing, and I’ve been a Phil Lord fan since Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel.
I’ve barely begun Rebel, Inc. on iOS, and it’s very promising. I never got that into Plague, Inc., but the COIN aesthetic seems like it’s getting me over whatever stopped me. My kids have a three-day weekend, and I’ll be running the first game night for their school Monday night, so I’m thinking this might a good opportunity to break out an early Christmas present for the family so that we’ll know how to play the new Fireball Island by then. It has such wonderful table presence for kids that I imagine it would be perfect for the setting. There may well also be more forging of keys and more of the My Little Pony RPG, which was a big hit last weekend. Sadly, my daughter has a fever, so inviting over a friend to join the party seems unwise.
-Kelsey Rinella
- Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4, $60
- Rebel, Inc. for iOS Universal, $2
- Fireball Island for tabletop via Restoration Games, $75
- My Little Pony RPG for tabletop via River Horse, $20