Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis
A very faithful implementation of the original board game, which is a Eurogame by design with a historical ACW theme tagged on it. The game does have a decent AI and can be played solitaire as a result. Statistics on your own profile is available and so you can track your own performance vs. the AI. The only downside is the program still has a bug, freezing the solitaire game play from time to time and it seems Playdek was not aware of the issue. The multiplayer is easy to set up and game with score, measuring how you fare against others. However, there is no world ranking in the game, and different level of AI there is not. You can get notification in email when it is your turn in a game with another. A chat room is available but most of the time it is dormant. There is an alternate mapboard to give the game a variant, non-location look but I doubt people to use such a boring map. The gameplay is abstract and there is no manual inside the game or here on the Steam. You have to download it from the boardgame publisher GMT, as long as you are aware of it. This is absolutely a minor for the newcomer as the game itself is abstract and you are quite probably knowing what you are doing in the first few games. Once you get a hang out of the system, the game is smooth and quick to finish in 10 to 15 minutes. Overall, Fort Sumter is a game of tile-placement competing for control of the areas on the map. Score: 6.5/10.
– Real player with 79.0 hrs in game
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I’ve been on the road a ton in the past couple of weeks and played the hell out of this. In about 60 offline games and a half-dozen online games I haven’t noted any gameplay bugs or rules/cards implementation problems as noted in another review. The recent AI bugfix improved the AI, and it’s competent enough in a mechanistic sense, but it' still a bit weak against experienced players, especially as it relates to setting things up in terms of the long game and Final Crisis. To be fair, that’s something the many human players don’t grok until they’ve played a while (which I have as an owner of the board game).
– Real player with 51.2 hrs in game
Scythe: Digital Edition
I’m a pretty experienced player on the board game, so I know what I’m talking about: this game follow the rules quite well, except for a few mistakes (mill that create meeples WTF?!)
the board is exactly the same as the real game, and even if I felt a bit lost cause there is no infos about your mat type except at the very beginning of the game or somewhere I never found quite easily, it would be nice to have the name of the combo ( example : rusviet patriotic ) all the time, to me this can be quite important as there is some combos that are very OP (Rusviet industrial is already banned wich follow the rules of Jamey Steigmaier, crimea patriotic should follow) but those combos should remain open if you play a non ranked game or with one of your friends )
– Real player with 91.2 hrs in game
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Bought this game during steam sale.
I love the board version. Was pretty excited to test the digital version as well. Here is my review and why its pretty meh.
TLDR: good gameplay, terrible netcode/online games. Don’t bother buying the DLC (Invaders from afar) since factions are really bad and you will end playing them a lot more than people without the DLC. A bit expensive for the experience. Worth it for the $8 I paid during the sale.
1. Gameplay 7/10
Its pretty much the same as the board game. Works very well. It can be a bit troublesome at first to get a grisp on how to make a turn, read the boardstate etc but after around 30 games it feels really natural.
– Real player with 60.4 hrs in game
Strategy & Tactics: Dark Ages
This game delivers some depth in thinking your strategy and tactics in terms of choosing the most effective formation and unit combination. The game might seem a bit difficult at first but once you start grasping the battle mechanics, the game becomes pretty easy to beat although somewhat time consuming depending on which scenario and how much upgrade you have invested on certain type of units. This game delivers some fun and challenge while providing a reasonable challenge and replayability for the price. What makes this game quite replayable once you beat all the scenarios is that you can choose and spend your glory points to keep highly skilled generals and use them again in other scenarios. Also once you have invested in weapon and armor for certain type of troops of your choosing, that upgrades stay for good so when you play other scenarios, you start those scenarios with upgraded stats for the units that you have invested in.
– Real player with 190.1 hrs in game
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Early Access Watcher Public Service Announcement
Game: Strategy & Tactics: Dark Ages
Update Version: v1.0 Patch #1
Disclosure: This game copy was bought by the reviewer.
Game Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHc0yrOBAjQ
Strategy & Tactics: Dark Ages is a turn-based strategy title by the developers over at HeroCraft. HeroCraft are no stranger to the strategy genre, making several medieval and modern themed games over the past year. It has been over a month since the game released into Early Access and it has already seen some patchwork to fix some of the crippling launch issues. While the tactics are indeed present in the game, some key mechanics and technical issues make the experience feel more like a battle of attrition than coherent operation.
– Real player with 15.7 hrs in game
Twilight Struggle
I’m coming up to 1000 hours of online play over a twelve month period. Despite the lack of support from Playdek, this is a great game well worth buying. Hands down, one of the best strategy games ever released.
This is an excellent port of the boardgame and is the better alternative for frequent play. I save my hard copy for special occassions because this is just so convenient. Set up and play are a snap. AN entire game can run in just under an hour. Even better, it functions well on tablets so you can play in bed or generally while relaxing. Much better than being stuck in front of a desk or laptop.
– Real player with 1304.9 hrs in game
I’m going to write two reviews, one for fans of the board game of which this is an adaptation, and one for people who have no experience with TS at all.
If you have never played TS before, I highly recommend you play against a human opponent (preferably one who is a competent player) before you try going up against the AI. You’ll have a few moments of fun, for sure, and if that’s all you’re looking for you would probably get a better value for your money elsewhere. But in the process of having that fun against the AI, you’ll learn all kinds of bad habits which, ultimately, will make you a worse TS player. I recommend definitely should NOT buy this game UNLESS you have a friend to play against, but if you do, then I think you SHOULD consider buying it.
– Real player with 144.6 hrs in game
Gizmos: Interstellar Voyage
I own all of the other “Gizmos” titles in the series thus far, and picked this up without hesitation on its release date. If I had to sum up “Gizmos: Interstellar Voyage” in one word.. that word would be: “WOW!”. This has quickly become my favourite griddler game!
What I love about this game:
-the auto-fill feature once a line is completed (this is in all of the “Gizmos” titles, and can be turned off in settings).
-the jigsaw puzzle mini-games (which you can opt to skip.. and if you do skip it then that level becomes another nonogram puzzle instead of a jigsaw puzzle.. meaning you don’t “lose” a level of gameplay).
– Real player with 108.8 hrs in game
I liked this game and would recommend it to others.
– Real player with 86.9 hrs in game
Gizmos: Spooky Adventures
every time I update Gizmos: Spooky Adventures it comes up saying Disk Write Error, Is there a reason why it keeps saying this? Please help.
– Real player with 171.2 hrs in game
I absolutely loved the first game (“Gizmos: Steampunk Nonograms”), so I purchased this without hesitation on its release date! Super fun nonograms that start out easy, and go up to a more challenging 30x30 grid. The auto-fill feature, once a line is completed, is probably one of my favourite features of this game. The jigsaw puzzle mini-games offer a nice “break” inbetween puzzles (this is skippable if you prefer not to do them). There is also a “perfect time” timer.. for those who like an extra challenge.. as well as leaderboards and Steam Achievements. It’s also a great price (even w/o any discounts)! Pretty backgrounds, cute characters/sound effects, and even a story! If you enjoy nonograms; I HIGHLY recommend adding this to your library!
– Real player with 45.0 hrs in game
Strategic Mind: The Pacific
I really wanted to like this game. I really liked the graphics initially and my initial impression on game play wasn’t that it wasn’t bad. But then I realized you get the same graphic if you bomb or torpedo a ship. I mean shouldn’t you use the time you spent making useless swimming sharks to make different graphics for each?
As far as game play goes, your planes die quickly and inflict the same or less damage as a destroyer. And Japanese planes seem to have nearly unlimited fuel. I destroyed all of the Japanese carriers in Midway and five turns later his planes are still attacking my ships and troops. But if I go more than three turns without landing I seem to run out of gas. Worst of all the AI turns take forever.
– Real player with 332.5 hrs in game
I have a rule of saying that if a game is fun, the other things are just the icing. Bad visuals? Corny sounds? Bad controls (note: non-real-time games only)? They can be overlooked.
I have found the game that is the exception to my own rule.
So, to get this out of the way first: This game is a turn-based-strategy game, with a point-buy system for your units, persistent-army mechanic, Hex-grid battlefield, and a basic system of “supply” for ammo, fuel, and repair to damaged units on a turn-by-turn basis.
– Real player with 104.9 hrs in game
Combined Arms Operations Series
IMHO, I can recommend this game with two caveats. The first is that this product is not for players new to wargames. For those gamers, Panzer Corp 2 might be a better, albeit more expensive, choice.
For experienced players, the game comes closest to Matrix Games' The Operational Art of War III-IV, although CAOS is much simpler to pick up and play.
Here’s the short-list of positives for this product:
1. The OOBs are exhaustive, and the historical units will be familiar to wargamers. The NATO symbols are a delight.
– Real player with 12.9 hrs in game
Very fun game, 10 times better with friends. Worth every euro.
Also the developers are active and extremely nice. They’re a role model for other developers.
– Real player with 12.7 hrs in game
Arosia
Conquer the World! Let your strategy skills talks, weaken your opponents, and break a leg to get the best luck!
Occupy resources to build the strongest country much faster. Build Castles, Armies, Factories, and Embassies to greater your power and defense your country.
Arosia blends strategy with luck but does this with a well-balanced system. Take risks, use your tactics, and try to win.
Arosia inspired from a non-named basic paper game that creators played in High Scool. You’ll have square lands, you’ll
AXYOS: Battlecards
Nice little card game. You can spend another hour with pleasure.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Can’t give this one a good review, sadly. The bits and pieces seem nice, but it doesn’t make for a fun gaming experience.
The art and music is perhaps the best aspect of the game, the controls work fine as well.
That said the game feels very under-documented, and the games do not seem very fun or balanced, I win every time without even knowing what I am doing.
Perhaps the biggest weakness is that you cannot gain experience points except in multiplayer, and I have never been able to find anyone else to play it with.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game