Khet 2.0

Khet 2.0

As promessed, here is an update to my original review. The original is below.

The devs certainly do their best for us. Every bug or question has been answered and followed up and as far as I know, has been solved. The bugs that I have encountered seem to be fixed now.

So thumbs up for the developer!

Read my original message for the rest of the game:

This game certainly has its flaws, but it is a very nice game and its core usually works.

At this time of writing, I experience crashes every time I try to do a rematch. No problem, I go back to the main menu and start a new game. One time, I had a crash mid-game (and I think I was winning). Too bad.

Real player with 14.3 hrs in game


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To summarize in few words - the game is a gorgeous mixture of Chess with Deflektor, taking the best ideas from both. ( (Btw. - does anyone know what the 2nd game is? ;-)

! a computer game for some 8bit machines from 80’s, you may find some free remakes in the net, eg. Deflektor X4)

Funs of lasers and even light sabres will realize soon that there is not much of an FPS here ;-) Just a ‘boring’, almost static board with some 2-colour pieces. And some rules that you have to read about - on how to play and win or lose…

Real player with 10.5 hrs in game

Khet 2.0 on Steam

Dragon Castle: The Board Game

Dragon Castle: The Board Game

A very good adaptation of a board game. You pick tiles (in a way similar to mahjong solitaire) and place them on your own board to form sets of the same color (there are other elements, but I will not detail the rules here). The presentation is nice with a practical interface. The game has a good variability with different layouts and advanced features that can be mixed in different ways (new objectives and actions). The solo mode, against AI, is a good way to learn the game. The hard AI is correct, but not as good as an experimented human player and could be improved. The game works very well for local multiplayer (no hidden information) or for online multiplayer. The matches are not very long and the atmosphere is relaxing, so an excellent quiet strategy game to play for twenty minutes or for multiple matches.

Real player with 10.5 hrs in game


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Aesthetically pleasing, coincidental Mahjong solitaire with the added twist of building within limits, this game loses a bit without the kinetic tile movement but nothing is lost in terms of the tactics, art and concept of the board game. If you prefer a low conflict, Asian inspired game this is a winner.

Real player with 9.4 hrs in game

Dragon Castle: The Board Game on Steam

Concordia: Digital Edition

Concordia: Digital Edition

Great electronic version of the game. There are options that make scoring easier to visualize during the game. The UI allows take-backs before finalizing an action, which is also very helpful. Realtime games would be a great update.

Real player with 43.6 hrs in game


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It’s really addicting. I only play vs AI but it’s just a joy and with my novice experience every game feels close. I would recommend turning off visible scoring to mimic the board game and not make bad decisions looking at short vs long game.

UI could be improved a little bit for me to easily see what I have (housing resource count) at a glance, the various overlays don’t quite do it for me. Maybe there is a better way and I’m just too new.

Music is great though I wish there were some more varied tracks instead of what feels like the long “one” song built in.

Real player with 37.2 hrs in game

Concordia: Digital Edition on Steam

Antihero

Antihero

I bought into first access so I have been following and playing this game for a long time.

An interactive turn-based strategy board game. You play one on one vs a real or AI opponent. The entire map is fogged so you are unable to initially see what your opponent is doing. You start with a master thief. You use that thief to scout the map (remove the fog) and steal one of two resources (gold or lanterns) from buildings. Lanterns enable you to upgrade your thiefs abilities, with 3 talent trees to chose from, and unlock units. Gold allows you to purchase unlocked units. Units interact with the board in special ways to benefit you or hinder your opponent. There are special buildings on the map which once controlled, can generate resources, reduce unit costs and give other unit benefits. Ultimately the goal is to gain enough control of the board’s special buildings to amass enough resources to earn 5/6 victory points. Vicotry points can be bribes (purchased with lanterns), contract kills (NPC’s murdered by your master thief or another unit), blackmail (earned by gaining full control of a church (an aformentioned special building)), or through specialised map specific win conditions.

Real player with 274.3 hrs in game

I have over 100 hours played on Antihero so I feel like I am qualified to make a reasonably accurate reveiw on it. That being said I have never written a reveiw on Steam before so bare with me :)

I am seeing a lot of reveiws already that appear to have pretty much explained what Antihero is, but I have not seen to many go into depth on the Multiplayer which is the only real reason to come back to Antihero.

Therefore I am giving this a Negative reveiw honestly not becuase it particularly deserves a negative reveiw but becuase on the overall or “All Reveiws” it says very positive, which in my opnion is a misnomer, its a decent game, that I enjoy, however it only ever takes me a few games to remember what I hate about Antihero. The Luck. Although skill absolutley plays a part in Antihero it is not nearly as important as luck. Luck is 60% of your wins hands down if not more. 90% of every game hinges on luck, will you randomly get coins when you need coins and lanterns when you need lanterns… who knows? Will the opponent get all the buildings he needs right next to him… who knows? Will the thugs spawn and box you in or save your opponent… who knows?

Real player with 111.4 hrs in game

Antihero on Steam

Feud

Feud

  • From a quick look at the game, being a game developer myself, first of all I think the mechanics are really, really good for a game like this. They don’t look all that good at first glance, but are unbelievably fun to actually play.

  • I think that in a way the game feels a lot worse than it is because of the UI, and I think a reskin would really improve the feel of the gameplay in general.

  • An undo would be useful, but i think a confirm before moving might be a better option, especially as a small mistake can end the game. That way you get to see what will be caused by your actions.

Real player with 7.4 hrs in game

Fun game! As the other reviews say, it is comparable to a much simpler version of chess.

The AI (even on hard) is pretty easy, though, and the only option for online multiplayer is 24-hours per turn, which makes it difficult, since player on player games can easily last 20+ turns. I’d recommend at least trying this game (it’s free!) and it’s even better if you have a friend to play it with (as there is a hotseat option).

If there were online, 1 minute turns, (and maybe a ranked system at some point), I think this game could really take off.

Real player with 4.5 hrs in game

Feud on Steam

Hnefatafl

Hnefatafl

This game the most fun I can find these days (coming from an experienced hobby chess player). Different rules and game types are available for the ancient Hnefatafl game that was played in the viking area before the advent of chess. Hnefatafl is an unbalanced game where the strategy for each side is very different. One side plays the defender and must escape with the king while the attackers rush to capture him. Because of this unbalance in the rules the computers are still no match for decent human players. Try for example the mode legacy berserk and you will find yourself at the top of the food chain in no time. The number of possible moves to play increases faster than in e.g. chess and go, making it hard to calculate and predict far ahead, especially for the larger boards. Because of this complexity and the unbalance in the rules it will take time for the computers to play well leaving the arena for us humans to compete using intuition to guide us. Maybe you have what it takes to come up with a new way to play and beat the current top ranked players?

Real player with 912.2 hrs in game

This appears to offer everything you need if you are interested in this ancient game, including all the main variants, the ability to customise the game and rules and create your own variants. online play, synchronization with with the mobile phone version, decent graphics and interface, graphical mods, and great developers who listen to feedback and strive to keep improving the game.

I suggested an interface/display change to make the game look better on my monitor and screen resolution, and with a day or two an update was released with the idea implemented. Fantastic!

Real player with 117.4 hrs in game

Hnefatafl on Steam

Tsuro - The Game of The Path

Tsuro - The Game of The Path

It’s like a holiday for your mind…

It’s really is. As a visual art teacher and board-game enthusiast, I’d fall in love and buy Tsuro for mobile (my android phone) as well as Steam version. It’s the best purchase I ever had and felt with all digital-adaptation board-games or tabletop out there.

Honestly if the developer could even manage to put matchmaking without delay from other players (like online PVP) that would be much-much-much greater in the long run! Also if somehow we can customize our own ‘stones’ and change them with personal 3D characters or objects: it’s heaven sent.

Real player with 22.1 hrs in game

Tsuro is a simple puzzle board game that is easy to learn but hard to master. Kind of like chess where you need to plan several moves in advance. The game consists of you picking a colored stone and drawing 3 tiles. These tiles have lines on them which your stone will follow along a path. Each player places a tile in front of their stone to move it in a certain direction. But be careful, other players can make your stone follow a path off the board if you are to close to their stone. There are a few different game modes you can play. Survival: be the last stone still on the board. Longest Path: travel the farthest distance by the end of the game. Most Loops: gain more loops than anyone else by crossing over your own path. Solo: this is just a relaxing mode to see how far and how long you can stay on the board. Bomb: This solo mode you need to make a path quickly because a fuse will try and catch up to your stone, getting faster as time goes on.

Real player with 21.9 hrs in game

Tsuro - The Game of The Path on Steam

Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy

Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy

TL,DR: It is rough around the edges, but it is a worthy implementation of the board game and does scratch the itch for playing it, when you can’t get a real game going. It takes some getting used to.

Longer:

So, I have been waiting for a way to play this game ever since I first came across the boardgame. I have so far only tried the single player version.

The good:

  • It is a mostly faithful adaption of the board game’s base game version

  • AI is competent enough to make for some interesting games, especially if you are still on the low or middle part of the learning curve

Real player with 47.7 hrs in game

While the game is mostly implemented correctly I can’t recommend the video game version of this over the boardgame exception as a single player training tool to learn how the different alien races play. I’ve played multiple games online in real time while voice chatting with my friends and we’ve lost count of the number of times the game will locally desync. This leaves the players on the line unsure if their friend is just thinking critically about his next move, or unaware that it’s even their move. The usual fix is that you can just close and reopen the game to rejoin the game session. However, twice now the game has kicked a player out after round 7 and they’ve been unable to see the private game listed in the game lobby. Obviously, whether a game can be completed or not is a huge turn off from even thinking about starting an online game.

Real player with 42.2 hrs in game

Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy on Steam

Twilight Struggle

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

Twilight Struggle on Steam

Ascension: Deckbuilding Game

Ascension: Deckbuilding Game

TLDR; The game is well worth the $10 at full price, let alone sale price, even though there are a few minor inconveniences.

I’m a huge card game fan. Magic the Gathering, Dominion, Cards Against Humanity, etc. If it has cards, I generally love it. This game is no exception, and stands out in a couple ways over similair card based games that you can get on the PC. Compared to, oh say Magic the Gathering, the file size and resources required to run this game are miniscule. I often have my 12 gigs of ram stretched pretty thin, but never once has the game caused an issue with anything else running or been too much of a burden on system resources.

Real player with 500.9 hrs in game

My favorite deck-building game

Ascension is a very good video game adaptation of one of the best tabletop competitive deck-building games, Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer. One player (with AI players) to four players can play locally (hot seat) or online (you must register for a free Asmodee online account), which allows cross-platform play (between Steam and various smartphone implementations).

The game

You start with the now-standard deck-builder set-up - 10 cards - and you draw back up to five cards at the end of each turn. Cards in the base game can be heroes (played once and discarded), constructs (semi-permanent), and monsters (defeat for points). Heroes and constructs generate two of the resources in the game: Runes (money for purchasing cards) and/or Power (fighting strength). Defeated monsters award you Honor (victory) points. You play cards on your turn, which generate Runes and/or Power, and you spend those to acquire or defeat cards that have been dealt from the shuffled “Portal Deck.” In addition to the minimum-six cards in the Portal Deck, there are always at least three other cards available on the side: two inexpensive heroes to buy, and one monster to fight. Heroes and constructs are worth some amount of Honor, while defeating monsters draws Honor points from the Honor pool. The Honor pool works as a timer for the game: at the start of the game, Honor is placed in the pool, and the final round completes when the last Honor points are drawn from the pool. Then the value of the heroes and constructs is added to the Honor points, and the player with the highest total wins.

Real player with 405.7 hrs in game

Ascension: Deckbuilding Game on Steam