Elder Sign: Omens
Awesome game, very addictive, loved it very much. There is a bit of a learning curve, so to help new people out, here are some basic rules / info about the game:
It’s no lie. The RNG will hate you 80% of the time, but then you will have that one golden run which makes up for it.
Pay attention to the unique stats and abilities of your investigators and make sure you are using the most appropriate investigator for the adventure / challenges you are taking on.
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– Real player with 92.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Strategy Games.
For $15 this game find itself in a hard spot between those adventurous enough to spend some disposable cash to try new things and those who want a guaranteed good game. If this game ever goes on sale for $10 or less, I think that many people would be satisfied.
This game is essentially a solo-player board game. You can play it with friends, but being huddled around a computer isn’t exactly the most satisfying experience for playing a board game. So play it solo or at most with one partner. If you want to play with four people, buy the board game. Now it may sound rather unappealing having only one player control all of the characters, however this allows that single player to develop strategies that some parties would not be able to come across easily.
– Real player with 76.7 hrs in game
October Night Games
This is a nice little puzzle-like game, and it’s more complex than meets the eye at first time. I enjoyed it more and more, when exploring how things worked out.
I found the hunt for manage the achievements fun, and I have collected 21 of 23. Coming Halloween I will reach 22, but to get the last we all have to wait until 2039! (Playing during Halloween, beneath full moon)
But … after 98 hours playing the “Halloween” campaign I have reached my goals, more or less. Will I play the game again? There is a second campaign “Freezing Moon”. I didn’t see anything that interested me there. The only effect I could see was that you take injuries by the freezing cold. I will check it out again … but I don’t see it as that fun.
– Real player with 102.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Tactical RPG Games.
Been having a really fun time playing this one and I’m not the most active board game player, love the setting and it’s inspirations. The developers have been releasing patches since the launch of the game making it better and correcting some bugs, there’s a lot of fun to be had here, even if you just play againts bots.
– Real player with 22.8 hrs in game
Mansions of Madness
At the beginning, it didn’t seem to work with my GPU… I’ve tried 800x600, 1024x768, full resolution either in desktop or mobile graphics quality, full screen or windowed and the game never started. I could just hear the rain falling (I guess this is what you hear when you are at the main menu?). The screen didn’t even change, not even in black screen. it just stuck having captured my desktop background.
On the other hand, someone from the software dev team of Fantasy Flight came immediately in contact with me in order to solve the problem.
– Real player with 65.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Strategy Games.
This game is a complete rip off. The MSRP is 100$ and you get exactly 4 scenarios with next to no replayability, in some levels the tiles layout and monster spawns change a bit, but thats it (some stay almost a100% identical). The narrative and the core elements are always the same, there arent even branching story trees, like in the first edition. Sure you CAN replay it for the challenge, using different characters etc. but for someone like me, who enjoys the story, there is no replay value whatsoever. The first two expansions are even worse, for arround 50$ each you get the components from the first edition (and its add ons) and exactly ONE mission, 50$ for ONE mission!!! The DLCs are okay, having to pay 5$ each, but Heidelberger/Asmodee can’t be arsed to do their job and localize them. Same with the 4th Expansion, it has been out since last autumn/ early winter and it hasnt even been announced to be localized into German yet. Don’t get me wrong, I really LOVED this game and the missions they made, but 25-50$ for a one time playthrough between 2-4hours is just so horribly overprized, that I can’t recommend the game to anyone who isn’t filthy rich or just wants to play the game for its mechanics, rather than its immersive story. If they should decide to add more digital DLC, and get their shit together with the physical expansions and the localisations, I might change my mind, but for the money you have to invest here you could easily get 3-4 video / board games with way more bang for your buck. Oh and while they offer the game on almost all digital plattforms, there is no way to transfer your purchases betwen them, so you have to buy it again if you want to play it on your apple/ android devices. Technically this app is also rather primitive, no mutliple save games, no customisation options (you have to confirm so much stuff all the time, and there is no way of getting rid of all the confirmations “do you really want to end the round?” YES I DO, thank you very much!). And I don’t think that it can be too hard implementing those things, considering there is a fanmade app for this game, created by one or two guys, that tackles all those issues. So Asmodee/FFG/Heidelberger, please stop counting your money and fix your game.
– Real player with 50.8 hrs in game
Evil Cult
Evil Cult gives the player control over a Cult which tries to take over key figures in society to spread its influence and complete the Final Ritual, before any of the competing cults.
Generators generate resources, making them an obvious prime target for expansion, yet the easier (cheaper) to influence Adepts increase the probability of gathering Virgins, which serve as resource wildcards and are of course necessary for rituals as a sacrifice.
Sects within the cult allow for some optional micro-management. However, the player’s attention is mainly directed at the expansion on the map, resource balance, and awareness of the Investigator.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
This game represents a very niche and rare computer game genre: the cult simulator. There are only two games I know of in this genre: 1. Evil Cult, and 2. Cults and Daggers, which is also available on Steam. This game has great potential, and is being improved with expansion sets. I highly recommend this game, which also has an excellent soundtrack.
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
Cthulhu Realms
I’m going to start here by saying - yes, this game is technically a reskin of Star Realms. But so is Hero Realms. And Star Realms itself is nothing more than a reskinned, watered down 2-player variant of Ascension. None of this makes any of those ‘bad games’, so let’s just do away with that right now. If theme is an issue for you, and sci-fi is your favourite theme, play Star Realms. If fantasy theming is your do-or-die, play Ascension. But if theme isn’t a super huge issue for you, or you like Lovecraftian themed games, then you should definitely give Cthulhu Realms a try. In my opinion, the gameplay is FAR superior to Star Realms, as it now includes triggers for cards being discarded and cards being ‘abjured’, or removed from the game (‘trashed’ for those of you who have played Star Realms), and I felt like building colour-themed decks or concept decks actually worked in this game, whereas Star Realms felt like ‘always buy the biggest attack card possible, ignore everything else about the card’ - there are even official strategy guides for the game which say the same thing. Cthulhu Realms is a great deckbuilder, the art is great, and although the iconography of the cards can be a little confusing initially, trust me - you will pick it up very quickly.
– Real player with 109.9 hrs in game
A lot of people from the Humble Monthly are not familiar with Star Realms, but to break it down simply, this game is basically a variation on Star Realms, it is not meant to be like Hearthstone or Magic–in fact, I think it’s deliberately trying to avoid that format for something that you can pick up and play without worrying about “long-term investment.” Once you know the rules of the game and the basic mechanics, you’re set. It’s NOT a collectible card game. That’s kind of the point.
It is a deckbuilding game, predicated on factional synnergy. It’s highly similar to Star Realms, so let me explain the differences from that:
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace
OR How to make compelling game that requires you make a sanity check whenever touching the games GUI
Summary:
If you think this is Mansion of Madness or a direct implementation of Arkham Horror you WILL be disappointed. However if you’ve been hankering for a turned based RPG/Squad based game that includes a interesting sanity mechanic with a strong Arkham Horror theme, this flawed gem is definitely worth a look
Gameplay:
You start the game choosing one of seven characters as your main protagonist but gather more investigators to assist you as you play. Each investigation has different stats, strength and weaknesses, different trait, and their own back story
– Real player with 18.6 hrs in game
IN A WORD: MAYBE
IN A NUTSHELL:
WHAT TO EXPECT: Lovecraftian themed story and setting. Murder mystery plot. Amazing narration. Adventure style exploration and investigation. Limited turn-based combat. Sanity and Mythos mechanics. Environment interaction. Clue mini-games. Select from a roster of twelve investigators. Fair enemy variation and competency. Small, focused range of items. Mini-inventory requires management. Limited replayability. A few critical issues. Plus a few minor ones. Singleplayer only.
– Real player with 9.9 hrs in game
Heretic Operative
Updated review after the most recent patch. Most issues I had with the game have now been fixed, and I have changed back to a “recommended” review as promised. This is the longest review I’ve ever written, and the only one I’ve edited more than once. These facts alone should tell you something about the depth and investment this game offers! Most of the text below this line is no longer relevant, but I’m leaving it up as a history of sorts and a memory of what kind of long-winded criticisms the patient devs have dealt with! :D
– Real player with 39.0 hrs in game
Digital Boardgames are a bit of an odd genre. As a fan of both physical board games and digital strategy games I’ve struggled to grasp the hybrid. Why represent a complex strategy game with cards and dice rolls when you don’t have to, especially if your game doesn’t have a physical equivalency.
Enter Heretic Operative. The description reads “Inspired by games like Pandemic, Arkham Horror, and Talisman” and that was a big selling point for me. Having recently become an obssessive for the Arkham Horror card game, I knew what this meant for the game in general - action-point, narrative driven “built to probably kill you” by design. Great.
– Real player with 34.1 hrs in game
TRPG Workshop
Driven by their intense zeal for making an easier-to-use and more user-friendly online TRPG platform providing players more freedom, these veteran gamers develop TRPG Workshop. It is deemed as a comprehensive TRPG auxiliary platform that gives players a great degree of freedom. This means that TRPG Workshop almost contains all the functions needed for TRPG games and renders a visible and simple solution.
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Interactive Visualnovel-like gameplay brings more engaging game experience
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Act as GM, Player or Spectator
The GM and Players in a single room have different abilities and rights including visible methods to throw a dice or switch the background – all for your convenience!
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Check visible profiles in game anytime
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In-game map editor
Share maps via Steam Workshop or other ways. On a map, there exists the Fog of War blocking your vision, little Tokens representing your characters, and even different accidents that may take place to change the world.
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Replay your game when it ends!
Every game in TRPGWORKSHOP will be recorded. Any choice you have made and any throwing of dice will remain unchanged. Logs are replayable and shareable.
Rulebooks are supported. Share them with friends or on Steam Workshop!
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Share and re-create
Steam Workshop will be fully available for TRPG Workshop. Backgrounds, character illustrations, map, map resources, scenario mods and even rulebooks or character cards are all free to customize and share on Steam Workshop at will.
Powerful resource manager is also supported for TRPG Workshop. Just one click to sort out your creations as easy as blowing off dust.
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Future
Apart from various built-in resource packages for the platform, we are engaging in developing many convenient functions including QuickNote, voice-to-text log or even illustration production and facial capture for Live2D visual characters.
Curious Expedition
The Curious Expedition is yet another Kickstarter-spawned entry into the ever-growing field of Rogue-Likes, but with a refreshing new twist. This time around, the player takes on the role of a small party of 19th-Century explorers engaged in a gentleman’s wager - to travel the world on six concurrent expeditions, competing to see who can gain the most fame. It’s a fairly quick and lethal game, but that’s exactly what it’s meant to be - a good way to kill a few hours at a time, running expedition after expedition off to their doom.
– Real player with 150.3 hrs in game
The Short Pitch
TCE is one of the best games in its class, a Roguelike-inspired strategy/adventure game that will leave you wanting more. Easy enough to beat several times in one day if you’re dedicated, yet hard enough to make every victory feel like you clawed your way to it from the depths of hades.
If you’re looking at this game and you’re even half sure you want it, get it. If looking at it fills with you a warm and gooey sense of longing for the hours spent huddled around CRT monitors taking turns playing The Oregon Trail, buy it. Even if you’re a more modern gamer, but you’re a fan of FTL, Caves of Qud, the Binding of Isaac, or similar, buy it.
– Real player with 82.6 hrs in game
Tabletop Creator
Make your tabletop games come true! Tabletop Creator is a tabletop game maker tool that allows you to design any kind of tabletop game. Create your different game components, customize them and export your game for getting a physical copy or for playing it online!
Features
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Blueprints: design your components templates by using a WYSIWYG editor!
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Collections: create instances of your components, just choose a blueprint and customize it!
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Version control: projects support version control, enabling collaboration on the cloud with others to create your game!
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Documentation: guides and tips articles on how to create your game
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Automatic updates: receive all future updates for free
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Support: join the community at Discord or mail us for solving your doubts and issues
Under development features
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Icons gallery: all the icons you need for a prototype already included!
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Demo projects: “original” game projects created for you to check examples of use
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Variables: create a set of variables, use them along your game and replace its value from just one place!
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Export: export your components to pdf/image format and print a copy of your game!
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Game localization: translate your tabletop game texts in an easy way by exporting and importing a csv file!