Shadows Behind the Throne 2
Remember “That Which Sleeps” the kickstarter game that promised that you could play as Cthulhu and corrupt the world and a million other things, but then the dev took the money and ran and never delivered.
Implausibly Shadows is not only the game that was promised, but it delivers. The graphics are a little off and the interface is a little confusing, but goddamn is it fun to corrupt and dismantle several civilizations until eternal winter falls upon the land. There is a lot of room to grow, and here is hoping it keeps growing.
– Real player with 119.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Grand Strategy Games.
Great game. It’s a bit like Ruinarch, if you’ve ever played that, except on a strategic level. Lots of variety in the ways you can take down a kingdom. Very replayable and it’s right up my alley.
That said, it’s EXTREMELY rough. As EA as you can get while still being playable.
- Kind of a crap, poorly thought out UI. For example, saves are placed in alphabetical order instead of chronological order where your most recent one is at the top. You might have 7 autosaves, and the one you’re looking to load is save number 3, halfway down the screen and you have to look at the time to know that’s the one you want. I called my manual save aaa, so it will be at the top of the list. That’s a small thing, but there are a lot of poorly designed UI functions like that and it impacts the level of information you get from the game.
– Real player with 39.5 hrs in game
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
H. P. Lovecraft entertained us with stories of madness and the unknown back in the early 20th century. Known for his works of ‘The Shadow out of Time and ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, his other work, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ is what this game is based on (obviously). Now a registered trademark of Chaosium Inc, this game is centred on The Call of Cthulhu RPG. Originally made for the iOS, the ported PC version is quite reasonable, despite its apparent handset limitations as there are no real extra features to take advantage of the PC. Yet it’s entertaining enough to finish due to its tactical nature.
– Real player with 28.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian RPG Games.
Enjoyed it. Definately a throwback to 90’s style controls. For its price its fun enough to play through. Looking at the complaints mentioned, I myself did not actually get any of the described errors, although this may be due to it already getting fixed by the time I brought the game.
As for the control issues mentioned, it is answered by playing the tutorial mission, as already said by previous comments.
I do advise playing this on hard though, to get the challenge that some others are demanding. For the price paid it was able to keep me entertained to the very end, and was a fun introduction to the cthulhu mythos.
– Real player with 26.6 hrs in game
Cthulhu’s Catharsis
This is a lite turn-based strategy game for world domination in a Lovecraftian setting. It is like starting with Risk, adding some depth and dark humor, and subtracting the random element.
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian War Games.
The friendly Mi-Go enjoyed this game a lot.
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
Elder Chaos
Funny game. It isn’t yet completely finished, but it is fully playable and it grows on you as you learn the level of strategy and tactics involved.
PROS
Fantastic illustrations of each character and monster. The game boards looks inviting and not too overcrowded, but the geography of the Earth is rather bad, especially Europe. I have never seen anyone depicting England as connected to the mainland. And the Baltic Sea is nonexisting. These are details, however, and they do not have any significance on the gameplay at all.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
I can play as the Great Old Ones instead of Investigators, how cool is that!
About the theme:
Compare to other Cthulhu game, this one is more like a hardcore board game or a strategy game. Maybe this reverse setting is also the reason why this game has less horror and darkness, more killing and deploy forces.
Gameplay:
The skills of Deities, servants and investigators are stunning. In chapter 2, each level has 2 different investigator skills, which made me have to change talent skills every time I enter a new level, and develop different combinations. It’s kind of hard, but also brainy and fun.
– Real player with 13.5 hrs in game
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
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
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
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
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
Tales from the Void
Hi folks!
Just wanted to chip in with a quick easy-to-read-review.
First off Tales from the Void delivers an immersive story that unfolds as you play. On that path for survival you will have to make choices that have a direct impact on your progression.
The game really gives me a feeling of being in outer space. (I havn’t really been there though). This is because of the graphics and sounds really helps me get in the right mood. Thumbs up for that.
The game structure reminds me a bit of the experiences I had playing UFO XCOM, and with a sense of humor a bit like the fallout series. Maybe that’s just me, I don’t know. :) I like playing games that have a sense of humor. Yet it’s not the same game. Where Tales from the void enables you to shift from pausing/slowmoe-ing and normal game speed, and you control the combat of the game differently aswell. It takes a bit of time to master - but playable for everyone.
– Real player with 20.5 hrs in game
This game is amazing. Lovecraftian story and setting. Constant fear of the enemies and environment.
Gameplay involves attempting to come to grasp with moving in a low gravity environment while shooting weapons which push one around from recoil. I wish there was a game to compare this to, but its so strange and awesome and fresh. Imagine a mix between Pikmin, The Call of Cthulhu, UFO Aftermath and FTL.
The dwindling supplies mechanic adds a bit of tension without being suffocating - this is the first time I’ve enjoyed it in a game, actually. Typically it is either so easy to acquire supplies in these sort of games that it’s an afterthought, or you end up running out and losing because of rng -cough convoy cough cough-. Not so with tales from the void, the dwindling supplies mechanic serves to contextualize and shape your choice of mission next, rather than leaving you to simply hope you aren’t going to lose to bad rolls, so to speak. For example, you may be low on food, and so there are three missions available today - one offers food, the other people and the third weapons, however all of their secondary objectives suggest there will be food at those other missions, but how much? Do you risk it?
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
Alder’s Blood: Definitive Edition
You, as Chief, a leader of a group of skilled hunters who swore to protect humankind from beasts and abomination arose from the darkness, no matter the cost. You will have to face ruthless, savage creatures, and even the darkness itself… You are outnumbered, and enemies are way stronger than you. Reckless assault will only get you in trouble, one mistake and you would be a goner. You have to plan your moves wisely and be prepared for the worst to come.
I think the combat is exciting and immersive, but if you are not a fan of stealth type of gameplay, then you probably won’t enjoy this game. Sure, you can go out with a bang with firearms, but be ready to face swarm of enemies, not to mention some of them are tough and they hit REALLY hard, so it’s wiser to avoid enemy contact.
– Real player with 80.3 hrs in game
🎤Introduction
Alder’s Blood is a brutally difficult turned based RPG set in a grim and dark world where beasts roam free and terrorize the land. Its mechanics are based on XCOM but with a lot more emphasis on stealth. If you’re expecting to get through this game with brute force then you have another thing coming. Like any game it has some flaws, but the majority of them can be overlooked due to how incredible this game is.
✔️Pros
• XCOM styled combat with complex and unique mechanics
– Real player with 35.7 hrs in game
Call of Myth
Call of Myth is a collectible card game set in the universe of Mythos of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
In this dark world, full of dangers incomprehensible to the human mind, you have to challenge not only the Old Gods and their fanatical followers, but also your own madness. Will you be able to withstand the horrors of this world and the nightmares generated by your own mind?
All cards are important
Common cards are the base of each deck, they form its playstyle. Use them to create a new tactic and add Unique and Mythic cards that will introduce special interactions and hard but rewarding plays into the game.
A unique madness mechanic
Apart from strength and health, every creature has sanity. If the sanity drops to zero, the creature will go mad and get madness. You can either avoid this outcome or create a deck that can turn the insanity of your own creatures to your advantage. The choice is yours.
Leaders
Each Leader has unique active and passive abilities, as well as a different starting amount of health. Depending on the strategy you prefer each leader can achieve its potential in many different ways.
Do you want to crush the opponent with powerful creatures capable of single-handedly dealing with whole hordes of enemies? Or do you prefer to use cunning techniques and wait until the enemy’s strength is exhausted before you strike?
Using a variety of cards, you can build a deck that suits your playstyle.
Tactics and strategy
A special playing field encourages the use of tactics. Just playing the cards that come into your hand is not enough to win. To defeat the enemy, you need to thoughtfully place creatures on the table, combining their abilities and skills.
Iconic characters of Lovecraft’s works
Cthulhu and Herbert West, Nyarlathotep and Professor Armitage, Shub-Niggurath and Randolph Carter, as well as plenty of other momentous characters of Lovecraft’s works.
Some will become your opponents, while others will become loyal allies.