Mars Power Industries: First Job
An interesting expansion to the original game. I like the atmoshpere and the new mechanics!
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Puzzle Games.
That was surprisingly fun! About 20-25 minutes of gameplay, but this is a teaser for the complete game, so perfectly understandable.
You’re in charge of colony planning, sort-of. There is no narrative, and you have to experiment to find the rules of the different building types. I’m intrigued by the end of Year 21, the last level. The full game is going on my wishlist right now!
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Unite
Unite is a two-player board game based on Lines of Action (a game created in the 1960’s). Players take turns moving (with some unique rules for movement), trying to connect their pieces. The single-player mode provides 7 difficulty levels against the AI. Or play online against an opponent over the network. Choose from 4 different board types.
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Singleplayer Games.
Lorenzo il Magnifico
I will freely admit that Lorenzo is a favorite board game. In Pre-Covid times I would beg my game group to bring it to the table. While this implementation of the game digitally had a rocky start, it’s now settled in as an elegant rendition of a very complicated game. In particular, the AI is finally modestly competitive…but very modestly… I play this game most often after a loss on Yukata or BGA…because it soothes my ego to have a reliable victory.
But the real reason for my “yes” recommendation is that I live in hope of finding a live human being to play this with. For months, I’ve hit the lobby at various times of day in the vain hope of finding a game I can join. So ] far just crickets. I just know I can’t be the only person who bought this game. I figure if I write a review, maybe someone will tell me where you’re all hiding.
– Real player with 217.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Economy Games.
A nice digital adaptation of a great boardgame. If you’re not familiar with the actual boardgame you will have to follow the complete tutorial and then still have some trial and errors (the tutorial lacks a bit in dept concerning strategie, unless you want to read a lot of text in the glossary), but looking for great ways to score and learning to improve your game is actually something that makes this game a hidden jewel.
In a game of Lorenzo il Magnifico you will try to earn points by gaining buildings, assets, … (the parts shown in the big building on the right) and by gaining papal approvement (this is not obligated, but failing the pope gives you some kind of penalty).
– Real player with 32.5 hrs in game
Armello
I always come back to this game when I have time on my hands, and I’m itching for a good dice/card game. Which this game has both! I love that no matter wwhich character you use, there is always a chance to win. dlc characters are less ‘pay to win’ and more of exploring different playstyles over multiple games. there are some very pretty dice that’re so satisfying to hear/use in game.
– Real player with 171.7 hrs in game
I recommend the game but I have to put a negative review because the multiplayer doesn’t allow users to reconnect once we get disconnected for a few seconds. Therefore if we have connection issues for a few seconds. we loose our games, can’t move the character. Such a shame.
– Real player with 164.1 hrs in game
Chess’Extra
Tried it out with a friend of mine, it isn’t very well made but gets the job done.
UI could use improvement, sounds could be introduced properly.
It’s free, but it’s a mixed bag. Leaving as “Not Recommended” since there are better versions for free or paid on Steam and on the Web.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
_It’s Chess but with something a little Extra!
Haha! You see what I did there?_
– Real player with 10.9 hrs in game
ChessLocke
does what it says on the tin. fun puzzle experience.
I could do with like…. 20% more(?) XP early on, but not a deal big deal.
– Real player with 29.3 hrs in game
rly cool but a bit easy. guess it’s meant for people that are about 1200 rated in chess max (for the hard mode). which is cool with me. very accessible.
– Real player with 13.8 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
Evolution Board Game
UPDATE I no longer work for Northstar. This review should be considered to be for the first year of the game.
So up front… I worked on this game. I want to be super clear about that. (In case you can’t tell by me having more hours logged in it than it’s been out in the wild.
So why review. Well obviously I want the game I worked on to do well… but there is more than that.
For those who don’t know, Evolution was a table top board game first and has been for years. It was one of my earliest modern board gaming experiences and I still love to break it out and play it. The constant evolution of strategies and plays with the traits that can be played makes the game very replayable.
– Real player with 967.7 hrs in game
I’m definitely addicted to this one. Good game balance, I never feel like any build is just too powerful. Challenging AI. Cute/Beautiful art. Fun facts. Satisfying sound effects; glad I can turn the music off without turning them off (though the music is good to).
I assume you could unlock brutal mode right away but playing through the campaign on both difficulties has been both an enjoyable difficulty progression and given me plenty of content to consume. Especially with the fun of trying to unlock sketches. But Darwin gets super annoying on the second go through.
– Real player with 99.7 hrs in game
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
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
Hex Slayer
Fun and challenging. What seems like a simple basic strategy game gets satisfyingly complex pretty quickly without becoming overwhelming with too much going.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
First impressions are good.
The game starts very simply, but the complexity increases pretty quickly.
The core of the game is a hex map, with little towns. Towns gain income by owning the hexes adjacent to them. This can be bumped up by building a tower in one of those, though this is not something you can do right away.
You can build units, and they increase in strength as you combine them. They have an upkeep cost however, and you not only have to keep enough money to support them, but they are supported by the town that built them, so you have to keep a supply line open as well.
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game