Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Arx Fatalis was horribly ignored on release. It’s still horribly ignored today. The creators of Dishonored made this, you know!
BioWare may be all about dragons and space-robots nowadays, but a decade ago they’d set aside their wizard hats and pulse rifles to binge hard on martial arts movies. The result was Jade Empire, from that interesting phase when BioWare shifted from, y’know, RPG-y RPGs, to their more action-focused modern ways. It’s a mess in a lot of ways, but it may be interesting to you. It won’t cost you much to find out, as EA have set Jade Empire free on Origin for a while.
Is engineering an infection to wipe out all humanity not enough for you? Once you’ve finally cracked the frigid stronghold of Greenland, do you still demand more glory? Then here: Plague Inc: Evolved [official site] will now let you test your pandemic powers against other players with competitive multiplayer.
An XCOM fan on Reddit has created a rather robust version of XCOM that is played using the spreadsheet software Microsoft Excel. Dubbed EXLCOM, this reimagining of the science fiction turn-based strategy game is far from complete, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sink a few hours enjoying the fact that the program you use to budget your weekly spending allowance can be used to build a fully functional video game. I spoke to its creator about the hows and whys.
An early Christmas present has arrived. On December 1st 2015, one of the largest and most complicated works in the history of the realm known as EarthDwelling received new embellishments. The work known as Dwarf Fortress [official site] has been upgraded by master craftsmen and now contains designated leisure zones, performances and procedural art forms, unique to each civilisation. And that’s not all. Details below.
Exploring a tropical archipelago sounds ground, but it’s never that easy in Don’t Starve [official site]. Shipwrecked, the latest expansion for Klei’s open-world crafty survival game, arrived last night with a boatload of new treats and threats in new lands. Also, boats! I don’t know what drives you to place these sweet little computer people in such hazardous situations, you monsters.
Hello youse!
It’s been weeks of in-depth board game talk on here, digging down into the specifics and mechanics. I thought it might be nice to have a relaxed pre-Christmas chat about the new games on the shelves on the run-up to the Big Day. So, not really board game news, but more of an overview of what’s new and interesting in this beautiful gift-buying season.
