ToME... The quintessential roguelike experience. For a guy like me, this Angband descendant has it all. The T-Engine sustains all the complexity I love in RPGs, while keeping the aesthetics of older games. In a sense, it reminds me, visually, of the first civ games and Fantasy General (always a good thing in my book). The game gets merciless, increasing difficulty and demanding know-how from the player. The setting is very well written, holding on to the Middle Earth DNA but turning into its own thing after around 2012. It's one of those games that take me back to the days of Ultima and Might & Magic - playing games late at night after a GURPS session with my friends, enjoying Summer nights and just savoring the moment. If you're into roguelikes, old CRPGs, tactics and complex rules - and somehow still managed to pass this game by - get it now. You won't regret it!
And I love it for that. Great voice acting during the tutorial and the first minutes of gameplay, kickass soundtrack, sprite animations are pure virtue in craftmanship. Roguelike gold with survival aspects, food and drink systems and complex healing mechanics. The setting's dark, well thought and quite appealing. If you're into roleplaying and roguelike models, ToME or Unreal World, this one delivers, trust me. Notice, however, this is still in beta, meaning no free character creation (premades can be customized) and certain aspects not yet implemented.
As good as it gets. Fast-paced, boomer-shooting greatness in a medieval dressing. Still getting the Heretic E1M3 freeze map by the end, but the console cheat would let me move on, fortunately. After playing the Hand of Necromancy (also very good) it is a treat to come back to this one - nice weapon variety, fun items (although not every single one is useful) and a DnDesque underlying proto-plot to keep you hooked. The enemies are charming, the art, endeering, the mechanics, solid. As you move towards Hexen it only gets better - class choice for the Hexen series made me a happy RPG-nerd back in the day and still does. Yes, you get some hitscans, and yes, the maps can be cruel, but those were the good old days - and it felt like a back-and-forth between every designer choice and the player's own cleverness. A true masterpiece of its own age, and it holds up quite well.
A chess-like experience with complex rules for each game piece, set in the world of Warhammer and filled with snarky humor. All the things that made the original games from GW thrive - countercultural brutality and cynicism, merged with fantasy tropes - can be found here. An easy recommendation for any strategy game fan.
All-in-one. Hero development is a pleasure, with five classes to choose from; spells are interesting and bear a nice effect in-game; economic development for cities does justice to Civ IV's while delivering better pacing. The lore is quite original, while feeling familiar to any fantasy fan. A healthy ammount of reading material is also available - including the Destiny's Amber novel. For any strategy tactician/roleplayer out there, this game is a must. If you enjoyed Fall from Heaven, you will love this one.
You know one of those pieces of media that are chaming, but not really fit for mainstream? This is one of those. Hints of SMAC, Beyond Earth and the likes. Hexagon-grid, toughas-nails combat and trigger-happy AI, spiced up with an ironic background for each faction. It does not reach the high notes of SMAC storytelling, but it is fairly interesting nonetheless. It shows an underlying cinicism every time you sink your teeth at the text and the concept lore. Gameplay's fun, holds up risk-and-reweard mentality pretty well and feeds your curiosity as to what will happen after each decision. If you're into sci-fi 4x, go for it. You'll get your fair share of entertainment.