This is the best, most accessible WWI game I've played (not that there are a lot of such games out there). The systems are easy to understand, the gameplay is engaging, and the game is easily modded with the included editor. The campaigns tilt toward historical outcomes, which makes them predictable and a bit boring overtime. However, player decisions and moves can change things up, and computer allies and enemies tend to adjust in appropriate ways. You can play as a single nation or as one of the two alliances. The saving grace for this game is that the developers had the foresight to allow the player to easily modify the game with the editor, and they included many in-game options and settings that can significantly change gameplay. Without these options, some players would likely find the game too hard on even normal difficulty, especially if you are playing as the Central Powers. The main issue is that the AI is quite competent (which is good) but gets a huge amount of default cheats, including free units, free research and technology, free diplomatic bumps, and other advantages. I know that the purpose of these cheats is to keep the game challenging and to recreate the slogging, stalemate nature of WWI warfare. However, just repeatly reliving known history is not too much fun in a video game, so I am thankful that the developers made it fairly easy to change the game's perimeters. It is easy to recommend this game. I only play single player, but I assume that it would be great in multiplayer as well. I also have the WWII version of this game series, but I think that this one is better overall. I'd love to see a Strategic Command game based on the Napoleon era.
This was okay for an hour or so until it fell into a boring pattern. I like the premise of the game, and raising undead never gets old. But the game just started throwing the standard "find the key," "unlock the gate," "kill the guy with the key" kinds of quests at me that just don't cut if for a 21st-century game. Even for $5, this is not a good deal or use of your time.
I bought this with the base game. It is basically just two classes--a new one (duelist) and one from the first DD game (crusader). The crusader is a workhorse who can carry a team as a tank/support hero; the duelist is a showhorse who has an elegant style and flare but really does not add much to the roster. The DLC does not add a new region, which is a shame. Get it on discount; I'd say 50% off seems fair.
This is a sequel to Darkest Dungeon, which is a great game (with mods). I applaud the developer for trying to shake up things with DD2, though I think that it is inferior to the first game. Overall, DD2 gets some things right and some things quite wrong. I can only recommend this game if you plan to mod it and can get it on deep discount. The good things: I love the creepy, oppressive atmosphere and the excellent narration. The graphical style is identical to the first game, except for more animations. Music is fine. There are some assets drawn from the first game, but that's okay. I especially like the Shrines of Reflection that help tell the story of each hero. Okay, the bad stuff: This game is even more grindy than the first. DD2 is a rogue-lite game, which means progress is made through losing, which earns rewards that can be used in your next run. The idea is fine and can be addictive in a well-designed game, except the difficulty of DD2 is generally high and losing a fight can cost you 1-2+ hours of progress. Also, while some of the boss fights in the first game could be tricky, they generally felt fair and losing did not set you back as much. You could also retreat or bring in a fresh party to redo a dungeon level, two things you can't do in DD2. Losing in DD2 means going back to the beginning of the expedition and having to pick a new party, with no trinkets, advanced skills, nothing. And rewards (candles) are meager. Compounding the problems are the small things that unnecessarily make the game more obtuse. For example, figuring out all of the little UI icons that appear will take some time. Also, trinkets in this game feel less useful than in the first game. I had hoped that the new "Kingdoms" mode might improve things. Not at all. It's suffers from lack of a compelling narrative and overall dull gameplay. If you want to try this game, be prepared to mod it. Otherwise, give this a pass. Even better, go play the first game (with mods, of course).
While I love Monster Train, I could not get into this DLC. It adds a new resource to the game that also adds a layer of complication that I did not find interesting. Also, the new wurmkin faction was not as engaging as any of the existing 5 clans. Kind of a chore to play and adds nothing fun to the original game.
The game is a real gem. I hesitated before buying, given the turn-based gameplay and player reviewers concerning performance issues. However, after playing through the campaign for many hours, I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised by Battletech. The turn-based approach works well with the gameplay, and I have had no technical issues. The campaign is long, and the outcome is predictable. But there are a good variety of missions, and your team and mechs improve over time. Also, mechs are very customizable. I actually got attached to some of my mechwarriors and flinched (or cursed) when some of them died. The game has decent graphics and very good special effects, and I liked the voice acting and music. The warfare is very tactical, and some of the systems will take a little time to figure out. Also, the AI plays appropriately most of the time. The mission difficulty, however, can jump erratically. For example, one 2-skull mission can be a cake-walk and the next one could have you hopelessly outnumber 2-to-1. However, picking and choosing the right side missions to pursue is an important part of the game, and you can withdraw from a mission if things go badly. My only real criticism of Battletech is that it is stingy on mission rewards, even on the "generous" setting. Especially early game but even later, the game felt more like a financial crisis management simulator than a warring robots game. It is very easy to get into a doom spiral regarding finances, where you have to grind low-level missions because you are afraid to chance taking expensive loses by taking on higher-level missions that may pay more. It's frustrating. Thankfully, there are in-game setting that you can tweak that can mitigate this issue, and the game files are easily modded. Overall, this is a very fine game. I have just started a career-mode game, and I haven't played any mods yet, but the game does have some replayability. It's worth the $25 I paid for the Mercenary edition.
Interstellar Space: Genesis (IS:G) is a by-the-numbers, unimaginative, and soulless imitation of Master of Orion 2 (MoO2). Nothing more, nothing less. Graphics are nice, gameplay options are faithful to the MoO2 games, and the tutorial is serviceable. However, the game feels dull and empty, and you'll be clicking the "next turn" button repeatedly in hope of something interesting happening. During about an hour of gameplay, I explored 3 planets, researched 5 techs, made half a colony ship, and ran into 1 other civilization--and was bored to tears the whole time. Of MoO2 successors, MoO: Conquer the Stars is the superior game, even with its terrible combat. I would recommend it, along with the unofficial patch. IS:G is completely unnecessary.
I hated this mess. Frostpunk appears to be one of those games where you are supposed to look up videos on the internet in order to learn how to play. There is no tutorial or intro level. Tool tips pop up randomly, but not with the information that you will need to get started. Furthermore, there is nothing intuitive about the UI, and for some reason the developer decided to use really small fonts. Anyhow, you are just thrown into the game with a clock ticking down regarding the population's discontent. My first attempt at playing the game was a snowballing disaster that went like this. First, you need to build a building for collecting coal. Okay, you locate a coal deposit and select a storage building. But no, the storage building cannot go in that spot next to the deposit because it will block a future street. Okay, how do I build a street? Well, you don't have enough resources to build a street. Oh--and by the way, the generator is not operable, and people are freezing to death. Go get that coal! Okay, assign workers for the coal storage building. Oops! 24 people just died overnight, and still not enough coal, not to mention no streets. Discontent is high, and hope has vanished. Time to start over. However, the next game had the exact same result. Ridiculous... I'm not sure who this game is made for or who would think that it is fun. I've played many city-builder games, but none have been as obtuse and unrewarding as this one. Anyway, I cannot recommend Frostpunk at any price point. There are much better games available.
Iron Harvest is a one of those games that mismatches good ideas with stale execution. I really like the steampunk, alternative history approach that it takes with WWI. The graphics look good, the music is catchy, and the mech are, of course, an original addition. However, the game is more or less a carbon copy of Company of Heroe (CoH) and really adds nothing new to the formula. The campaign gets old fast, even though it does show you how to play the game. The mech warfare is entertaining for a while, until you realize that all of the explosions really do not add up to fun gameplay or a compelling storyline. Skirmish is okay, but it does nothing that CoH did not do almost 20 years ago. Other than a few hours of seeing what the mechs can do, there's nothing to justify keeping this on your hard drive for more than an afternoon. Hard pass.
Overall, I liked Hand of Fate 2 (HoF2). It's a very good game. I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling, most of the quests, the mini-games, and the sense of progression. The narrator is a perfect mix of wisdom, cleverness, and creepiness. The game has quite a bit of charm, and I especially like how you can build your own adventure by selecting quest cards ahead of time, although the dealer spices things up a bit with his own cards. The main thing that keeps this game from being great or a true classic is the combat. The problem is that you have no control over the camera angle, nor does the game automatically track your guy's movement so that you can see a wider view of the field. On top of that, the game likes to throw mobs at you. So, in a typical encounter, you are struggling to find your guy in the mob, while trying to avoid taking damage from some unseen enemy just off-screen. Chances are, you are going to take some damage. Not only does this weaken your character against other threats in the mini-game parts of the story (which involve card selections, dice, cards, pendulum, etc.), but it also forces you to consume food in order to restore health. And as fate would have it, food can be scarce in this game--you can literally lose a mission through starvation. Ideally, the combat segments should have been handled like everything else in the game--that is, through cards, dice rolls, and the pendulum. In addition to being poorly done, the current combat system breaks the immersion of the game. After all these years, I am shocked that the developer never fixed the combat camera with a patch. Outside of the poor combat camera, if you are put off by RNG and being at the mercy of dice rolls and random card choices, you might not like this game. I actually quit after completing about 2/3 of the missions due to the combat alone (I like the random mini-games though). Anyhow, I definitely would recommend HoF2, including the DLCs, on sale.
