Darci Boatright asked 3 weeks ago
This game is not officially out yet, but Baldur’s Gate 3 has been receiving a lot of positive press from its Early Access release . Like many RPGs, it is all about balancing equipment and paying attention to stats. Where one can get restless doing this on a couch or in front of a desktop, RPGs have always found a good home on portable consoles purely for this reason. Fans cannot wait to get their hands on the full release, but early access offers quite a lot of content by its
Whereas other 4X games let players see their sprawling empire across city to city, Crusader Kings gives players a more strategic and “realistic” approach. In this grand strategy game, players relive 1066 to 1452 in their own image. Historically, these mark the day after William the Conqueror’s coronation and the fall of Constantinople. Unlike other fantasy games that prominently feature knights and sorcerers , Crusader Kings tries to be as realistic as possi
The core thrill of seeing a squad erupt from ‘Overwatch’ to let barrages loose on an unsuspecting enemy is augmented by the new tweaks to Squaddie classes. The standards remain (Sniper, Grenadier, Specialist), but the ‘Assault’ class has been replaced with the fearless and furious Rangers. And before player assume the name means these fighters are ranged characters, realize that sprinting across a battlefield to unleash a sword attack point-blank has a distinct melee feel. The turn-based gameplay remains the same (although clearly increased in difficulty), leaving the fiction to inform the meaning of the mechanics – scrounging alien technology, attacking research centers and extracting assets – and in turn, letting the desperation of the campaign amplify the story ramificati
Players of grand strategy games might have heard of Endless Legend. Moreover, it’s perhaps one of the most interesting fantasy-science fiction 4X titles to have graced the PC. In this game, players end up as one of the many remnants of races in a changing Auriga. The game features 14 playable factions, with five others in expansi
The PSP re-release of Final Fantasy Tactics was mostly just the PS1 game’s graphics. The one big addition the port got was animated cutscenes drawn in a style that fit the game’s theme. That is what this game and its predecessor, Octopath Traveler, lacked. The in-game animations are fine but they still look goofy. Square Enix definitely has the budget for cutscenes since this style is trying to harken back to the PS1 days alre
The story in this game is dense. There are a lot of characters and terms used that can be hard to follow. This is just the demo too so who knows how complicated the main game will get. It would be nice if these conversations had text logs. To bring up Persona 5 Strikers again, that game lets players hit a button in order to scroll back through what characters just said accompanied by voice work if it was already th
For those who have been waiting until XCOM 2 hit consoles to see how it follows on the story of the first game, the twist from Firaxis is the kind of bold and ambitious that would seem alien to other studios (pardon the pun). After spending an entire campaign – or two – battling an alien infestation with the backing of world governments and cutting-edge technology, Firaxis took the fate of the world out of the players’ hands: Humanity had lost. The Aliens won. Twenty years have passed. And XCOM has been scattered to the w
Players of Stellaris aren’t “Evil,” but only brave souls would dare venture into the vastness of Stellaris and its 4X experience. Similar to other strategy games, Stellaris players control their own colony , this time in space. Additionally, alongside this premise are the usual things found in 4X games. These include resource gathering and SLG Walkthrough tech trees, diplomacy and warfare, and even dealing with various wacky scenar
The helmets in particular allow players to use any part of any headpiece and mash them all together to create truly individual looks. The combinations are endless. Some can be silly, some can be fierce. It’s all up to the player and their boundless imaginat
However, perhaps most interesting in Civ 6 is that it can make 4X simple to understand. Thanks to its cartoonish animations and easy-to-grasp interface, anyone new to the genre can easily become a 4X fan in no t
Psionics are incredibly powerful in XCOM. These mentally-draining abilities can let you mind control enemies or cause enemies near you to cower in fear, and end up providing you with a large variety of abilities that could seem overpowered later in the g
The Gears of War series has been known for its intense third-person action since its debut on the Xbox 360. Gears Tactics slows this down for a more strategic experience. Taking cover is still a big part of the gameplay, but that’s because it plays like XCOM and Wasteland 3 . It is available for Xbox consoles too, but playing it portably offers an opportunity to take on some of the side quests on a bus or tr
Whereas other 4X games let players see their sprawling empire across city to city, Crusader Kings gives players a more strategic and “realistic” approach. In this grand strategy game, players relive 1066 to 1452 in their own image. Historically, these mark the day after William the Conqueror’s coronation and the fall of Constantinople. Unlike other fantasy games that prominently feature knights and sorcerers , Crusader Kings tries to be as realistic as possi The core thrill of seeing a squad erupt from ‘Overwatch’ to let barrages loose on an unsuspecting enemy is augmented by the new tweaks to Squaddie classes. The standards remain (Sniper, Grenadier, Specialist), but the ‘Assault’ class has been replaced with the fearless and furious Rangers. And before player assume the name means these fighters are ranged characters, realize that sprinting across a battlefield to unleash a sword attack point-blank has a distinct melee feel. The turn-based gameplay remains the same (although clearly increased in difficulty), leaving the fiction to inform the meaning of the mechanics – scrounging alien technology, attacking research centers and extracting assets – and in turn, letting the desperation of the campaign amplify the story ramificati
Players of grand strategy games might have heard of Endless Legend. Moreover, it’s perhaps one of the most interesting fantasy-science fiction 4X titles to have graced the PC. In this game, players end up as one of the many remnants of races in a changing Auriga. The game features 14 playable factions, with five others in expansi
The PSP re-release of Final Fantasy Tactics was mostly just the PS1 game’s graphics. The one big addition the port got was animated cutscenes drawn in a style that fit the game’s theme. That is what this game and its predecessor, Octopath Traveler, lacked. The in-game animations are fine but they still look goofy. Square Enix definitely has the budget for cutscenes since this style is trying to harken back to the PS1 days alre
The story in this game is dense. There are a lot of characters and terms used that can be hard to follow. This is just the demo too so who knows how complicated the main game will get. It would be nice if these conversations had text logs. To bring up Persona 5 Strikers again, that game lets players hit a button in order to scroll back through what characters just said accompanied by voice work if it was already th
For those who have been waiting until XCOM 2 hit consoles to see how it follows on the story of the first game, the twist from Firaxis is the kind of bold and ambitious that would seem alien to other studios (pardon the pun). After spending an entire campaign – or two – battling an alien infestation with the backing of world governments and cutting-edge technology, Firaxis took the fate of the world out of the players’ hands: Humanity had lost. The Aliens won. Twenty years have passed. And XCOM has been scattered to the w
Players of Stellaris aren’t “Evil,” but only brave souls would dare venture into the vastness of Stellaris and its 4X experience. Similar to other strategy games, Stellaris players control their own colony , this time in space. Additionally, alongside this premise are the usual things found in 4X games. These include resource gathering and SLG Walkthrough tech trees, diplomacy and warfare, and even dealing with various wacky scenar
The helmets in particular allow players to use any part of any headpiece and mash them all together to create truly individual looks. The combinations are endless. Some can be silly, some can be fierce. It’s all up to the player and their boundless imaginat
However, perhaps most interesting in Civ 6 is that it can make 4X simple to understand. Thanks to its cartoonish animations and easy-to-grasp interface, anyone new to the genre can easily become a 4X fan in no t
Psionics are incredibly powerful in XCOM. These mentally-draining abilities can let you mind control enemies or cause enemies near you to cower in fear, and end up providing you with a large variety of abilities that could seem overpowered later in the g
The Gears of War series has been known for its intense third-person action since its debut on the Xbox 360. Gears Tactics slows this down for a more strategic experience. Taking cover is still a big part of the gameplay, but that’s because it plays like XCOM and Wasteland 3 . It is available for Xbox consoles too, but playing it portably offers an opportunity to take on some of the side quests on a bus or tr