Author name: DJ Henderson

Another weekend has come and gone like a slightly drunken ghost trying its best to haunt you. It was a busy one, so I’m looking forward to crawling into bed and forgetting about the whole existence thing for a while. Maybe in the morning I’ll make a pillow fort and refuse to come out for anything less than Sticky Toffee Pudding.

This week I rambled a bit in my review of Descenders, the arcade mountain biking game about going way too fast down big hills. It also quickly became about going crashing into trees way too fast. Anyway, I wound up really liking the blend of randomly generated tracks and fun physics. It had some big flaws holding it back, but for now it’s the best mountain biking game we have. The competition isn’t exactly vast, mind you.

My second rambling of the week came in the form of a review for Team Sonic Racing. Somehow I managed to do the entire review without bringing up the fact that it’s a little strange Sonic the Hedgehog would bother with a car. Anyway, bloody good kart racer that has the unfortunate problem of not being quite as good as its 2012 predecessor.

And finally my Patch Notes this week talked about Anthem being dead and the fact that we somehow have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare again. Speaking of CoD, I also chatted about the seemingly troubled development of 2020’s Call of Duty.

This brings me to the upcoming reviews. The first up (probably) will be of Draugen. If you don’t know what that is then never fear, because nobody else does, either. It’s a small indie game set in 1920s Norway where you play as Edward who is seeking his sister. Along for the journey is Edward’s ward, Lissie. It falls firmly into the Walking Simulator category with an emphasis on the story. My initial thoughts are positive, but I do have some big issues with Draugen as well.

I’ll also be reviewing Blood & Truth for the PS VR. Boy oh boy, what a game that is! I’ve been loving what developers London Studios have done with Blood & Truth. It’s exciting, immersive and the gameplay feels great. I just wish it was longer and had been on the Oculus so that free movement could have been possible. Ah well, more on that in the full review. I’m going back to shooting guns in virtual reality *pew pew*

Other reviews that may or may not appear depending on if code comes in for other stuff are Void Bastards and Assetto Corsa Competizione. Void Bastards looks amazing visually, but I’m actually more interested in ACC simply because I bought it in Early Access due to its VR support but now at launch the VR is apparently so broken that the developers removed the VR badge from the game’s store page on Steam! What the hell happened!?

But in slightly happier news I fired up Jurassic World: Evolution for the first time in ages and enjoyed watching a T-Rex eat people. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

I also caught the first episode of Good Omens, the six-part series based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name. I’ve mentioned this before on this site, but I’m a massive Terry Pratchett fanboy. The man’s humour and wit played a massive part in shaping who I am today, although that should not be held against him.

Anyway, the first episode was appropriately barmy, wacky and bonkers. If you weren’t aware the story revolves around an angel and a demon who have been on Earth since the time of Adam and Eve. They became sort of friends and over the years have developed a liking for Earth so when the end of times officially comes knocking they want to stop it.

My brief synopsis doesn’t do the show justice. David Tennant kills it as Crowley the demon who knows he’s meant to help bring about the end but also really likes kicking about on Earth. Likewise, Michael Sheen does a terrific job as the good-boy Aziraphale who has a serious weakness for the finer things in life like a good wine or a killer meal. It’s the kind of zany that clicks with a very specific audience, but if you’re like me and love the work of Pratchett or Gaiman then I think it’s absolutely worth watching. You can find it on Amazon Prime Video, or on the BBC in about six months or so.

On a final note my German Shepard (he’s called Laoch) managed to get himself a big raised lump on the end of his nose. Looks like either an infection from somewhere or possibly a reaction to some giant Hog Weed. Either way he’s been playing the sympathy card for all its worth. Anyway, since I’ve never put a picture of him up here, here’s one in case you want to check out his Royal Furriness.

Right, I’ll wrap things up here. As always a big thank you for visiting the site. And please do let me know what you’ve been playing, watching and reading this week in the comments below!

The inherent problem with a game like Draugen is that you can’t talk about it. That makes reviewing somewhat tricky. You see, dear reader, Draugen is one of them there fancy pants walking simulators, all artistic and such like. The story of Druagen is the game, but I can’t talk about the story in detail without ruining the game. You see the problem?

*Downs a shot of whiskey* But I got this. I got it. Right. Here we go.

Draugen takes place in 1920’s Norway. The uptight and nervous Edward Harden has travelled to the coastal village of Graavik in search of his lost sister, Emily. Accompanying Edward is his young ward Lissie who is boisterous, talkative, constantly spouting inane theories about what’s going on and above all else really wishes Edward would take that stick out of his uptight arse.

Platforms: PC
Reviewed On: PC
Developer: Red Thread Games
Publisher: Red Thread Games

As for the town of Graavik it’s a beautiful place. Vast mountains in the background, idyllic houses and a sea-view to end all sea-views. While Druagen may not be a powerhouse of graphical va-va-voom it still does a pretty good job. It would be a fantastic place to live if it wasn’t for the fact that all the residents of Graavik have vanished. This was not mentioned in the brochure.

If some of this sounds familiar then you’d be right; Draugen conjures up comparisons to the likes of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and What Remains of Edith Finch and indeed owes a lot to such games. But still, Draugen does manage to bring its own twists to the walking simulator genre. Like how Edward is too damn polite to go into certain places. Everyone has vanished, Edward, it’s okay to stop sleeping on the couch and use one of the bedrooms.

At the core of everything is the relationship between Edward and Lissie which is a meld of father & daughter, brother & sister and just plain friends. Some players might find Lissie annoying, but personally I found her endearing. She calls Edward, “Teddy Bear,” and constantly says things like, “Old bean,” or describes Edward as a “wet blanket”. Whereas Teddy Bear is meek, afraid to break the rules and is polite to a fault Lissie is happy to bounce around, stick her nose in everything and generally enjoy life. She’s at once brilliantly likeable and utterly annoying. The contrast between her and Edward is a genuine joy, even if I did occasionally want to strangle her.

By tapping F when Lissie is nearby you can engage her in various conversations that further help flesh out the game’s story and mystery. Without doing this a couple of important bits of information can actually be missed. There’s even a basic attempt at offering dialogue choices, though they don’t seem to have much impact on how things play out. They feel more like an attempt to add more gamey stuff to the game.

Outside of chatting to Lissie your interaction with Draugen is limited. This is a linear story with no puzzles to solve. You’ll be lead from story beat to story beat with only a little room for meaningful exploration. It’s the kind of experience that needs to have a truly outstanding story, in my opinion, because without that it’s too easy to notice the fact that you’re playing through a glorified visual novel.

So, what of the story? How does it hold up? There are two narrative threads that run through Draugen; is Edward’s missing sister in Graavik, and what happened to all the people? Both are interesting tales with some nice twists and turns. The game works to make you question the nature of the mystery, too, adding in things like doors closing of their own accord, raising the idea that something supernatural is going on. Is everything happening because Casper the Ghost took a vacation?

With the town empty most of the narrative gets built around finding photos, letters and other things. It’s effective, but the downside to delivering the plot this week is that it’s hard to feel connected to the people involved. Do I really care about the people of Graavik? No. They’re little more than some vague descriptions.

Ultimately nothing in Draugen got a reaction from me. There were no amazing moments when things clicked together, no feelings of true discovery and nothing that really gripped me about the people of Graavik. This was particularly true of one specific member of Graavik’s community, a small child. While Edward and Lissie were clearly affected by her story, I was not.

The relationship between Edward and Lissie proved more enjoyable, but even that lacked weight. To be fair, though, that’s partially because I called a major plot point within the first 30 minutes of the game thereby robbing it of impact when it came around. This, I think, may potentially be the game’s biggest hurdle; some people are going to see a big part of the plot coming. This is because the game drops a lot of clues along the way which to anyone who has had prior experience with narratives of the same ilk will almost immediately pick up on. However, it has to be said that Draugen should be praised for putting in those hints rather than just having the twist come out of the blue. A good twist should always be done so that when you go back and rewatch/replay/reread everything the clues are there. The thing is the clues need to be hidden in such a way that most people won’t notice them at first. Draugen struggles with this.

Despite this, though, Draugen is still a solid narrative adventure. Be warned, though it can be a short experience; my first playthrough clocked in at around 2-3 hours. My second took longer as I ensured I caught every potential conversation and took time to double check all the locations. Doing this, especially running through all the conversations with Lissie, helps flesh out the story more.

Speaking of fleshing things out if you like your stories to have full closure then Draguen might leave you feeling irritated. Of course, leaving some questions is vital when it comes to making a sequel or DLC, something which Draugen is clearly aiming for, and it does succeed in leaving the right questions to have me wanting more. But it also left some plot threads dangling that probably should have been handled better. This also includes a major plot point about Edward which the developers themselves have clarified in spoiler posts on the Steam forums.

Finally, I think it’s worth mentioning that the developers are apparently considering adding VR support to Draguen. As a first-person game it would be a superb addition, though the lack of interaction could grow irksome.

So, is Draugen worth playing? It’s a challenging question, least not because trying to review the game without being able to talk about the major pieces of the game makes it hard to justify my conclusion. In my opinion Draugen is a solid story-driven game, but not up in the upper echelons of the genre. It has the potential to be up there, though, and the potential to have two fascinating characters in Edward and Lissie. I look forward to the continuation of their story.

The hit new deckbuilding game is coming to all major digital platforms next year!

PHILADELPHIA, PA – November 30th, 2018 – Stone Blade Entertainment, in collaboration with Temple Gates Games, is bringing the hit deckbuilding game, Shards of Infinity, to iOS, Android, and Steam!

Designed by Justin Gary and Gary Arant, Shards of Infinity combines an unprecedented level of strategy and customization. Stone Blade Entertainment is well known for their depth of strategy and innovation, and Shards of Infinity is their hit follow-up to the award winning deckbuilding game, Ascension. Shards of Infinity introduces the innovative Mastery mechanic, giving players multiple paths to victory in a quick, cutthroat game that always leaves players wanting to play “just one more game.”

Temple Gates Games has a long history of success working with board game publishers. They specialize in digitizing card games including Ascension, making it the first deckbuilding game to take place in virtual reality. Their amazing attention to detail and background in digital gaming make them the ideal partner to develop Shards of Infinity for a digital audience.

The digital version of Shards of Infinity will release in Spring 2019 for $7.99 across all platforms. Players will enjoy local pass-and-play, asynchronous multiplayer, and can take on challenging AI opponents! Temple Gates Games is known for including world-class AI which uses neural network technology to create formidable opponents. As the AI trains it will grow stronger to keep up with advanced Shards of Infinity players.

Gamers wanting to learn more about the progress of the Shards of Infinity digital game are encouraged to sign up for Stone Blade Entertainment newsletter.

For more information, please contact pr@stoneblade.com.
For more information online, please visit stoneblade.com and TempleGatesGames.com.

I love deck builders.

To say anything less would be an understatement. I grew up playing TCGs and CCGs, hosting tournaments of all kinds and was even an official Magic judge at one point.

I love card games.

When I first heard about Dominion I had been out of the card game world for a few years… and when I played it I was hooked. This new format was just what I needed. An amazing card-driven experience without the need for endless packs being opened chasing cards, or sweating over trades to get that PERFECT card to finish my tournament deck.

Deckbuilders now come in many shapes and sizes. I’ve played quite a few, to say the least… and I have to say that this new kid on the block is FANTASTIC.

I’ve watched Darren Terpstra, founder of Ginger Snap Gaming, post about Ignite in boardgame and design groups for quite a while now. I was initially drawn in (hah) by a post he made asking for critiques on his cover art. It was eye-catching and I’ve been following his progress ever since.

What I like the most about Ignite is that it takes the elements of deck building I love (customizable play experience) and combines it with variable player powers, grid movementand a sprinkling of area control. I’m a big fan of Shining Force, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc! 

Dominion, as some know, is the official genesis of the deck building genre. There have been some well-received versions since then that have helped shape the genre and set new standards of design: Star Realms, Ascension, DC, Legendary, Paperback, Clank! and Terrors of London. They all introduced different elements such as a 2-player focus, faction synergy (à la Magic: The Gathering), non-combat win conditions, point-to-point movement, and more.

I BELIEVE IGNITE IS THE NEXT BIG STEP IN DECK BUILDING GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN. IT’S USE OF GRID MOVEMENT, VARIABLE PLAYER POWERS, AND BEAUTIFUL MINIS SETS IT APART FROM ALL OTHERS IN THE GENRE.

Below is the basic prototype board layout for 2-4 players. The 6×12 area in the middle is comprised of random tiles that will contain Plains, Lava, Water, and Forest terrain. The outer brown area is the Village. In the center 4 spots of the board, there is also a Bazaar (not pictured below, as the rules have been updated since I played). To the right is the Market, where all your 16 Battle Decks are located. There are many, many Battle Decks, so each game feels very different.

On the board you’ll also see 6 tokens. Those represent the Races my wife and I chose for that round, however, now 2 player mode allows each player to pick two races each. This both increases strategy as you can synergize your races abilities and increases the tension on the board as you can control and threaten more spaces on the board. In the published version of the game, all races will be minis, not tokens (pictured later).

Below is a screenshot from the updated rulebook, so you can see a clearer—and no glare—version of what I’m saying. The yellow outlines are showing you the shapes of the board pieces and how they interlock.

From afar the Village tiles look like a muddy brown, but they are quite detailed if you look at them more closely.

And the Cards look great. This one is pricey and costs 10 Honor (the number in the middle) and produces 2 Honor (upper left). Why is it so expensive? Well, it’s a Movement card, which allows you to move your units around the board. It also allows you to move through a unit (not normally allowed) and deal 1 damage to them (units have 3 health total)! If the enemy has a Shield, you still get Knocked Down and the controlling player will have to discard a card to stand them back up! Plus, that’s one badass looking unicorn!

Earlier I mentioned the Races. Each race either has a bonus which is economic or card-based, or it is a racial bonus applied to the units themselves. There are 9 races here, but he has more developed for expansions and stretch goals as well!

The race(s) you choose are very important. They are your variable player power for the game, which should then affect your strategic decisions throughout the game along with which Battle Cards you decide to purchase. Those two sets of choices, along with the grid movement and area control make each playthrough quite different creates new puzzles/strategies to unlock for yourself each time.

Plus, there are even more elements to the game that allow you to dive deeper and deeper into the gameplay. For example, Titles:

From the Rulebook, “Title cards are optional cards you can add to the market. Add only 1 or 2 titles cards per game. Title cards do not count toward the 16 battle deck limit. There is only 1 copy of each title card. A title card does not have a cost in the center of the card. Rather, it has multiple costs in the upper left-hand corner. The first player to purchase a title card may purchase it for any of the costs listed. When it is purchased, it is placed in front of that player and stays out on the table. On each subsequent turn after it’s purchased, the card’s owner may use the title card’s effect.

Another player, on their turn, can steal the title card away by purchasing it for a cost higher than what the previous player paid for it. They can purchase it for any listed price, as long as it is a higher price. The new owner places it in front of them and may use its effect on each subsequent turn. If a title card is ever purchased for its maximum cost, other players can continue to steal it by purchasing it at its maximum cost.”

AND there are multiple gameplay variants to apply once you’ve become familiar with the rules. This game alone could provide years of replay. It’s definitely worth checking out, and will be on Kickstarter in less than a week!

Want to win it before people can even back it on Kickstarter? Check out their official launch giveaway!

Issue 192 of Retro Gamer is available to buy now from all good newsagents and My Favourite Magazines, and we’ve teamed up with C64Audio.com to deliver a special package for our readers. Each copy of the magazine comes with a CD full of Rob Hubbard remixes – the best of the game music legend’s Commodore 64 work is represented here, with tunes from the likes of Monty On The Run, Commando, and Dragon’s Lair II remixed and reimagined by the likes of Matt Gray, Uncle And The Bacon and even Rob himself (see the full track listing below). Inside the magazine itself, you’ll also find an interview with Rob talking about Project Hubbard and the upcoming 8-Bit Symphony concert, due to take place on 15th June 2019.

That’s not all though, as you’ll have noticed that our cover story is on Yoshi’s Island, one of the greatest 2D platform games ever made. Nintendo’s Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino reveal the development process behind the SNES classic, from the initial decision to avoid another Mario game to the game’s beautiful hand-drawn style, and of course the use of the SuperFX 2 enhancement chip.

There’s plenty more to see elsewhere in the issue. Former Ocean Software artist Mark R Jones tells the story of his first month at the company in his own words, with unseen sketches and photographs from the time. Our regular Making Of features examine the cult C64 classic Space Taxi, Lucasarts’ eccentric management sim Afterlife, EA’s dangerous extreme sports title Skitchin’ and the PlayStation ninja classic Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. We also catch up with the Road Runner in an Ultimate Guide, and look back at the evolution of Head Over Heels with Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond.

That’s not all, either. Rebecca Heineman discusses her decades in the games industry in In The Chair, we take a look at the Amiga CD32 in our Minority Report, and Julian Gollop tells all about the history of his strategy studio Mythos Games. The long-awaited ToeJam & Earl: Back In The Groove is reviewed, and of course the magazine features the usual selection of Retro Revivals, news, columns and guides. And if all of this sounds like something you want to be a part of long-term, we’ve got a great offer of a free mini arcade cabinet for new subscribers.

What makes a videogame feel great? Is it the game itself, the friends you enjoy it playing with, or the machine powering the amazing experience that you’re completely engrossed in?

For most of us, the answer is all three. And if you happened to chance upon a bustling amusement arcade during your youth then you’ll fully understand why.

Games played on a classic arcade cabinet seemed to come alive. They’d pull you in with graphics that would pop from the screen and provide robust, chunky controls that perfectly complemented the game.

Above all else, though, they would entice you with audio that would not only scream to be heard over the sounds from other games but compete with the chatter and laughter filling the room.

That’s because arcades were a destination, a place for you to hang out with your pals and have fun. And if you want to replicate that enjoyment, then how better than a modern arcade cabinet packed with the greatest of hits?

Step forward the Arcade1UP cabinets, a range of amazing machines that bring the arcade home with no quarters or tokens required.

They allow your favorite games from yesteryear to come back to life in the way that they should always be played – with arcade-style joysticks, trackballs and buttons.

At a wallet-friendly introductory rate of $299 they really are a bargain. But if you want to guarantee one, then you’ll need to be quick.

GameStop, which is the only retailer allowing pre-orders in store, expects them to sell as fast as your reactions will need to be to master these games. You can, however, also order at gamestop.com.

But why are they set to be popular? Well, the cabinets will inevitably light up your room thanks to a 17-inch LCD screen that will perfectly showcase the games in their original form, with the same graphics and sounds that made them instantly appealing the first time around.

The machines will also turn heads for their sheer presence since each upright cabinet stands at three-fourths the size of the original machine.

Most crucially, however, are the classic games you’ll be able to enjoy.

GameStop will have a finger-twitching four cabinets in total and each one contains up to four games.

• The Asteroids-led cabinet comes with the addition of Major Havoc, Lunar Lander and Tempest;
• Rampage is bundled with Gauntlet, Joust and Defender;

• Centipede includes Missile Command, Crystal Castles and Atari Millipede; and
• Street Fighter II Champion Edition has the addition of Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.

But just as important as the selection of games, is the look of the cabinets, each of which are faithfully decorated with the eye-catching marquee and side artwork of the leading title.

This was no mean feat for Arcade1UP which went to great lengths to find the original art sheets in order to recreate them, helping those memories to come flooding back.

To add to the fun, the cabinets need to be self-assembled so you get a chance to go behind the scenes of the machines and get up close with each of the parts inside and out. This is a very simple process and it has enabled the makers to keep the cost of these impressive cabinets down.

Don’t forget, you need to get your pre-order in to guarantee one or more of the cabinets, though. Ask the staff at your local GameStop for more information or head over to gamestop.com.

Are you a human being of a certain age, whose geographical location and status as a television viewer allowed you to watch Movies Games And Videos on ITV? If so: congratulations, you are old like us, and you evidently had a lot of free time on Saturday afternoons like us too. We remember it because the show had an odd habit of featuring Neo Geo games, and you didn’t often see that outside of an arcade.

But also, you might remember Steve Priestley, the forever unseen narrator of that particular television programme. Well, thanks to Funtenga Video Software, he’s back doing the thing we all remember – narrating footage of game previews. But these are no ordinary games! Instead, you will see men fighting their trusty vessels and the wonders of Thanks Blaster. It really does defy reasonable explanation, so we’d advise you just click the play button and leave the problem of working it out to future you.

Retro Gamer issue 182 has hit the shelves today, and if you’re a fan of the Mega Drive you won’t want to miss it. Our cover feature takes a deep dive into the technology that makes the 30 year old console tick, with key developers including Mark Cerny, Trip Hawkins and Rieko Kodama giving their expert insight. What’s more, we have two added gifts – a fantastic sticker sheet featuring classic Sega sprites and iconography, and a guide to the Mega Drive’s essential games. If all that gets you in the mood for to revisit some 16-bit hits, we’ve also reviewed the new Sega Mega Drive Classics collection.

There’s plenty more inside, too. We have features on the creation of Savage, Rock ‘N’ Roll Racing and EyeToy: Play, an Ultimate Guide to Konami’s arcade racer WEC Le Mans, and a Minority Report focusing on the Atari 8-bit range. Outside of specific games, we’ve got a collector’s guide to Eighties publisher Software Projects, a look back at Brian Howarth’s Digital Fantasia, and an examination of games made using the Build engine. Our sit-down interview for the month is with Matt Gray, the musician behind games such as Last Ninja 2 and Driller. And of course we’ve got all the usual favourites including Retro Revivals, Hardware Heaven and The Unconverted.

You can buy the issue now from all good newsagents for £5.99, or order it directly from us at MyFavouriteMagazines. Alternatively, if you spotted the exclusive subscriber cover up there and don’t want to miss them in future, you can subscribe to Retro Gamer at MyFavouriteMagazines too.