I, Napoleon

by

GMT Games

Designed by

Ted Raicer

 This review is one that feels a bit strange to me. The reason being is that I have placed myself in the Emperor's shoes on many different battlefields. I have never had the chance to place myself in his bed or anything more than just in charge of his troops. I also have a small hurdle to overcome. That hurdle is the fact that this is really an RPG about Napoleon. The problem arises in the fact that when I play RPGs my characters are always long on muscle and agility and very light on gray matter. I always put as much points as I can in the beginning and throughout the games into strength. I cannot remember the last time that I tried to add any brain power to my characters whatsoever. My characters can barely hold a conversation in the games let alone read a book. To play an RPG with someone who consistently is listed as one of the highest IQs ever is quite a leap for me. Make no mistake about it, even though you are playing with crowns, political matters, and high diplomacy this is an RPG of Napoleon. The only unfortunate thing about the game is that you cannot reroll a die to become part of another family. In this case you are stuck with these people no matter how inept or voracious for money and power they are. I think Madame Mère rapped the wrong offspring on the knuckles. She should have taken a paddle to the whole lot of them. Lucien is the only sibling that gets a pass. His success as a politician, and his help to his brother, is always overlooked when it comes to Napoleon taking power. So, there we have it. You are Napoleon in this game. You not only want to be a success yourself, but you also want to leave a dynasty behind you firmly on the French Imperial throne. Oh, and I forgot, it would be really helpful to stick a shiv into Talleyrand and Fouche as quickly as possible, as soon as their usefulness is over.

The back of the box

 This is what GMT Games has to say:

"I, Napoleon is a solitaire historical role-playing card game in which you step into the boots of Captain Buonoparte (as he still was) in the year 1793. Louis XVI has just gone to the guillotine, the brothers Robespierre control the destiny of France, and all Europe has joined French Royalists to take down France, end the Revolution, and restore peace and safety for the hereditary principles that have underlain society for 1,000 years.

As an ambitious but unknown young artillery officer, who speaks French with a Corsican accent, you would seem to be an unlikely agent of destiny. Can you harness a brilliant mind, titanic energies, and a sometimes-terrifying charisma to leave your mark on history? Or will you die a minor footnote in the story of France?

Gameplay

In I, Napoleon, your fate lies in 220 beautifully illustrated cards, divided into three decks: Commander, First Consul, and Emperor. Overlaying a map of early 19th Century Europe are a series of Card Boxes, where you play out the events of your life and career, along with various tracks and tables to record the yearly passage of time and the events affecting yourself and France. The choices you make with the cards you are dealt will determine success or failure. You will have to manage politics, military campaigns, diplomacy, and the domestic well-being of the French while pursuing the Glory that lures you on. You will also have to manage your family, your wives, your mistresses, and your children, legitimate and otherwise.

Your path may lead you from the Americas to the Near East, from Spain to Russia, from a throne to exile. You will be the target of assassins, coups, and coalitions. You will deal with bad harvests and plague, face Wellington and Nelson, Kutuzov and Blucher. You will rely on—and perhaps be betrayed by—the slippery Talleyrand and unleash the secret policemen Fouche on your opponents. As you progress, your options will increase, along with the stakes.

Lead your men into battle and risk an early end to your life? Sail to Egypt or Ireland? Sell Louisiana or send an army to hold it? Marry a Habsburg or a Romanov? Create the Duchy of Warsaw or revive the Kingdom of Poland? Invade Russia or try to pacify the Tsar? Every choice will affect your legacy.

But there is not one version of a life here, but many. Every game will provide a different narrative, based on both luck of the draw and the decisions you make. In addition, you can start the game as a Commander, as First Consul, or as Emperor, each with its own starting situation and challenges. The story is yours to discover, and the decisions you make may just change the course of history."

The game map

This is what comes with the game:

222 Poker-sized Playing Cards

One Half Countersheet

One 22” x 34” Mounted Map Board

One 10-sided Die

One Rulebook

One Playbook

Two Player Aid Cards

 The Mounted Map is really more of a placeholder for all of the different cards and the decks they make up. It does have a period style map of parts of Europe in its background. The card placement areas are indicative of Napoleon's choice in color. The biggest fault I have found in Napoleon is his love for the color green. So, the card placeholders are about 70% green with the rest being red. There are numerous other placeholder parts of the map. These include the turn record track, and the General Records Track etc. The counters are nice and large at 3/4" and very easy to see and read what they are used for. There is one 8 1/2" X 11" card stock sheet that deals with the campaigns that can be played in the game. One side has the 'Potential Campaign Selection Table' and the other side is the 'Campaign Battle Mat'. Both sides have all of the instructions you need to use the cards different uses. 

 Next, we have the 24-page Rules of Play. This is your standard GMT rulebook with double column printing and in full color. There are examples of play etc. and all of what you need to know to play the game. Then we have a 32-page Playbook with the same full color and double column printing. It starts with a quick start guide and then moves into an example of play. This is followed by the complete 222 card manifest. Then we have a six-page history of Napoleon followed by design notes. It even comes with a suggested reading list from the designer along with his own take on the man.

 The game is a completely card driven game. So, I would be remiss if I didn't mention them. Of course, with the number of cards that come in the box it is slightly like the elephant in the room. Most of the backs of the cards are that green color again that he loved so much. There are also some cards to keep the different years separate etc. and they are, (gratefully) beige in color. The side of the cards that are used for playing each have either a portrait of the person in question, (Marshals, enemies, and events) or a picture of the important event etc. The cards are sturdy enough for a good amount of play. However, if you do plan to play a lot of the game, and you should, I suggest sleeving them.

 As usual the components of a GMT game pass with flying colors. 

Some of the counters

 The game comes with a few scenarios. These are:

Full Campaign Scenario 1793 - 1821

Commander Scenario - 1793 to Napoleon becoming First Consul or 1802

First Consul Scenario - 1800 to 1804 or Napoleon becomes Emperor

Emperor Scenario - 1805 until 1817-1821 

Napoleon can be killed on the battlefield, executed, or overthrown.

He can also face the treason of the Marshals, as in 1814.

The following are also reasons for the game to end:

  If Napoleon is overthrown as First Consul or Emperor, 

because Glory reaches 0 during those eras or because of a 

Defeat in Austria (Italy) (67), end the game immediately.

  Resolving certain cards, such as Louis XVIII Writes (97), 

Natural Frontiers (156), or Peace of Europe (209) end the 

game immediately.

  The game will always end, one way or another, during the 

Abdication Segment (13.1).

  The game always ends at the conclusion of the final Year 

(1817-21).

 As soon as a game ending event occurs, proceed to the Game 

End and Outcomes (13.0).

 The sequence of play is not long at all, especially if Napoleon is still a commander and not First Consul or Emperor. The higher you go, the more cards there are to play. This is the sequence of play:

Year Setup Phase [6.0]

 (Skipped in the first Year of any Scenario)

  Year & Card Draw Marker Segment

  Resource Income Segment

 Card Deck Phase [7.0] 

(Skipped in the first Year of any Scenario)

  Remove Cards Segment

  Add Cards Segment

  Shuffle Draw Deck Segment

 Card Action Phase [8.0]

  New Card Draw Segment

  Existing Card Play Segment

  Phase Advancement Segment

 Campaign Resolution Phase [9.0]

 (If the CAMPAIGN Box is empty, Discard all cards in the 

CAMPAIGN MODIFIERS Box, and skip the rest of 9.0)

  Assign Commanders Segment

  Spanish Ulcer Expeditions Segment (EMD Only)

  Resolving the Campaign Segment

  Commander Casualties Segment

  Other Campaign Events Segment

  Additional Resolution Segment

  Clean-up Segment

 Diplomatic Phase [10.0]

 (First Consul and Emperor Decks only)

  Foreign Diplomacy Segment

  Treaties and Conquest Segment

  Potential Campaigns Segment

 Domestic Politics Phase [11.0]

 (First Consul and Emperor Decks only)

 Clean-Up Phase [12.0]

  Reset Cards and Markers Segment

  Game End Check

Some card samples

 It is a relatively simple game; the complexity is listed as a '3'. However, the player is still given a myriad of choices to make in his trek toward power and dominance. The chance that the very next card, or the first one, could be the end of the game makes it a nail-biting experience. Just like the historical Napoleon, anything can happen at any time to your character. You can choose to play out his life as closely as possible to history to see if you could do better, or you can take his path to glory any way you want. The fun, mystery, and sometimes misery is all in the cards. I have lost games within the first couple of minutes, and I have lived as long as possible as the Little Corporal. One of the things that a lot of gamers, not necessarily wargamers, want in a game is replayability. In this game the sky's the limit as far a replay value. Each game and each turn are a new chapter that you can write in an ever-changing biography of the Napoleon that you happen to be playing. Of course, it helps if you have an affinity for the color green and Golden Bees. 

 This game comes with nicely done components and is easy to learn, and you will be playing in no time. The 2nd edition of the game is already on the P500 list, and it has a larger more complex version of the game coming 'I, Napoleon: The Limits of Glory'. The new game has a lot more characters and takes longer to play among many other things. This is a very good thing because the original game was great, and more of it can only make it better.

 Thank you, GMT Games, for allowing me to do a review of I, Napoleon. I must also say good luck to all the other budding emperors out there. May your cards always be lucky and you avoid pulling the dreaded card 33 and end up bleeding out at the Place de la Révolution. Although you do get a good view of Nostradamus's famous 'tile works'.

Robert Peterson

GMT Games

I, Napoleon

I, Napoleon: The Limits of Glory

 Hall or Nothing Productions

 This is a little information that Hall or Nothing Productions sent me. You will see they have a lot of RPGs and Historic games already published and a lot more planned. I will be reviewing their 1565, St. Elmo's Pay in a bit. 

Illustration from their upcoming 1066, Tears to Many Mothers

"We’re a passionate indie gaming studio based in the North of England. Since 2015 we have been developing and publishing immersive thematic games. Amazing artwork, achingly beautiful music, and award-winning game designs are our hallmarks. 

Our unique Fantasy Quest Games – Gloom, Shadows, and Call of Kilforth – deliver an unparalleled RPG fantasy tabletop experience in one sitting, including hundreds of remarkably unique cards to create luscious living worlds for bold adventurers to explore. Whereas our richly detailed and lovingly researched Historic Epic Battle System games breathe exhilarating life into critical conflicts throughout history offering slick war-gaming combined with the gorgeous aesthetics of modern, non-collectable card games.

And if you want to experience the apocalyptic, haunting beauty of the world’s end, look no further than our very first Veil Odyssey Game, the monochromatic masterpiece that is Veilwraith and our latest game in production, Kreel Manor: Citadel of Horrors, The Dungeon Crawl Card Game is a prequel to the award-winning Veilwraith and is an all new epic fantasy adventure in the Kilforth universe, for 1-3 cooperative players (up to 4 with expansion) where players become the legendary champions of bygone times, embarking on a doomed quest to save the world."

Hall or Nothing Productions:

Hall Or Nothing Productions - Tabletop Games, Board Games

Veilwraith video:

https://youtu.be/NlU1cdKyh9M

1565, St. Elmo's Pay video:

https://youtu.be/j1GZT2F7h0U

 STARGRAVE: THE LAST PROSPECTOR

from

OSPREY GAMES

Stargrave transports the fantasy RPG Frostgrave lock stock and barrel to a science fiction setting.  Behind it all are Joseph McCullough, the prolific writer and creator of these two worlds and many other novels too and the publisher's Osprey Games.

Though RPGs are very much the outer rim  of my gaming world, how could I resist the kind opportunity given to me by Osprey Games to preview this latest expansion to the Stargrave canon, especially when I discovered that it's due to be released on 28th April - my birthday!

In case any of you are totally unfamiliar with its origins, I'm going to start with the briefest of outlines .  This core was presented in a substantial hardback book that gives you all the background, rules, stats and scenarios etc. Thematic art work and photos of diaramas taken from games adorn and enliven the text.  We're dealing with a small unit, miniatures skirmish game set in a typical devastated and blighted galaxy.  The rather long subtitle to the core game says it all- Science Fiction Wargames in The Blasted Galaxy.

There is a substantial gallery of miniatures that have been sculpted purely for this game, but it really is one game where you can bring virtually any existing figures, terrain and buildings you possess to your gaming table.  

Your first task is to create a team made up of a captain, first mate and assorted crew then follow through the scenarios.  Like most RPGs, the wealth of written material provides an excellent resource to create your own scenarios.

A free supplement introduced solo play, while the first published expansion, Stargrave: Quarantine 37 , landed your crew slap bang into a deserted research station where you can compete through the scenarios against other crews in two mini-campaigns or take on a solo mini-campaign.

The Last Prospector, the second supplement similarly presents a range of new elements and a new region of the galaxy to explore.  The presentation is a glossy softback book of 86 pages. The introduction had me hooked at once.  Though only two pages long, in it Joseph McCullough gives us a clear, succinct explanation of his intentions and inspirations.  Three things leapt out at me.  

Foremost was his desire to explore the connection between the genres of science-fiction and the western.  This is a pairing very familiar to me as were his seminal references to Star Wars and especially Firefly, the sadly curtailed Josh Wheedon series and the film Outland which, as he notes, has often been compared to High Noon.  Firefly in particular struck me as a particularly important influence on the geography and geopolitics of The Last Prospector.

The region in question, the Honoreb System, has become a backwater of the galaxy, though still a mineral-rich asteroid belt.  Among its locations that will feature in the scenarios are Penthalia Station, a once vibrant and important hub, now largely decaying and derelict; Honera, a steamy jungle planet with originally three enclosed bases and Saint Mollia [or "Molly" for short] a vast titanic though abandoned ore carrier.

Next to seize my attention was his desire to depart from the linear progression of so many, many RPGs.  Instead the Campaign provides a ten scenario arc of which only the opening and final episodes are fixed.  The other eight can be played in any order.  The suggestion is that the game players take turns choosing a scenario usually based on what each thinks will be most immediately advantageous and suited to the qualities, powers and abilities of their crew.  My own instant reaction was, at some future date, to offer up this order to the random gods of the dice world! 

The third detail that I was highly enthusiastic about is summed up in the following extract"...instead of a focused narrative , this campaign is based around a mystery and a location ... to solve the mystery, the crews must travel all over the system , searching for clues."  Great idea was my immediate reaction - a game with not just sci-fi, not just westerns, but a whole touch of Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective too.  Sadly this was my one disappointment.  The disappearance of the old friend, the eponymous Last Prospector and his rumoured "big score" are simply what Alfred Hitchcock would have called the McGuffin.  In other words they are the motivating trigger for the game's plot that sends your crews hither and thither across the Honereb System.

Just one of the many pieces of artwork that enliven the text

At this point, I think  one other sentence from the introduction is important to quote: "I leave it up to the players to fit my work into their own imaginative framework."  As Joseph McCullough stresses in his introduction, it's entirely up to the gamer whether you stick closely to his detailed descriptive script or not.  This is very important comment for the whole creation of your table-top, as you'll see in the next section where I explore some of the scenarios.  The fact that all bar the grand finale of the game is designed to be played on a 3'x3' table is a big plus for the gamer with limited space. However, the setup for many of the scenarios could task the physical terrain resources of the average gamer.

The fixed opening Scenario of the Campaign screams its influence from the classic western mythos in its title: The Barfight!  The setup specifies the classic bar down one edge of the gaming table and various other familiar accoutrements such as tables and chairs.  However, later scenarios grow more taxing in their requirements, such as a cavern floor with an upper level shelf running all around the edge of the scene.  This is where the comment about using your own "imaginative framework" applies - in other words "do the best with what you've got".   I've got to say that the suggestion of using 3" strips of paper didn't appeal.  So, substantial quantities of packaging from a recent home purchase, plus extensive Stanley knife work, are going to be pressed into service. 

The transformation begins!

Similarly, broken bits of polystyrene are in the process of being transformed into rocky outcrops that may serve both in some of the underground locations and on the planet's surface.

However, the thick jungle of a scenario like The Devil's Punchbowl will stretch my current resources considerably, though it will be one of the cheaper to beef up.  Though behind my nascent rocks lurks one of the rare items that I possess which I need to greatly expand and spend on to furnish my jungle settings.

On the other hand, left-over creations made for my son's long past days of Warhammer 40K and Necromunda, plus my own Deadzone 2 building collection will certainly feature prominently in other scenes, as will many of the figures pressed into service from those games. 

The one above I particularly like and feel it will work both in a jungle setting and also can be adapted to serve as a mine entrance.

Before looking at the typical Scenario outline, it's important to explain a narrative feature that I strongly like.  This region of the galaxy is split between six factions each with their own ideals, culture and needs.  Each player's crew will be affected by their shifting "standing" with each faction that will be affected by how they perform in each Scenario.  Outcomes will be positive or negative and, not surprisingly, will bring rewards or disadvantages that feed into other Scenarios.*[see below]   This adds a lot of colour to the story and game play - a definite winner for me, as it also sits well with the "western" influence, making me think of the factions successfully played off by Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars!

Each Scenario is presented in a well organised pattern:-

A brief narrative introduction to set the storyline scene.

Crew - these details usually introduce specific factors that may change the constituents of your crew, introduce limitations, exceptions, additional equipment or even additional units.

Set-Up - outlines the terrain/physical details to create the scene, the placing of loot tokens and the positioning of figures.

Special Rules - fairly self-explanatory!

Faction Advantage - changes in each player's crew standing with the factions in the game and the benefits and disadvantages resulting [*see above]

Outcome - what may generally be summed up as victory conditions, in that this section tells you what you'll gain or lose by certain actions.

Loot and Experience - usually this results in players rolling on the core game book's tables for these two factors plus special ones just for this supplement.

The typical start to a Scenario's organisation

As you'd expect with any supplement, there are new additions to all elements of the game.  They start with new backgrounds and powers for the two most important characters in each player's crew, your captain and first mate.  There are new soldier types , ship upgrades and advanced technology, a series of new attributes and in the section labelled Bestiary there are ten new creatures that you'll encounter through these Scenarios.  I'm not quite sure that a Foreman or Miner would be too happy finding themselves in a chapter entitled Bestiary or be lumped among "creatures"!

One of my favourite figure illustrations

All in all this is a very attractive and well produced addition to the Stargrave canon.  There's plenty to read and its well illustrated with many exemplary photos and artwork.  The Scenarios cover a good range of situations culminating in a lengthier three-part finale and as the author observes, there are plenty of hooks and dangling storylines in the narrative to chase down by creating your own scenarios.  

With the Western influence in mind, I can already envisage a captain and first mate with five other crew members finding themselves called upon to defend a rag-tag group of isolated and down-trodden settlers from the brutal oppression of the nastiest elements of one of the system's six factions.  My captain might just be called Chris!

So, look out for Stargrave; the Last Prospector and its publication date on 28th April!

 

 

It's been said that variety is the spice of life. If that's true, then Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME) might be one the spiciest dishes ever served up. A roguelike that has been around since 2012, but continues to get significant updates and expansions on a regular basis. Like other roguelikes, ToME involves creating a character and then attempting to beat the game. As a feature of the genre, you can expect to fail much more often than you win. Every run is a bit different, though the overall structure remains the same, leading to endless replayability.  Each run of the game begins, of course, with a selection of your character's race and class from an impressively large menu of options. Assuming you have all the DLC, which I'll go ahead and say now you should get if you like this game at all, you will have 16 races and 35 classes to combine as you please.

Interestingly, when you first fire up the game, you'll only have a handful of options to choose from, and must unlock the rest. As you might imagine, the starting choices will be familiar: various types of humans, elves, and halflings for races, and several flavors of warrior, rogue, and mage for the class options. After a few runs at the game, you'll unlock some more choices, each more exotic than the last. It's practically a spoiler to mention what they are here, but suffice to say that they are wildly different from what you start with. Manipulating time and space, harnessing demonic forces, becoming a champion of the light or a bringer of darkness, there's something for everyone here. 

Once you choose a race and class, you'll get a chance to drop a few points into your skills. Every class has more skill tracks than you'll know what to do with. Even within one of those 35 classes, you'll still be looking at building a unique character each time you play. Each track has four skills within it, which are only unlocked by investing points in the earlier skills and investing in the relevant stat (Strength, Dexterity, etc.) and each skill can be upgraded multiple times, increasing effectiveness with each point. Of course, you won't have enough points to get everything, and so you'll have to focus on what you really need. 

ToME gives you so many options, that even if you play the same class several times, you'll want to play around with different builds. There are entire skill categories that you might ignore or invest heavily in, depending on what kind of character you are building. You can also gain new skills from items and quests, allowing you to do things normally impossible for your class, and perhaps opening up a powerful new strategy. After you've gained a few levels and conquered some dungeons, your skill bar will be filled out with tons of options, so many that it can be a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, unlike many other roguelikes, ToME actually has a user friendly UI that makes life easier. For one, you can play the entire game with just the mouse if you want to, no need to memorize a dozen hotkeys just to navigate the menus. Rather, ToME works much like any standard turn based RPG, and even goes a step further by giving you options to automate some of your skills. For example, you can set some of your attack moves to always fire when an enemy is next to you, going off every time its cool down timer ends.  Just like that, you can save yourself hundreds of clicks and button presses.

Like most roguelikes, ToME is light on story and you won't be diving into any deep dialogue trees with the NPC's, but there is a surprising amount of lore to discover throughout the world. Hints and rumors will lead you to secret locations which often lead to the unlocking of a new class or race. In all of the dungeons you will find trails of notes that tell a story, usually in the form of a diary of some adventurer who came before you. These are a clever way of adding to the history of that location, and often give you a heads-up about the dangers you will soon face. And you will face danger after danger. Giant sand worms burrowing in and out of the ground, skeletal mages shooting lightning, massive trolls that can knock you across the screen, and endless other horrors. Unlike most other roguelikes, ToME has a variety of difficulty settings that can take the edge off a sudden death. You can play one-life hardcore permadeath if you like, but you can also play a more forgiving mode where you have a limited number of lives, giving you the chance to respawn outside a dungeon that you aren't ready for, or jump right back in the fight if you think you can win. 

Another neat thing that ToME does is allow you to connect with other players, even though the game is single-player. You can choose to create an account, which tracks all of your runs on the official website, and also puts you online when you play. This lets you see when other players earn achievements (there are hundreds) and when they get killed, sometimes at embarrassingly low levels that give you a chuckle and and at high levels that will make you cringe at the loss of a good run. You can also chat with them as you go, asking for help in real time or congratulating someone else when you see they did something noteworthy.

If you are a veteran roguelike player or thinking about dipping your toes into the pool, or if you've never even heard of them but enjoy action RPG's or turn-based tactical games, you should give ToME a shot. The game can keep you occupied for potentially hundreds of hours, it can run on practically any computer, and you can even play the core game for free! The paid version unlocks a few extra options, and the DLC of course adds a lot of content, but more than anything, spending some money on the game rewards years of ongoing work by the developers.

ToME is available for free from the official website and can be purchased (for additional features and support of the devs) along with the DLC on Steam.

- Joe Beard 

Reynard By Hyper Fox Studios

There's one thing I love about indie games, they delve into the world of old school graphics and aren't defined by the stunningly realistic mainstream games that we are all used to in this modern age. Reynard will give you a nostalgic trip back to the past with it's 32-bit game style and Legend of Zelda feel, this RPG/Dungeon Crawler isn't one to miss out on. 

You play as a little fox and when you first start the game you're greeted by his friend Hammlet who helps you through the tutorial (he's is a pig if you haven't already noticed the pun in the name) and he helps you find the ropes with his sarcastic but lovable dialogue. After you complete the tutorial at the start, Hammlet's wife Prascilla is kidnapped and all he seemingly wants you to do is go and save her, as every time you talk to him this is all he mentions. 

This game is filled with little secrets from the developers of the game. A lot of RPGs do this quite subtly by using a 4th wall break, however the developers and all of the team at Hyper Fox Studios decided to do it in a simple way. They placed a book inside your characters house, that is filled with the developers names, kind of like the credits at the end of the game, but this is a charming way to do it and it's great for RPG fans who love to roam around finding easter eggs or finding hidden secrets that have nothing to do with the story. 

The dungeon crawler aspect of this indie title is pretty much the same as most games with a similar sort of story and mechanics. However using the keyboard to move and shoot enemies with your arrows can be quite tricky if you haven't got the timing right, as they tend to come at you quite fast and it's easy to die in the dungeon if you're not paying attention.
There's plenty of things for you to destroy in the dungeon besides enemies, you can destroy pots (this reminded me of The Legend of Zelda a lot) which then reveal health items or other items you might find useful on your travels.

The music in this game is almost hypnotic, it's quite relaxing which is ironic considering it's all about searching dungeons, however it still fits in with the game completely. It can get a little tedious at times when it's played on a loop but it's a great soundtrack for the game nevertheless.

You really have to learn some tactics in the dungeons because sometimes when you go into the next room it can be filled with monsters and other times there's none at all (from the dungeons i've encountered in the game, it's filled with giant rats who just want to kill you). I find it funny the main character is a fox, because it's this cute little animal going off to save other animals/creatures. However, he's so distinctive in his role and you don't see very many 32 bit style dungeon crawlers with the main character being a fox, it just feels right. 

If you're someone who loves collecting, searching continuously, or is just a fan of RPGs then this is the game for you. Reynard is available to buy now on Steam.

Avernum 3: Ruined World is the latest release from the prolific mind of Jeff Vogel over at Spiderweb Software. The game is actually a remaster of a remake of Exile 3 which came out way back in the 90's. Although the game isn't entirely new, it has been greatly improved and expanded on since those previous releases. Mr. Vogel has spent literally decades pumping out these kinds of RPG's and mastering his craft, and it shows in this newest release.

If you aren't familiar with the series you might be wondering, if this is Avernum 3, what happened in the first two games? Well, there isn't nearly enough time to explain it all here in detail, but we can hit the highlights and bring the story up to where Avernum 3 begins. The series is set in a fantasy world where an all powerful Empire controls the known world with an iron fist and sends those it doesn't like into exile in an underground world, Avernum. This world is made up of massive caverns that stretch on for miles and are helpfully lit up by glowing flora. As more and more people are teleported down into this subterranean continent, they eventually begin to build up a civilization of their own, with towns and forts spread across the land. Forts, because Avernum is of course filled with dangerous beasts and other races which aren't too excited about sharing their home. 

In the first game you play as a group of exiles freshly sent down into Avernum where you must learn about the land and find your place in it. Over the course of the game your party proves its usefulness and eventually takes part in finding a way back to the surface and attacking the Empire. Spoiler alert for a 20 year old game: the story climaxes with the assassination of the emperor on the surface. Skip ahead five years and the story of Avernum 2 begins, the empire strikes back (heh) at the Avernites, and your party must find a way to survive and defeat them. This involves making new allies and solving other conflicts so that your side can win the war. Avernum 3 picks up ten years after the end of that war, and the Avernites, after a long period of peace, are preparing to return to the surface in great numbers. Before that though, someone needs to explore the surface and see what's what. That's where you come in.

Avernum 3 opens with your party of adventurers being selected to head up to the surface following loss of contact with the first group of explorers. Your orders are simple but broad: go to the surface, learn everything you can, and then report back what you find. Stepping out into the sunlight is a very cool moment, where you can imagine the joy of your characters as they see the world they were banished from for the first time in many years, or perhaps ever. You'll have to imagine it, since as you might have noticed from the screenshots, Avernum is not a series to be played for its stunning visuals. More on that later though. As your group heads out into the world, you quickly find that there was a reason that the Empire has gone quiet for so long. Various plagues of monsters have overrun the world and have the people there on the verge of collapse. Hence the title, Avernum 3: Ruined World. Instead of fighting the people and soldiers of the Empire, you'll soon find yourself helping them out. This isn't purely out of altruism, the people of Avernum want to colonize this place, and that can't happen if it is a wasteland of monsters and destruction.

So that covers the broad strokes of the setting and the opening situation of the game. I don't want to go any further, since the story quickly throws some curve balls at you that add plenty of intrigue to your mission. Just a teaser though: you'll find yourself heading back down into Avernum to inquire about some rather unexpected oddities you discover on the surface. I also must admit that I have not finished the game, since it has a ton of content and there was no way to come anywhere near completing it in time for this review. However, I have played a few of the other titles from Spiderweb Software, and they are very consistent in their quality, so I have no doubt that the game only gets better as it goes along. 

Let's visit the topic of graphics and sound. This is no Witcher 3 or Pillars of Eternity, the graphics here are very simple, and the sound effects and music are minimal at best. There is very little animation and not much in the way of flashy spell effects. I completely understand if some people find that to be a deal breaker, there are tons of gorgeous RPG's out there to spend your time on if you want some juicy visuals to go with your questing and monster slaying. All of that said, the game does a lot with what it has. The environments have been created with a high level of care, and are filled to the brim with little details. The world feels very lived in, despite having only bare bones graphics. To help fill in the gaps for your imagination, text boxes frequently pop up to set the scene as you enter different areas and encounter NPCs. These descriptions, along with the large volumes of dialogue you will read, are all very well written and form the heart of the RPG side of the game. Without the high quality text bringing the mostly static visuals to life, the game would be a lot less enjoyable.

As you explore the game world, you will meet many interesting characters who have a lot to say about who they are and what they do. These little bits of flavor breath life into the story, as they help you understand the culture and day to day life of this fascinating landscape. Some of these people will have quests for you to accomplish, like in any good RPG. One thing I love about this game is that it uses the old school system of forcing the player to actually pay attention to the dialogue in order to understand where they need to go and what they need to do. There is no quest compass to mindlessly follow to a destination, you will need to be able to read a map and follow directions in order to find your way around. 

The quests are usually more interesting than simply going somewhere, killing something, and coming back (though there is a fair share of that). Often there will be some kind of twist that makes things not as simple as they first seem. This goes double for the main story quests. As you go about adventuring, the world itself will change around you. Things can improve where you help out, and get worse elsewhere as time passes and crises remain unresolved. As mentioned, I have not come close to finishing the game, as there is a ton of world to explore and quests to complete. If you explore every nook and cranny of each dungeon (which you will want to do to find the numerous secret rooms containing treasures and story bits), it will take many dozens of hours to do everything.

The other half of the gameplay I haven't discussed yet is the tactical combat, which you will experience a whole lot of. It uses an old school system of characters taking turns using action points to move and act. You begin the game by building a party of four characters with basic abilities, and then growing them however you see fit over the course of many combats and quests. Although you can pick from a dozen starting classes, in reality all characters have access to the same options for advancement, letting you tweak things however you wish. I began with a classic group including a warrior, a rogue, a priest, and a mage. 

There are about 60 different skills and spells to learn, as well as a large collection of passive stat upgrades which will help you define your style as your characters get stronger. The combat starts off pretty simple, but as things move along you will have to deal with a variety of enemies that use different tactics and force you to think and adjust your strategy. I found that although the combat isn't nearly as intricate as something like Divinity: Original Sin, it is still a lot of fun and makes for hours of satisfying gameplay. As soon as you start to feel cocky, you'll round the corner and find yourself facing some new horror that can wreck your day if you aren't careful. There are also plenty of boss fights and unique situations to break up the standard monster slaying.

Customizing your characters includes dressing them up with all sorts of gear including weapons, armor and accessories that you can find or purchase. You can also use trainers to advance particular skills even higher, for a hefty fee. Crafting includes creating high powered weapons and a wide variety of stat boosting potions. There's a little bit of everything here you would expect from an RPG, and between all of it you can mold each character to suit your personal style. A glass cannon mage, a dual-wielding rogue, a paladin, a buff casting priest, pretty much any classic archetype can be created with the options available to you.

If you can look past the graphics and sound, there is a very solid RPG adventure here to enjoy, which will suck up many hours of your time. There is a fascinating world to truly explore along with your characters, as they wander into a place they know little about. 
When you first step out into the surface, you really have no idea what you will find, and don't even know what direction you should head in. What you do find will push you to keep going and see what happens next.

Avernum 3: Ruined World is available on Steam, Humble Store, GoG.c or or directly from Spiderweb Software.


There is also a demo available if you want to dip your toe before diving in!


- Joe Beard

After a reviewing a couple of heavier wargames, I decided to spend some time with something a bit, ahem, lighter weight. Light Apprentice is a "comic book RPG" that has been available for tablets for a while and recently got a PC release. I thought this game was worth doing a quick review on because it tries out several neat ideas, though the final product left room for improvement.

"Comic Book RPG" perfectly describes the format of the game. The story is told through comic book style panels and dialogue bubbles that appear one after another. The game then seamlessly transitions into gameplay using the same comic book panels. Moving around and interacting with environments is done in the style of point-and-click adventure games. Click on a door and your characters will run through into the neighboring comic panel, which works really well. There are puzzles to solve, but they are mostly of the simple "find the missing gear and put it in this slot" variety. There are also a few secrets scattered around if you take the time to really inspect each scene. 

As with any comic book, the art style is important here. Light Apprentice succeeds in having a style all of its own, which can be beautiful at times. As someone who does enjoy reading comic books and graphic novels from time to time, I enjoyed this aspect of the game probably more than anything else.

As you explore the game world, you will often run into enemies that must be fought to progress through the area. These encounters are pretty basic turn-based combat endeavors. The key twist being that every action involves a simple quick time event that will determine how powerful your attack, healing spell, etc. is. These are very simple, as the game was originally designed for tablets. Each one is distinct and can feel somewhat rewarding when done perfectly. However, I wouldn't blame you for getting tired of them after a while.  Your characters begin with only a couple of options in combat, but over time gain quite a few different abilities. At the normal difficulty you will need to make use of your abilities efficiently or else you will have trouble with most encounters. You can't just spam basic attacks over and over and expect to have much success. In the campaign there is no opportunity to grind levels, which means some encounters were extremely frustrating until I discovered that it is possible to access a series of "quests" (basically just additional combat encounters) from the main menu. These let you fight various enemies and get more experience and loot. You will probably want to do these to make the main story line much easier to progress through. 

The story and dialogue is where the game lost me really. This feels and looks like a game for kids, which is fine, and something that I can take into consideration as I play. However, the way the game tries to convey it's message feels like I'm reading a political blog post written by a teenager. The game tackles the issue of environmentalism, which is something I praise it for since that is an important issue to me and uncommon in the gaming world. That said, the game is more than a little heavy handed in how it goes about this. After your character wakes up in a world of magic and monsters, you will be called upon to stop a greedy corporation from fracking for shale oil and polluting the local water supply. There's no metaphor here, that is literally the situation. For me, it's way too direct and breaks any sense of immersion in the world. Give me some kind of allegory that fits the setting, instead of shoehorning real world headlines into a fantasy universe.

Overall, Light Apprentice does a lot of interesting things. It has point-and-click adventure elements, a comic book style that is wonderfully adapted for gaming purposes, and a fresh theme. However, all of these elements are executed in a fashion which feels just a little too childish and simple for me personally. It's not a bad game by any means, but there probably is not nearly enough meat here for experienced RPG players. I hope to see the developer continue with this series and grow both as an artist and story teller. This game series is planned to have two more volumes, and I would be interested to see how those turn out.

Light Apprentice is available on Steam, and also on iOS and Android tablets.

Official Website: http://www.lightapprentice.com/

- Joe Beard

Torment: Tides of Numenera

by

inXile Entertainment

The very start of the game after you have landed

 Torment: Tides of Numenera is the newly envisioned child of the game Planescape: Torment. Planescape: Torment was a story driven RPG with one of the best stories ever written for an RPG. Planescape : Torment is widely considered to be one of, if not the greatest, RPGs ever made. Let's take a look and see how its progeny measures up to the sire.

Character creation screens

 The first thing you should know is that there is going to be a lot of reading involved while playing the game. Of course, this was to be expected knowing the game's history and the fact that the game was touted as a thinking man's RPG, compared to just a hack 'n' slash one. 

The first appearance of the 'sorrow'

 The world of Torment comes alive with every step and piece of dialogue. NPCs are not just there just for mundane tasks to level your character up. They, and the world they inhabit, seem to be a living breathing place. All of the characters that you meet have their own stories, and most importantly, their own needs and wants. They will lie to you, (of course you can lie right back) and attempt to use you for their own ends.

an execution

 The game succeeds in creating a beautiful strange new world to explore. One of the big differences it has from most RPGs is the character's lack of knowledge: of himself or of the world he hurtles toward in the beginning of the game. The background story the player is given is minimal, and it is meant to be that way. You have no idea of who or what you are, let alone what your purpose is. Some gamers might be put off by the lack of: ' X fathered by Z, and is supposed to free the world from the tyranny of Y'.  Torment really brings you back to the age of exploration RPGs, compared to the spoon fed ones we have become used to. Every one of your actions count, from the beginning scene to the end. Thank goodness it is not the late 90s or you would have to keep a notebook to write everything down.

Here you can get flesh modifications

 This is definitely a first for me - an RPG that can be played through with no gratuitous violence. Torment is a bit like a Platypus, you really don't know where it actually belongs. The graphics are beautiful and the story is very compelling. Hours will slip away as you move your character through the world. If it was a normal RPG it would be excellent, but it is not normal. To play this game you have to forget all you have learned in the now 'cookie cutter' world of RPGs. Hit points, warrior class, and magic mean nothing inside this game. You will learn words like glaive, esotery, and fettles. The game and game play has as many choices to go through as a restaurant menu and more. Each encounter is a microcosm of the entire game. Do you fight, bargain, or just talk; choices, choices, and more choices. The game's flow chart must be amazing to look at. Normally an RPG's replay value is not that great, although I have played a few a couple of times through again. Torment's replayability is very high. 

Wandering through the first city

 The game's story is compelling to go through. You start the game hurtling through the abyss of space toward something, and there your in game choices begin before you even land. You find out that you are a 'cast-off' from the 'changing-god'. You were literally the last body that this 'changing-god' inhabited. The changing-god discovered how to be immortal by moving from one body to another. You are just one of many cast-offs who strangely become sentient once you are cast aside.  Your antagonist is the 'sorrow'. It is intent on destroying the changing-god and anything that he has touched, meaning you. You are presented with two NPCs who seem to detest one another. They are even worse than an old bickering married couple. Then it is off to the races. You will strive to understand what and who you are, while also trying to figure out where in this new world you belong. 

Underground

 Playing as a straight combat oriented character is not frowned  upon by the game, but I think you would miss a lot of the game's substance, nuances, and story lines. It has been stated several times that you can complete the game without any combat whatsoever. That I wouldn't know about, although I have used combat less in this game than any others. My natural tendency with some NPCs, especially threatening ones, is to cleave their skull. 

 To really try and explain the game would hardly do it justice. It would be like sitting through a lecture on a piece of art, instead of just admiring it. 

 This past year and the beginning of this one has proved to be awash in cerebral games. People who enjoyed Planescape: Torment, along with newbies, are in for a great ride.

 There is one other thing about the game we have to discuss. This was a Kickstarter game, actually the most backed one to the tune of four million dollars. The Devs changed some of the goals after the amount to reach them had already been met. I have included this link to a Q&A the Devs did with Eurogamer, so you can hear their side.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-31-torment-tides-of-numenera-apology-stretch-goals

Robert