Recent reviews by rubyeye

In many ways, Grim Dawn reminds me of Guild Wars 2 …. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but when it comes up in conversation, it’s always praised for being a really great game. Why? Well the major selling point for me is that it’s bloatware free:

No anti-cheat
No third party EULA
No third party account
No launcher
No live service
No Battle Pass (gacha system)
No overpriced DLC/cosmetics
No third party loot filters
No PhD needed to understand the game before even playing it

That’s It…Genius!

Grim Dawn is nearly 10 years old, and by now it is so streamlined that as a virgin player experiencing it for the first time, felt flawless. The fun comes in learning more about the game’s nuances from external sources. Any questions I had I could instantly find from a build guide, forum post, or tutorial video.

This game is also not very processor / graphically intensive. Playing on my 10+ year-old HP Workstation (on it’s second life now) I was able to complete my first run on Veteran mode all through the main campaign, including both expansions. While I did have one crash where the game froze on me, it mostly functions perfectly.

Gameplay is intuitively simple, using point and click with the mouse and fast keybindings for abilities and potions. While the enormous walls of text that pop-up from every loot drop might seem intimidating at first, the simple UI design and color-coding make things quick and easy to understand. Building your character is highly flexible, allowing you to experiment with different skills, including the variety of choices you can combine from its dual-class system. Map exploration is easy to navigate and OMG! You can actually rotate/zoom the camera! (I love that)

There is certainly a nostalgic factor with Grim Dawn, but it’s more that just a descendant of Diablo 1 & 2 and Titan Quest. It’s simply a really well made game that doesn’t do anything crazy or controversial. Crate Entertainment knew what they wanted to make; they knew what players wanted. And with the upcoming third expansion - – slated for 2025, now is the perfect time to play this amazing game and see for yourself what all the praise is about.

In Potionomics, you will find a beautiful game designed to mesmerize your senses with gorgeous character animation, fun deck-building, a thoughtful resource/time management system and a stellar soundtrack. Voracious Games have concocted the perfect blend of a visual novel with the strategy of a card-battler and a resource gathering sim. You play as Sylvia, a young witch fresh out of potion college, who just inherited her uncle’s store (and his debt – which she has to pay off). You learn the art of potion selling by forming relationships with an array of colorful characters, in order to unlock unique cards which are used to haggle with customers. You make potions by mixing specific ingredients based on their particular color/letter designation. These ingredients are gathered by adventurers whom you hire to go out into different biomes to harvest, or which you can purchase from other merchants. This cyclical nature is both a reflection of the game’s mechanics as well as its overall structure.

Sylvia’s story takes place on the island of Rafta, a vibrant storybook fantasy world full of magic, witches and anthropomorphic citizens, but also laced with familiar modernisms like social marketing, cellphones and bass rock’n bards. Her goal is to get out of debt, not by selling potions, but by actually competing in a series of (5) potion brewing contests held every 10 days. Each day is broken into 6 time segments, during which you have to prioritize what potions to make, what potions to sell, and which characters to “level up”, because every action takes time. While this timing mechanism isn’t quite debilitating, as in a more dynamic game like Invisible Inc., it nevertheless adds a strategic layer requiring you to literally plan your day. What often dictates this are the daily events – special random effects that give a positive or negative buff to potions, customers and environments.

The other strategy layer, and one of its core highlights, is haggling – selling your potions to customers. This is done through a very creative and impressive deck building system. Every time Sylvia levels up her relationship with a character, she unlocks specific playing cards unique to their personality or mercantile strategy. Even though every card is useful, and beautifully illustrated, there are certain builds and interactions that work better than others. While this is arguably the most fun aspect of the game, Potionomics isn’t designed like a CCG. There’s no endless mode where players can haggle with customers and test out various deck builds. You simply have to play with cards as you unlock them, often saving your progress before a sale.

Where Potionomics truly outperforms is in the character designs and animation. Everyone has so much personality and expression you literally feel like you are interacting with an animated movie. They even go so far as to animate characters speaking, even if no voice acting is involved. This could have drastically altered the narrative presentation, but its absence works to enhance the visual novel style. Instead we have an incredible soundtrack by film composer Greg Nicolett, whose score punctuates every story element and character in the game with movie-quality orchestration. Adding to this is a romantic element where Sylvia eventually has to choose whom to form a deeper bond with. While this doesn’t affect the gameplay in any way, it simply enriches the story and offers shipping fans an extra layer of fun in pairing Sylvia with...whomever the player desires...(Xidriel Rulz!)

Completing the circle is of course potion-crafting. This part of the game requires a lot of mathematical balancing in matching the proper ratio of ingredients to brew the maximum number and potency of potions, depending on the quality of your cauldrons. It can be very time consuming, especially from mid-to-late game when you’ve expanded your store to include 6 cauldrons and are preparing a batch before and after every daily action. Your experience may start to slow down, but the rich economy this game has to offer fully blossoms to the point where Sylvia can make even more money than the debt she owes.

Potionomics is an odd mix of familiar game mechanics; not entirely defined by any one, but each system adding to the overall design of the game’s identity. It’s a marvelous tale filled with beautiful characters, exquisite dialogue, heartfelt romance and a mystery that will have you enraptured until the very end. An absolute treasure of a game.

I have never played a traditional 4X game and was hesitant to dive into the genre because of the complexity and scope involved. But it was always on my radar. If I could just find that one game I felt was worth my time and investment...

Age of Wonders: Planetfall peaked my interest. Here is a 4X strategy game, with turn-based tactical combat, set in a unique Science-Fiction universe of intergalactic planetary conquest among divergent aliens & humans. Immediately I was struck by the similarities with the old Heroes of Might and Magic games (from back in the day). However, Planetfall has much more going for it than those fantasy titles I grew up playing. For starters, the artwork is gorgeous. The variety of assets among the different planetary terrains, ancient ruins, faction units and heroes are heavily detailed, creating a rich environment to explore and expand your territory. The music and voice acting are serviceable in fleshing out your experience, but can sometimes feel repetitive after a fashion. Tactical combat offers a myriad of strategic elements like cover mechanics, operational support, unique technologies and unit mods, all designed for an engaging X-Com style showdown between two battling armies. While the game offers an auto-combat feature for a quick resolution, there is also a replay function to observe how the computer actually plays these encounters.

Aside from aesthetics and mechanics, Triumph Studios put a lot of effort in designing every playable and NPC faction truly unique from one another. Each group has a different set of racial abilities and yet are still balanced enough where no single faction is overpowered. You have an equal chance to win playing as the militant Vanguard as you do playing the swarming alien Kir’Ko. Players also have a variety of options to choose from in customizing heroes, from their uniforms to their stance, personality traits and vices, background image and even profile picture. All of which contribute to how you diplomatically converse with each leader either by making them your ally or insulting them to the point of war.

Exploration in this game was not what I expected, however. It felt more like a balancing act between micromanaging resources and army stacks as opposed to strategizing which victory condition to complete. There is a bit of a learning curve given the menagerie of tech choices and building options for you to unlock. So it takes a number of playthroughs to discover the best course of action.

Planetfall is a very good “entry-level” 4X game, but it’s incomplete without the subsequent expansions – Revelations, Invasions, Star Kings. These DLCs finish the overall game in terms of lore and endgame content (with Galactic Empire mode), but are not cheap to purchase, unless you wait for a Steam Sale. While the addition of 6 new campaigns, 3 new game altering mechanics, 2 new playable races, 1 new secret tech and a new game mode are great, some may wish to simply install community Mods from the Steam Workshop which also expand the core gameplay with a number of creative content.
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** Empire Mode Update **

As of this writing, I have completed my campaign of conquering the galaxy to unlock the remaining achievements. With a roster of 28 custom-made heroes, I've reached an Empire Level of 220 and acquired all relics from 14 "different" worlds. There are still a few unique planets I have not experienced because of the random generation of traits / relics / victory conditions I was looking for. The vast majority of worlds I encountered are the same barren-colored rocks, which in fairness, is mostly my fault for not choosing various other planets.

Unfortunately, there is a bug when trying to unlock The Grail relics from capturing planets with the same name. I acquired my first Grail relic with an Oathbound hero. When I completed the Grail Quest on another world with the same name as the previous planet where I unlocked a Grail....that original Oathbound hero received credit in her list of accomplishments for unlocking this new Grail, even though I used a different hero to conquer this new world. After that, the remaining Grail relics I captured on other planets, using other heroes, were all listed under my Oathbound hero - which is impossible, since she was never used or recruited on those worlds.

Needless to say, if you want to keep your hero's list of accomplishments as accurate as possible - don't play on planets with the same name, especially when trying to unlock all 5 Grail relics.

I remember when Invisible Inc. released 8 years ago, but never bothered to purchase even though it was a game that appealed to me. After finally picking it up on Steam Sale this past summer, I can positively say this is one of Klei Entertainment’s most critically underrated titles deserving of more attention.

Thematically, it’s basically a heist game where your group of agents have to infiltrate rival corporate locations for intel, money, equipment, programs and extra personnel. You need to strategize every engagement because of the constantly increasing alarm levels which add new layers of stress for your escape, such as more (armored) guards, cameras, drones, daemon programs and additional mission objectives. All of which work in tandem for a variety of challenging playthroughs.

What really makes Invisible Inc. stand above the rest is how the game is brilliantly crafted to force every decision as a balance between risk & reward. Do you knock out a guard, only to have him wake up several turns later and actively hunt for you? Do you continue exploring the level for more safes, even after completing mission objectives and finding the exit? Is there enough time left for your escape before heavy reinforcements arrive? Is it worth buying items/augments, or better to save that money for special A.I. programs? The difficulty begins to shine when you start realizing your choices have consequences. Unfortunately, there is a “rewind” system available so you can spam your way through every level, if you so desire. This handicap aside, Invisible Inc. is refreshingly engaging for anyone looking to expand their library of stealth strategy games. It’s fun, intense and smart, with good voice acting, cool music and stylized artwork befitting the genre.

Beyond the base game and DLC expansion –Contingency Plan– there are a number of great mods designed to supplement Invisible Inc.’s variety of gameplay options and extend its replay value. You can fine tune the exact number of days before your final mission, adjust the quantity of guards per level, alter how much money you can loot from safes, define the number of rooms per mission, etc. There are even community made agents, loading screens, A.I. programs / daemons, mission objectives, item & augment rebalances, plus quality-of-life updates.

Back in 1990, an arcade action shooter called Smash TV[en.wikipedia.org] was released. It was set in a futuristic dystopian reality game show where contestants fought their way through stages, killing opponents and winning fame & fortune in order to reach the final confrontation against the show’s host. Fast forward 33 years later….Polish development studio Artificer have updated this concept drawing inspiration from sci-fi classics like Blade Runner (1982), Robocop (1987), The Running Man (1987), Escape from L.A. (1996), Dredd (2012), and crafted a beautifully disturbing world for players to survive a maze of booby-traps, ambushes, sinister puzzles and deadly arenas in a turn-based strategy game like no other.

Showgunners is a very straight forward, narrative driven game. While it doesn’t offer anything innovative, it takes the familiar mechanics of the genre, strips down the complex strategy layer, and focuses on pure tactical fun. The name of the game is “Homicidal All-Stars”, so you’ve got to kill your way through this cyberpunk landscape controlled by a twisted show host of a Mega-Corporation. Playing as the main character of Scarlett, you slowly gain allies to help you with each progressively difficult encounter, offering more variety and choices to combat different scenarios. Surviving gains you fame and money, both currencies used in procuring increasingly more powerful weapons and gear, as well as choosing different sponsors for additional perks. While there is a character skill tree to unlock abilities, it’s not designed to “build” a particular skill-set since each character is unique and all skills become available when you reach max level.

Every engagement requires strategic planning since enemies have unique abilities and vulnerabilities, in addition to the constant level changes the show host throws at you to “entertain” the audience. These environmental assaults make the game more challenging. Cinematic displays of carnage also elevate the brutality of the game show’s appeal giving the player a detailed view of gory fatalities. However, what really brings the immersion to life is the meticulous hand-crafted design of every level from the lighting, the placement of spectators, location of traps/ambushes/puzzles, the gruesome remains of past contestants, and the blatant commercial advertisements. Combined with a headbanging electro-synth metal soundtrack and excellent voice acting, Showgunners checks all the right boxes for a thrilling tactical strategy game.

Veteran players of this genre will find much to love here, but I do recognize certain features which might vex some people.

For starters, you cannot tilt the camera. While you can rotate and zoom, it is fixed at a much higher angle than most other games, to accommodate for the close-quarter design of combat and exploration. There is an option to automatically adjust camera view near the borders, but really doesn’t help much.

Another issue has to do with the cover mechanics. While hiding behind full/half cover does mitigate weapon accuracy, it doesn’t seem to have much affect. When both you and enemy snipers can kill one another through full cover, you have to ask, “what’s the point?” This is why smoke cover is so much more useful.

Aside from a few DLC skins, there is no character customization, since this game was designed as a narrative story (from Scarlett’s point of view). Future installments or DLC might incorporate a customization feature, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Even with these grievances, Showgunners is a “must have” for any serious gamer.

Mythgard is a fresh new digital CCG from a small studio of veteran developers of card games who have taken many of the core elements of popular titles, like Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone, and created a game that is fun, innovative, exciting and doesn't succumb to the same weaknesses of it's contemporaries.

It's a free to play, multi-platform experience with an exceptionally generous economy system for players to build their collection of cards. There are lots of achievements, daily/weekly winnings & unlocks, a variety of game modes (PvE, Arena/Gauntlet, 2v2 style, Casual/Rank progression), and occasional "codes" the Devs release to get free card packs.

The UI is extremely easy to navigate, since it was designed to be played on PC, web browser and mobile devices. Mythgard has many great features like player following, spectator mode, match replay (which is very cool) and a very easy deck-builder system that can import/export crafted decks from other players either in-game or from the community website (https://mythgardhub.com/).

The art direction is this incredible amalgamation of Myths & Legends brought to life in a world where Valkyries, Vampires, Aztecs, Vikings, Cyborgs and Werewolves all struggle in a world filled with magic and science. Somewhat reminiscent of Shadowrun in its world-building, but not as dystopian. The artwork for each card gives the game a "human" touch where everything has a more traditional, painterly approach with very little of the pristine CG creations we are used to seeing in typical promo art pieces. The game has a gallery where each card art can be viewed in full glory (or gory) detail along with the artists' name.

As for the game itself .... This is where Mythgard outshines the rest. The two main aspects that really stand out are the Resource mechanic and "Trident" Lane setup. Mythgard uses an ingenious 2-resource "burn" mechanic to unlock your mana and gems, which are used to pay for the cost of casting minions and spells. When you burn a card you get a mana point and corresponding gem color added to your pool, but the card also reshuffles back into your deck. So when you draw it again, you can actually play it - since burned cards cannot be burned again. The newest expansion, Rings of Immortality, takes advantage of this mechanic in adding a new ability called "Forge" which unlocks new powers when you burn a card. This resource system allows players to construct multi-colored decks without the restrictions of class interaction or mana flooding.

The lane mechanic utilizes a trident system where each minion is able to attack and block both its center and adjacent lanes, making tactical decisions more interesting. Combining this with lane enchantment cards; suddenly strategizing each gameplay becomes more a battle of skill rather than simply drawing powerful Mythic cards.

These mechanics, along with each unique cards' abilities, makes Mythgard one of the most skill driven card games on the market. This high player agency might be a detriment to new players, but given how quickly and easily it takes to learn the game, it is certain to attract many CCG veterans looking for something new as well as first-timers who have never played one before.

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Mythgard is fairly new, having just been released along with its first expansion. It has a passionate following of new and veteran players, a highly responsive dev-team who answers feedback and are constantly updating the game with new modes, features and card abilities. Plus, the news of a second expansion near completion makes Mythgard a highly recommended game.

Chimera Squad is a fun experimental game; forsaking the grand, epic scale-wide battlefields of the previous war and instead focusing on close quarter tactical squad-based, interlaced combat missions set in a fragile urban environment. The goal of investigating 3 divergent factions, bent on disrupting the stability of the city, is not unlike the takedown of “The Chosen” from the last expansion. Only now, you have an established squad of predefined characters, each with their own unique voice, personality, function, and style of combat to mix-n-match for each campaign. These former soldiers and aliens breathe new life into the XCOM experience through the framework of graphic novel style cut-scenes and voice acting banter between team members. We learn a great deal about what happened after the Elders defeat and the fall of ADVENT, as well as how the world began to adapt to this new paradigm (not unlike depicted in the film Alien Nation).

Mechanically, Chimera Squad features the same tactical system we expect from an XCOM game, only now the introduction of a Breaching Phase and an alternating turn-based Timeline adds a fresh new layer of strategizing. Not only do we have to scrutinize over which team members to send on a mission, what utilities to equip for the encounter, but also what sequence to place them in for combat. Given the urban setting, each mission type is designed for a shorter conflict, thou not necessarily making it any easier. VIP operations are some of the most difficult given the infinite number of reinforcements that continually enter the field until all of your squad Evac the area. Late game and higher difficulty levels introduce some of the most heavily armed/armored units in XCOM – Berserkers, Archons, Andromedons, Codex, Faceless, Chryssalids….as well as new faction units like Praetorians, Ronins, Bombers, Guardians and Dominators to name a few.

The strategy layer is similar to previous XCOM games where we have to manage the Anarchy level of the city by choosing to engage among various districts in the cityscape. However, this system is simply not as dire or intense as its predecessor, given the variety of ways to reduce panic levels through Special Ops and Field Teams.

Of course, what would an XCOM game be without its numerous game breaking bugs. My own play-through experience only encountered a few; the most notorious of which occurs during the enemy reinforcement phase when new units try to enter the game, causing it to totally freeze. Sometimes units will float in mid-air. The gunfire animation on enemies affected by Axiom’s panic attack during the Breach does not render. And the base inventory number of medkits is constantly multiplying. None of these dissuade my overall enjoyment of the game, thou they are annoying.

While XCOM: Chimera Squad feels more like an independent project funded through Kickstarter, its relatively short playtime and lack of depth still retains many of the characteristics from previous titles, while introducing new ideas and features that hopefully will get incorporated into future XCOM games.

Path of Exile's recent win from BAFTA for "Best Evolving Game" is honestly deserving. After playing through 2 Leagues now, I have a better understanding of Grinding Gear's development process. Every update introduces some new game mechanic that encourages experimenting with new / different types of character creations and build diversity. While the essence of PoE remains a "Hack & Slash", its continual evolution mirrors that of any MMO - keeping the game fresh and interesting with every new League.

Regarding the nitty-gritty, there are things about the game I like, and other things I despise passionately (i.e. expensive micro-transaction prices). However, as with any game it's a balance between the pros and cons. There is definitely a steep learning curve - but that's part of the fun, if you're a hardcore player. Like many people, I felt intimidated by the complexity of this game to even give it a chance. But once I surpassed my trepidation, I've come to respect what Path of Exile offers.

Additional respect goes to Grinding Gear Games who continues to out-class other studios through their constant communication with the player base, especially during this particularly troubling time in our lives.

That being said, I can't recommend this game or see it appealing to anyone other than "serious" action RPG players and people willing to take the enormous time and effort to learn how this game works. It is tailor-made specifically for a particular player base....

A game designed by hardcore fans for hardcore fans.

Long War of the Chosen 1.1 is the latest update to the popular Long War mod adapted for XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. This was a great opportunity to try Long War again, only this time to experience it with a myriad of other mods. Encouraged by Christopher Odds new season 8 play-through, I was meticulous in my selection since the recent update incorporates many features of older mods. While not as extreme as other players, this is the most mods I have played with, and I’m happy to report everything worked.

LWotC is different from Long War for the original XCOM: Enemy Unknown / (Enemy Within). Because the game’s lore shifts focus with you being a Resistance movement instead of a global military force, and because you now have Rebel Havens to manage, your gameplay loop goes something like this:

1) Equip fighters and organize them into squads

2) Send your squads to “infiltrate” select missions

3) Begin combat once infiltration completes

4) Use Intel and Supplies to upgrade your base & equipment

5) Manage Havens to gather supplies, intel, new recruits or go into hiding

In addition, you need to focus your attention on eliminating The Chosen, contacting new territories, operating covert missions and keeping the Avatar project from completing. This game really lives up to the name “Long War”. What really stood out to me with the new 1.1 patch was the variety and enormous number of enemies I encountered. I faced over 100 unique Advent and Alien units, including a Chryssalid Hive Queen, which was originally introduced in a separate mod called The Hive. Talk about terrifying!

Unlike the first Long War, where I said in my review how that mod really made the game feel like the ultimate form of XCOM, LWotC is not an evolution but rather an alternative. It massively overhauls the game with new soldier classes, perk trees, equipment stats, mission types, pod encounters, etc. But really only adds one new mechanic in the form of Havens. So it really comes down to how you want to play…the War of the Chosen expansion already completes XCOM 2 while the modding community continually adds to the game.

The choice is yours, Commander.

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<< Original Review >>

XCOM 2 improved on the foundation of what made this new XCOM special.
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen & Tactical Legacy expansions finally complete the franchise, making this one of the best (if not 'the' best) tactical turn-based strategy games I have ever played. It's not surprising to see many similar games adapting XCOM's style of gameplay and mechanics. When reviews and articles compare them to XCOM, that alone should tell you how successful / influential this game has become.

On its own, XCOM 2 is simply an improved or expanded version of XCOM, building on what made the first one work and adding more "features". Whether you love or hate it, what really sells this game for many fans are the MODS. So many Mods, there's practially a Mod for every mechanic and cosmetic in the game. So even if you finish the game, or never felt like it managed to reach it's true potential, you can bet the Modding community has you covered with more than enough content to play for many more hours - at least until XCOM 3.

To most gamers, Hidden Object Adventure Games are usually associated with words like “cheap” and “casual”. Not something a “real” gamer would waste their time on. Unfortunately, those people would be missing out on some of the most beautiful, thought provoking, and narratively engaging games the industry has to offer. Developer Artifex Mundi have established themselves as the most recognized creators in this genre, with each successive title adding some new game mechanic or cleverly designed puzzle never seen before. The template from which they have continually built their success arguably began with the critically acclaimed Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek.

Due to fan interest, this 2011 title recently saw its release on the Steam service, in the wake of its sequel, The Mists of Ravenwood. As the first in the Enigmatis series, the game does not share many of the new convenient mechanics or additional features as its sequel and other current titles. For instance, The Ghosts of Maple Creek only offers 2 difficulty modes, there are no special in-game achievements to uncover, and hidden object puzzles don’t provide a substitute mini-game you can play in case you just can’t seem to find that one elusive object (usually tucked away behind some obscure “thing” you don’t recognize). One particular cypher puzzle requires you to activate a number sequence found on a clue you pieced together. If you don’t have a particularly good memory, you have to keep going back to your evidence screen. Later games rectified this by automatically placing the code next to you on the puzzle board.


As a Murder Mystery, you travel to different locations uncovering clues to help you solve the case. However, in this game you quite literally have to travel through Maple Creek from one location to another, because the ability to instantly relocate via your map was not added until later games. This might seem frustrating at first, until you notice how various locations you revisit activate additional hidden puzzles. This kind of design tries to emulate the chaotic process a real crime-solver goes through, even if the narrative seems linear.

The story of Maple Creek itself could be viewed like an episode of "Murder She Wrote", with you playing the part of a very young Angela Lansbury, with some supernatural elements thrown in (because that’s always cool). Even today, Enigmatis still displays some of the most striking environmental artwork of any HOPA game. The visages of a storm ridden town are punctuated by incredibly subtle foliage, lightning and wind animations. Given its age, character animations are (forgivingly) amateurish with their marionette-like facial emotes and terrible lip-flaps. Additionally, the cinematic cut-scenes were not re-rendered at higher resolution for full-screen monitors, and subsequently show heavy pixelation, most likely due to upscaling. Despite this, you remain engrossed with the story and intent on revealing the town’s secrets.


By its own merits, Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek is a great game for someone looking to try their hand at Hidden Object Adventures and for those who enjoyed The Mists of Ravenwood. Even long time players of Artifex Mundi games should take a stroll through Maple Creek, and see where it all began.