Warhounds – An Oddity [Trailer]

Give a girl a sniper rifle, and she will give you a dead merc

Watched a trailer for an upcoming tactical turn-based game called Warhounds, and it was a strange experience, because I could swear I have played this before. And well, I have, as Warhounds seems to be a Western release of the game SPARTA 2035, which I liked when testing out the demo. For some reason, though, the Steam page for the game now shows an error message.

The Russians on Steam don’t seem too happy about this, as they think SPARTA 2035 has been abandon in favor of Warhounds. But according to one of the developers, there is no reason for them to worry, who also says:

[Google Translate] “Greetings! Warhounds is based on the game Sparta 2035. Sparta is a game for the local CIS market, available only in Russian. Warhounds is a global game with redesigned characters, a multitude of new features, updated balance, full English voiceover, and a number of significant plot changes.”

That explains the issue, but is this where we are now, two separate games, depending on market/culture, or is it just a re-release—who knows? I don’t see why SPARTA 2035 couldn’t be released as it was. Anyhow, trailer after the jump!

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Streets of Fortuna [Trailer]

Now, Streets of Fortuna is an interesting one. It’s a sandbox RPG set in ancient times that is heavily based on systems (and the interaction of them) much like Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress—to simulate life in a city. The main difference here, though, is that you play as a single character instead of a whole colony. A fascinating spin is that the madman Tarn who created Dwarf Fortress has an advisory role on the system design, which tells me a lot about the project.

This game could turn out to be a complete dud, but from the information provided in the trailer and their Steam page, it looks to hold promise for something unique. However, my main issue is this: it needs to be difficult, much like real life, to actually feel rewarding. It would suck if you could become rich fast by stealing things for example, if it doesn’t come with heavy repercussions. But that’s for the future to tell. Make sure to request access to the playtest on Steam if you are curious. Trailer and dev comment after the jump!

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The Guild – Europa 1410 [Trailer]

Eating and guarding the wall is my thing

I’m a bit late for this one, but I felt I had to make a post about it. You see, The Guild II is one of my favorite management games from the past. It’s janky, a tad buggy, but incredibly charming. Especially in multiplayer where I spent many hours with my sis—to become the top-dog businessman of whatever city we ran at the time. It’s a sandbox combined with an economy simulation, creating the ultimate medieval dynasty game. It has a lot of subtle trolling included in the gameplay to make it a hilarious experience—that might as well backfire on the instigator, to throw the victim into prison.

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Arma Reforger: Operation Omega – Back to 1989, baby! [Review]

Finally, Bohemia Interactive decided to release something for us single-player addicts—in the form of a mini-campaign doing commando stuff behind enemy lines. This, naturally, caught my attention, since so far the multiplayer-focused Arma Reforger has not interested me much—beyond a vague curiosity in testing the new and supposed improved engine, that is. So, was it worth the purchase? Read and find out!

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NORSE: Oath of Blood – Demo Impressions

I'm somewhat of a fjord guy myself, you know

NORSE: Oath of Blood I have followed for a while, so this demo didn’t take me by surprise like Of Ash and Steel. However, the demo by itself is a surprise in how entertaining it felt, especially going by the atmosphere, writing, and the satisfying turn-based combat. A prerequisite is that you must like Vikings, as the setting is supposed to be as authentic as possible to them, according to the developers. No monsters, dragons, or zombies this time around, yet murderous slavers, and lunatic forest hermits can be unsettling enough!

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