SKALD: Against the Black Priory – Tentacle Island

Polish your sword, and stock up on the travel weed, because it’s time to explore the cursed islands of SKALD: Against the Black Priory. While I don’t have much of a personal nostalgia connected to the Commodore 64, the graphics still manage to warm me in its low-pixelated glory of the past. However, it’s not without issues, as the amount of detail can actually be a detriment on this somewhat humble scale. At times it’s hard to distinguish the environment, seeing where you can or can’t go. It means when playing with a keyboard, you will have to prepare yourself to slam into objects like a bumper car trapped inside a tiny arena with randomly placed walls all over. Outside of that, it’s a pretty fine party-based adventure in the style of classic Dungeons and Dragons fantasy.

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Star Trek: Away Team – Vulcan nerve pinch to Victory

When I was younger I loved Star Trek: Away Team, but with age, my taste in games has changed – well, at least certain time-consuming mechanics, like games resting on endless save & reloading. It’s still somewhat of a charming experience playing it now, however, being a Commandos clone there is A LOT of trial and error involved. That is not all, as this title also has a bit of a quirky and archaic control system. It undeniably adds up when half of your attempts fail due to control issues. Yet, as mentioned, it’s still appealing since it’s set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation timeline (best timeline), has nice looking retro graphics, excellent voice acting and presentation, and a pretty good story to boot.

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King Arthur: Legion IX – Pax Romana

It’s time to once again adventure in Avalon. However, this time around we are ditching the knights of the Round Table in favor of a long-lost Roman legion. Seeing as King Arthur: Legion IX is an expansion for King Arthur: Knight’s Tale made stand-alone, you will not be getting the same amount of game as the original. That is all fine and dandy considering it being a DLC with a lower price point, but what I didn’t expect going in, was the much more streamlined experience. Many of the cool “Xcom” aspects of King Arthur: Knight’s Tale have been cut, like for example tending to wounds, building up your colony, and maintaining a team in the form of picking and choosing whom to take on missions.

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Rainbow Six: VEGAS 2 – The Bad Guy Strip Massacre

Are you up for losing more than your hard-earned money at the strip? Well then, welcome to Las Vegas, here we have more bandits than civilians, and toxic gas releases by terrorists are a daily occurrence. Enjoy your stay! When I started to play Rainbow Six: VEGAS 2, I expected Swat 4 type of gameplay, but what I got was all-out warfare with hundreds of militias running around on the strip gunning for your head. While you do get a lot of bad guys to put holes into, it kinda undermines the Swat aspect of the game. It becomes like any type of military engagement but set in an entirely urban environment with slot machines as far as the eye can see.

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Subterrain: Mines of Titan – DIY, the game

Subterrain: Mines of Titan is a captivating sci-fi game with plenty of different gameplay mechanics that somehow end up mashing well together, both in gameplay and in a narrative sense. It also makes the game what it is – a tactical combat survival horror RPG in space with light colony management. A mouthful, I know. All this might sound cool on paper, however, it’s not without issues. The heavy emphasis on crafting might break the game for some, even if the combat simulation and general dungeon crawling are excellent. The main reason for this is that you can’t do anything if you don’t learn and make heavy use of the crafting and research mechanics since everything from armor to weapons will be forged by you. There are tons of loot to pick up, but the majority of the stuff will only be there to be dismantled to create better items or to be researched. So, don’t go expecting a casual time spent when you start Subterrain: Mines of Titan!

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