King’s Courier – Demo Impressions

Attention adventurers, we have another party-based first-person RPG (blobber) incoming in the form of King’s Courier! However, this one does not look at Wizardry or the Eye of the Beholder series for inspiration—this one goes straight for the Might and Magic jugular, washing its thick, red stat-based RPG goodness all over us. Now, while I do enjoy Might and Magic, it’s not my favorite series due to chaotic combat, especially in real-time… but salvation is here!

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A Snapshot: World of Warcraft Forever – Seeing Mt. Hyjal from Mulgore

I was casually playing the World of Warcraft Forever beta when I noticed something in the distance—far from the tauren starting zone of Red Cloud Mesa where I was questing. At first, I thought it was some kind of glitch, as the contours of the object made me think of something superimposed onto the background. But the more I looked, the more real it seemed. This eventually forced me to take the trip to Thunder Bluff ahead of time, since curiosity got the better of me; I needed a better look!

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DERELIKT – Playtest Impressions

I’m not sure this can be called a true impressions article, as I dipped out of DERELIKT very early—long before any real testing could be done. The reason for this is that the game is currently segmented in a way that drops late‑game areas right after level one, which spoils a lot of things I want to keep secret until my full playthrough. Apparently, it goes something like this: Level 1, then level 4, and finally level 5. However, what I did get to test felt and looked damn good!

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The Black Pits (Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition) [Review]

The Black Pits is Beamdog’s arena expansion that came with Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition when it was released years ago in 2012. And here I thought it was high time to finally try it out. Now, this little side-adventure isn’t much more than a string of fights put together, but it does have a story, and a prominent antagonist (Baeloth the Entertainer) that will make an appearance again in the future Beamdog releases (The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay and Siege of Dragonspear) and Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition itself. Effort was made to at least have the main bad guy in a continuation of sorts, which is nice, as Baeloth is one of the best parts of this expansion besides the battles.

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The lack of Stealth in a Vampire game…

I have been trying out the newly released RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker, and the lack of any kind of stealth in this game is an incredibly missed opportunity that would have added an excellent thematic gameplay mechanic. Instead, if it’s scripted not to do so, you will have to fight your way in or out of a situation every time.

While this is clearly a skill issue from my part, I find the combat incredibly awkward. This is mostly due to a spastic camera and the brutal action‑based combat, where you are supposed to block, dodge, and kill multiple opponents on a regular basis. And well, it’s just too hard for an old fella like me, yet I can play Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord without trouble using manual blocks. I’m not sure what is going on here, outside of having a difficult time focusing on what’s happening in a skirmish, visually. Anyhow…

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Star Wars: Zero Company – Three Strikes and You’re Out

Finally, a long-sought-after turn-based tactical game in the style of an X-com-like is here, and simply, it’s good. Now, that’s not to say it doesn’t have problems, because it does, but in a general sense, Star Wars: Zero Company is a welcome addition to the genre and should satisfy the call for squad-based combat. I might as well make one thing clear already. This is not a battle simulation in the style of Jagged Alliance 3—it’s more of an Xcom 2 (nuXCOM) game, with perhaps even a stronger focus on board game rules, gameplay and combat abstraction. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the story, which is a huge focus in Zero Company, maybe to its detriment in some cases.

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