Jagged Alliance 3 – Mercenaries Unite

One of the most abused, but beloved turn-based tactical PC franchises is back with another game. Earlier attempts go from abysmal to somewhat playable but often lacking soul. Through some fantastic luck (and skill?) this time it actually captures the classic feeling and is fun to boot. Jagged Alliance 3 has the essence of what once was, which is a rare instance of something old being updated to modern times and still manages to retain an old-school gaming feeling. It’s not without faults though. For example, the laptop shenanigans from Jagged Alliance 2 have been transferred over, but it has not been fully explored, which makes it feel like a cheap copy of the original. The basics are there, yet, all the fun flair, or at least most of it, is gone. The A.I.M mercenary recruitment page no longer comes off as a normal website either. Luckily other parts have much more effort put into it – like the combat, and story, which in turn makes this a worthwhile sequel to a fabled game.

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Xenonauts 2 – Early Access Impressions

With Xenonauts 2 soon coming out in early access (18 July), I thought I would give it another go and give my impressions. The reason that I’m able to play it now already is that I was a backer on Kickstarter. It has been an incredibly long road since then with many up and downs. But I’m glad the end is near, as a release is finally approaching, even if it’s only the early access kind. So, how is it, is it worth the wait? Will it be a better game than Xenonauts?

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Miasma Chronicles – Quick Impressions

I was going to do a proper review of Miasma Chronicles since the combat and the world seemed interesting enough. However, the further I got into the game, the more apparent it becomes that it suffers from some seriously baffling design decisions. This cut my game time rather short as I just can’t be bothered with this type of gameplay anymore. I will explain.

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister [DLC] Palace of Ice – Soraks Forever

The evil Soraks are back, and they are meaner and greener than ever! Palace of Ice is another story DLC for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Unlike Lost Valley, this one is a direct continuation of the original campaign instead of being a standalone adventure. This means that you get the chance to import your old dungeon-crawling crew if you still got the save file laying around. I had to start up an old computer of mine to find the save as it was a long time since I played it. And thank the Lord I found it. The thought of going through the main campaign again just to experience Palace of Ice would have been very demoralizing. Not that the main adventure is all bad, but one take was enough for me. And yes, you are allowed to create a new party, but my weird gaming autism would have prevented me from doing so.

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Kevin Zhang [Dead Monarchy Studios] (Dead Monarchy) – Interview

Welcome to yet another developer interview. This time we are talking to Kevin Zhang, the man behind the recently released tactical RPG Dead Monarchy. We talk about the hardship of being a solo developer, dreams of the future, and what is planned next.

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