Originally mean to be played as part of a live stream, bad internet sank my plans of streaming Slay the Spire. Ended up doing this as a video instead! Tune in for the opening musical performance, a Show & Tell featuring deck-building tabletop games, and my run to the top of the Spire with the Ironclad!
From Dominion, to Marvel Legendary, to Paperback, the deck-building genre of tabletop games is one of my favourites. Through the process of building your deck with new cards, you dramatically improve your ability to complete the task at hand, whether it’s to build a kingdom, defeat super villains, or write your next great novel.
In recent times, the deck-building mechanic has melded with video game design in ways that push both forward. For example, SteamWorld Quest is in most respects is a cookie-cutter JRPG. But with deck-building as the foundation for its combat, you get an insane amount of control over how you spec out each character and approach each fight.
Enter Slay the Spire. In many ways, it stays very close to its Roguelike roots. Your goal is to fight through the dungeon and make it out alive in one go. If you die, you have to start the whole thing from the beginning. However, the introduction of deck-building takes it to a fresh and exciting new place.
Originally mean to be played as part of a live stream, bad internet sank my plans of streaming Slay the Spire. Ended up doing this as a video instead! Tune in for the opening musical performance, a Show & Tell featuring deck-building tabletop games, and my run to the top of the Spire with the Ironclad!
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Once upon a time, Tetris on the NES was sold as a full-priced game. Even back then, its feature set was lacking, as it didn’t have local multiplayer. All you could do was chase for a high score. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the world from buying it in the millions.
Imagine asking players to spend full price on a Tetris game now? No way! Even with the VR support and numerous gameplay modes that it offers, Tetris Effect didn’t launch as a full-priced game. That still didn’t stop many from being critical of its value proposition, specifically its distinct lack of multiplayer. Tetris 99 isn’t full-priced if you buy the standalone edition, nor is Puyo Puyo Tetris, which is essentially two full puzzle games in one. Even I complained about Treasure Stack, a game that I bought on sale for $5 CAD, because its value proposition felt thin.
Taking a step back, it’s been interesting to see how one of my favourite genres has been devalued over time.
When it comes to video game golf, I tend to prefer games that are a bit more fantastical rather than realistic. However, I do have my limits. Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64 finds my perfect blend of realism vs. fantasy, but its sequel on the GameCube was completely off-putting for its overly fantastical courses and power shots.
What the Golf? pushes the fantastical elements so far into the realm of silly that it’s only a golf game in the broadest of senses. Though the game bills itself as being a golf game for those that like golf, does it have any appeal for those that do?
The story of two hearts colliding is one that’s explored to great effect in virtually every medium. Except gaming. For numerous reasons, the medium has been slow to create experiences around the themes of love and romance beyond more juvenile dating simulators or bolting on elements of romantic relationships into established genres. As much as I love headshots, juggle combos, and stacking blocks, I’ve always felt like there was a whole world of possibilities that could arise when combining the interactive elements of gaming with the themes of love and romance.
Originally released on mobile in 2018, Florence takes a clever approach to bringing a love story to life within the boundaries of gaming. Though I meant to play it at the time, I didn’t get around to it until it was released on the Nintendo Switch in February 2020. The experience of playing through it has weighed heavily on my heart ever since.
“Have you heard of HQ Trivia?”
It was the fall of 2017 and my former coworker was selling me on the virtues of this hot new mobile game he’d discovered. “You can play for free and you have the opportunity to win real cash!”
A few days later, during the middle of the workday, we stepped aside to play a few minutes of HQ Trivia. Those first few minutes would form the start of a ritual that carried on for quite some time.
Swipe left to assassinate?
Reigns: Game of Thrones takes the fantasy world of George R.R. Martin and places it into a video game with the mechanics of Tinder. Wait, what?
How low can you go? It won’t be easy with all of the enemies and obstacles in your way, but the guns strapped to your feet sure do help. Downwell challenges you traverse through a series of randomly-generated tunnels with only the ability to walk, jump, and shoot directly below you.
Dr. Mario World plays a cruel game of rope-a-dope with its players. Many of the levels can be beaten within reason. Be that as it may, the buzzsaw is as brutal as it is inevitable.
In Third Person 