I’m back! Kind of. I haven’t touched games since September, but I’ve recently had several interesting conversations about video games and they inspired me to return to gammak, but not enough to actually do it. I just don’t have time or a machine capable of making games comfortable. It renewed my interest enough, tho, to check some releases from this year and I found out that there were more than 10 I would like to at least try. Surprisingly, after doing some research for this, I found out that despite following board game releases I find most of them less interesting than video games. There are two exceptions on this list, which I think is the same number as it was in 2020.
Let’s share some more facts first. There were several other games I considered for the list. There’s either still chance that I get to play them (Soma Union) or they weren’t really available on platform of my choice (JETT, Old World) or they were more of a free demo (Time Bandit) or they were on the list before and only got a full release (Wildermyth). There certainly were more good looking games too, but most of them just seemed not interesting for me. Either they were focused on story too much and I didn’t like the tone in the trailer or they weren’t my thing mechanically. Still, some of these might be games I will enjoy a whole lot if I ever play them.
So, let’s finally jump in and talk about some games I know very little about outside of their good looks.
10. Astalon: Tears of the Earth
So, creator(s) of this metroidvania previously created one of my favourite games, Castle in the Darkness. And this is a pretty exciting offer. The game looks good and reviews are extremely positive about it being a proper Castlevania inspired fun with individual characters having game changing skills and difficulty being hard enough to be sometimes frustrating and very satisfying when the execution of all moves goes according to plan. So, lets hope I get to this, when I get around to my big run through non-linear platformers.
9. Loop Hero
I haven’t played a lot of attention to this at first. The graphics might be little too retro even for me at this point in time and the game being a very difficult roguelike isn’t exactly my cup of tea either. But I could no longer ignore how cool and compact the design seems to be and it really peeked my interest. Loop Hero probably isn’t the kind of game I would finish, but I def want to try it out and appreciate its strengths.
8. Furnace
Ok, there were more than two board games I found interesting this year. Be it a theme, visual style or both. However most of these heavier games are games I would like to spend money on and spend time finding nerds to play them. Furnace and the other entry on this list are a different case. The game looks very pretty despite having a very beige 19th century capitalist theme. It’s a card game with auctions at its core and it’s supposed to be very fast, loud and involved. I loved everything I heard about it in Shut Up and Sit Down’s review and I think I would be actually able to table it. A lot of stuff reminds me of chunkier games such as Brass, which I would never get played. Btw, credit for the picture goes to @ludus_lab
7. Toem
Everyone knowing my taste could expect this to appear. The only thing I slightly about this quirky photography games is that it’s black and white. I think it could be even more adorable with colors or at least more contrast. Maybe I’m wrong and the gimmick is also kinda thematic (Toem might remind you of an old timey photography). In comparison with more stylish Nuts, this game just looks like joy to play with a world inhabited by adorable characters and mechanics cleverly using that the game’s actually 3D (it always gets me in the trailer).
6. Sable
I was excited about Sable for a very long time. It certainly is a looker and a premise of wandering is always an exciting one. I lost interest a wee bit when more info got out and I have shifted my visual preferences slightly, but I can’t deny that I’m always get excited when seeing content from this game. I’m not interested in playing it, I just want to experience its sandy planes. Actually, I would love to see a real desert too and this might be a great appetizer.
5. Dorfromantik
I hesitated to put this on the list, because there’s not a lot to be excited about? The game’s relaxing and pleasant to look at, but it also has this boring vibe. In the end I decided to leave it on the list as only me locking internet payments (too many safety steps) prevented me from buying and playing it yesterday. In Dorfromantik you basically build a board out of tiles and score points, which in return unlock more tiles to play. Lovely.
4. Valley Peaks
This game looks exactly like my kind of treat. It’s fairly small, it’s free and it offers a freedom of movement. It’s about climbing and I like climbing and now I feel slightly guilty about not climbing for months. So, why I haven’t played this yet? I simply haven’t got time to try and it’s quite possible that my linux machine won’t run the game’s pretty graphics. You can download it here.
3. Whale Riders
The second board game on the list is Reiner Knizia in his best form. That means high replayability and crunchy decisions with a relatively simple ruleset. In Whale Riders you trade on a one-way journey and it all ends with interesting scoring, which brings in a lot more strategy. The game has an attractive paint from wonderful Vincent Dutrait, which makes trading a lot more attractive than let’s say a Mediterranean setting. Unfortunately, all pretty Knizia releases from Grail Games are out of print, because of change of focus / breach in contract. In other words, you can’t buy them from the publisher anymore and Whale Riders will be difficult to get second hand, because the game had a very limited market presence before being pulled off.
2. Griftlands
This game has probably my favorite trailer of the year and after playing Song of the Sojourner I’m excited for more card based games, which are trying to do something slightly different with cards and Griftlands look just like that. Ofc, the game’s probably solid just because it’s a game from Klei, but the theme, the swag and options to play out things differently and tell emergent stories in a very lucrative trash space setting are all too tempting for me to resist. Yeah, I might even buy this during Christmas and yet play it in 2021.
1. The Geography
And finally, this is a must play for me. It looks completely different than any other game I know, it looks super artsy and like an experience I want to have and which might actually inspire me even outside of video games with its approach to visuals and I might use the inspiration, when creating a poster or a visual style for a project. Tbh, calling this a game probably is wrong as it’s more of an art piece and something clearly more ambitious than entertainment focused media. At its Itch page the creator describes it as an endless album and its goal is to improve your mental state. Also, it’s Swedish and I’m a sucker for everything Swedish.
I saw him play a bit in Bayern last year (cause i was a fan of Chelsea only last year, and then this year i became a fan of Bayern as well) and noticed him a little but I didn't start liking Schweini till the Germany vs Ghana game when he came in around the 70th minute, i dunno he just simply fascinated me! But when I truly became a fan of him was during the USA vs Germany match in the World Cup... I should have been cheering for the country I live in but I couldn't help it I loved the team ever since their first game against Portugal and it just continued on... Germany was like my side NT during the World Cup, and I couldn't help loving the German players... they were so courteous to the country and the people! Bastian was one of players I noticed the most!
Day 27: Favorite Thing About the One Piece Universe : The Geography
I love lots of things on the One Piece, but I think that the geography is really impressive. The four seas, grand line, calm belt, red line, all that weird islands with that crazy clima. The geography in that world really impresses me, and Oda is very creative for think in those things. Plus, the geography is the responsible for all the adventures and mysteries, that why it is my favorite thing about the One Piece universe.
