Star Wars game bundle Star Wars Heritage Pack is getting a physical Switch edition just in time for the holidays.
19.09.2023 - 12:29 / boardgamequest.com
We review Age of Steam, a classic train game designed by Martin Wallace. In Age of Steam, players are trying to earn the most victory points by increasing the value of their railroad empires.
This is a guest post from Bailey Brewer.
Reviewing one’s favorite game of all time is not the simplest of tasks. On the one hand, it’s rather quite simple to put to paper exactly what makes it tick; on the other, explaining such gushy emotions can be tricky. Shaping the thoughts of love into a mathematical formula can lead to mixed results: I give pizza 10/10 because even bad pizza is ok, but I give my spouse a 9/10 because they kick me in their sleep. And yet, I am attempting this process here today anyway so that you can learn the true beauty that is Age of Steam.
In every round of Age of Steam, players follow an order of operations in the hopes of increasing the value of their railroad empire. To increase that value (essentially your Victory Points), they must deliver goods cubes from their source city to a city of a matching color. In order to deliver these goods cubes, they must build a track from city to city. In order to afford that track, they must deliver goods cubes to earn income.
If this sounds like an inescapable economic ouroboros, don’t fret, as at the start of any round, you can take out loans, even if it’s the first round of the game. All that means is that later on in the round (and each and every round thereafter), during an Expenses step, you just have to pay some interest on that loan.
Don’t panic, though! Each round players will each get to choose one rule breaker or bonus to help them towards their goals. Will you decide to upgrade the power of your train? Increase how many track pieces you can play? Or will you place an entirely new city out onto the board? The choice is yours!… from whatever is leftover from the other players’ choices.
See, in addition to everything else that happens in one round of Age of Steam, there is an auction for turn order. This turn order, by default, determines the ordering for the following: choosing your power, laying your track, and delivering your goods. So how important is it for you to go early this round, and how important is it for everyone else?
Age of Steam is one of the sharpest board games I’ve ever played. Nearly every phase in a round has the ability to send players into a downward spiral. Not taking out enough loans could lead you too short to pay for, well, many things; bidding too low in the turn order auction can lead you to miss out on the rule breaker you need, and bidding too high can lead you to be short of cash; not laying your track properly or having enough money to pay for the track you need can lead to missing out on making any
Star Wars game bundle Star Wars Heritage Pack is getting a physical Switch edition just in time for the holidays.
Enigmas are two-part puzzles scattered around Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The first part requires finding a collectible — a cryptic message or drawing — that leads you to the second part — a treasure, like a dye or a talisman.
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is a video game based on an anime based on a video game series, which means it borrows elements from both, but feels more like the former than the latter. That being said, knowing a lot about the franchise or the anime (or manga) isn't really necessary for this experience. Featuring some of the iconic monsters and spells from, is more of an anime recap than a game, which is a bit unfortunate considering just how excellent the actual gameplay is.
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Remember how many dildos were originally in Cyberpunk 2077? You couldn’t loot a corner in Night City without picking one up, to the point where CD Projekt Red actually had to patch a number of them out. Lootable dildos weren’t necessarily a problem on their own, but their abundance was a good example of how Cyberpunk’s grand story could occasionally clash with the cheap shock humor found around it. Phantom Liberty aims to right that dildo misalignment, and after some soul-searching, has seemingly found what kind of Cyberpunk story it wants to tell, and nails it. Balancing the punk-rock verve of Mike Pondsmith’s tabletop RPG with an exquisitely crafted spy story and best-in-class visuals, Phantom Liberty is Cyberpunk 2077 at its best.
More is better, right? Not always. While MMO gamers may require a big, floaty mouse decked out with as many buttons as the shell can handle, the FPS crowd will scoff at the added weight and resulting fatigue those extra buttons create. Premium peripheral maker Pwnage knows this, and it's gone all-in with its design of the StormBreaker, its latest entry into the ultralight FPS mouse category. From its magnesium alloy shell to its movable sensor, the StormBreaker is designed to provide that extra edge that every competitive gamer seeks. I’ve been hands-on with the StormBreaker for the last couple of weeks, and it’s a lean, mean, FPSing machine. But at what price?