Assassin's Creed Mirage is a return to the series' roots in a sense, bringing players to 9th Century Baghdad. But how does it stack up so far compared to the recent series entries? Here is our review in progress.
26.09.2023 - 13:13 / boardgamequest.com
We review Tetrarchia, a small footprint war game published by Draco Ideas. In this cooperative board game, the players are trying to defend rome from the barbairn invasions.
I’ve always been fascinated by the question of when the Roman Empire fell. The Old School tradition dates the demise of that massive empire to 476 CE (or AD if you prefer), when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer as the last Roman emperor in the West, and sent his imperial regalia to Zeno, the remaining Roman emperor in Constantinople.
But of course, that begs the question: if the Roman Empire fell, how was there still an emperor to send the regalia to? The answer is, of course, that the Roman Empire was ruled jointly from Italy and Constantinople in 475, so the termination of the western half did not mean the empire fell, but rather just continued a process of shedding territory that had begun 70-some years earlier. The Roman Empire as ruled by a Roman emperor in Constantinople (or nearby) endured another millennium falling in 1453 (traditionally) or even as late as 1461 depending on how you measure that. But by then it was a wholly transformed polity, Greek in language, Orthodox in religion, etc., and even the historians who push back against 476 and say the empire endured longer rarely consider the end of something truly Roman to have occurred in the 15th century.
The galaxy-brain take on this question is to say the Roman Empire fell way before 476. Some point to the so-called “third-century crisis” of Rome, which lasted for 50 years straddling 250 CE. During this time, the empire almost completely lost control of its borders, rarely had an emperor live more than a few years, and almost none of them died a peaceful death. For a good chunk of this half-century of crisis, the Empire actually split into three parts, with only the center under control of a legitimate emperor. This period of crisis has always fascinated me, as does the way it came to a close: the emperor Diocletian took the throne and chose to divide legitimate rule into four territorial segments, each ruled by a co-emperor.
In Greek the term for a rule by four people is a τετραρχία (“Tetrarchia”) and this is where the latest look at this time of great upheaval gets its name. Tetrarchia is a solo/cooperative offering by Miguel Marques (published by Draco Ideas) for 1-4 players, lasting 20-40 minutes. And I liked it.
The gameplay is quite simple. You and up to three co-emperors (so 1 to 4 players) choose a level of difficulty (there’s an easy/medium/hard setting but you can also mix and match options to get levels of intermediate difficulty between the three standard settings), put a few pieces onto the very small map board, and then you start play. You can
Assassin's Creed Mirage is a return to the series' roots in a sense, bringing players to 9th Century Baghdad. But how does it stack up so far compared to the recent series entries? Here is our review in progress.
EA Sports celebrated the release of EA Sports FC 24 by announcing how 11.3 million players tackled the football video game in its first week of release, which is a million more than FIFA 23 managed last year. For all intents and purposes, this symbolises how the rebrand from FIFA to EA Sports FC didn’t harm the franchise one bit – despite naysayers predicting doom and gloom without the football governing body’s muscle behind it.
Warhammer 40K: Introductory Set is an excellent gateway game for new players to follow detailed easy to follow instructions to build, paint, and play to learn basic rules of the Leviathan 10th Edition rule set.
We review Battle Bosses, a light skirmish game published by Kess Co. In Battle Bosses, players have a giant boss miniature that they are using to try and take down their opponent.
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The last time we checked in with Facebook’s ongoing quest to dominate the VR market, their leading headset was called the “Oculus Quest 2.” Now, we’re in a post-Oculus world with the Meta Quest 3. Time to check in and see how much consumer-grade VR has progressed in the past three years. Spoiler: it’s come quite far!
For the longest time, fans of the upcoming Forza game expected the next iteration to be Forza Motorsport 8. Instead, Xbox Games and developers Turn 10 Studios announced that the sub-series of the franchise would be receiving the now standard restart of its popular simulation racing game. Forza Motorsport (2023) – as it is now commonly known – has been stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has come a long way in 16 years, as the video games evolved from stealth-based action adventures to the more RPG-based fare as seen in 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Evolution is a crucial part of any creative process, and change is necessary, but it’s still essential to stay true to what something is at its core, which is exactly what Assassin’s Creed Mirage does. This isn’t a soft reboot, though, as it slides right into canon, centring on Basim Ibn Ishaq, a character introduced in Valhalla.
Assassin's Creed Mirage is one of the biggest releases of the year, allowing players to explore ninth-century Baghdad for the first time, alongside returning to the classic stealth formula that helped the series become the success it is today. Is it any good, though?
Assassin's Creed Mirage is a return to the series' roots in a sense, bringing players to 9th Century Baghdad. But how does it stack up so far compared to the recent series entries? Here is our review in progress.
Welcome to the comical, 3D platforming world of Another Crusade. You play as Rai Reysend, a Knight and protector of the realm. Developed and published by Dragon Vein Studios, this adventure RPG game leads you through a series of events, comical dialogue, and gruelling battles that you wouldn’t expect from how cute the dialogue is.
Welcome to the exciting world of Catan, a board game where the game’s name is to trade, build, and settle everywhere possible on the stunning, unique and highly customisable hexagonal map. Suppose you have been in the board game circle. In that case, you might have heard of the name Catan and been intimidated by how many people know and love it, but there’s no reason to shy away. Catan is an easy-to-learn board game that offers hours of replayability.