So this was another of the titles in the digital board games bundle I bought a while back. I have no idea why it’s the official board game instead of the official digital game but it’s obviously the official adaptation of the famous Carcassonne board game. Though I’ve played the physical version of this once or twice I’m not actually very familiar with it as the version that I have is the Hunters & Gatherers standalone spin-off game.

As you can easily tell from the primitive graphics, this is another RPG by Jeff Vogel.. I’d previous played the first two games of the Avadon series and if anything this unrelated Avernum series is even more well known. Confusingly for those who are less than fully devoted fans of Vogel’s games, this 2011 game is actually a remake of a remake of a game that he first made all the way back in 1995. It’s a pretty good indication that though this is very much a small niche, Vogel does have a big enough following to justify his making these games.

While still slowly making my way back to the Bubble in Elite Dangerous, I’ve been getting to know this little digital boardgame. I heard about this on Broken Forum and the simple premise and basic graphics reminded me of Euro boardgames. Unfortunately while it take a bit of effort to learn the game, there isn’t really all that much to the gameplay and one soon tires of it.

Since the last time I wrote about this, I’ve bought the Horizons DLC and put in many more hours into this game. I have to say that the learning curve just to get back in is pretty brutal. Not only did I have to refamiliarize myself with my custom control setup, the addition of Horizons and patch changes since I last played meant that there are now many more controls, all of which are not automatically bound. It’s pretty hard to set up these keybinds when you don’t even know how all these new systems work.

This is a boardgame that is old enough of be considered a venerable classic. It’s also known for being actually rather awful as my boardgame friend once warned me. It does have so many expansions that it must have its share of fans and I was curious enough to want to try it when it was included in a bundle of other such boardgame adaptations.

I’ve played every Grand Theft Auto game since Vice City and I fully intended to play this one. However it took a while for this to be brought to the PC and even longer for it to be discounted. That delay worked just as well for me because there was no way I was buying a high-end system just to play it. Even today, this is probably the most demanding game I have and it’s still gorgeous while also subject to the occasional slowdown. Hard to believe this game was first released all the way back in 2013.

Given designer Jonathan Blow’s stature and, yes, his arrogance, it’s a little strange to think this is only his second game. He has apparently stated that his next project has an unheard of 20-year development schedule. For all that I agreed that Braid was a work of genius, it’s hard not to be annoyed by how full of himself this guy is.