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.

I’m shit at fighting games but keep buying them anyway. This one was a dumbly dumb purchase because although this ultimate version was released in 2016, it’s based on a 2011 game and unfortunately looks the part. The models, textures and effects are all pretty low resolution and look worse than even the other fighting games I’ve played a year or two ago. In addition, I found that I know only a small smattering of the Capcom characters and hence don’t really care about them.

As usual I like to play smaller games in between the big titles and this one was interesting enough to merit some discussion on Broken Forum. This is a short adventure game with pixelated art and some cool mini-games. A playthrough will last no more than about five to six hours and I can see players maybe replaying it once to make some other choices. Still I found it to be a interesting game that is well worth the money.

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