One of my favourite satires is the Screwtape Letters, an epistolary novel by Narnia scribe C.S. Lewis. It consists of messages from an oily elder demon to his nephew about how to correctly groom the soul of an unsuspecting human being. It’s a claustrophobic send-up of managerial politics and nepotism, with World War 1 unfolding in the background. A real pick-me-up. Sintopia is the Two Point incarnation of that premise – in other words, brighter and breezier and definitely more slapstick than Christian. It puts you in charge of a world divided between Earth and hell, and challenges you to ensure a steady movement of optimally sinful souls between one and the other. Say your prayers and watch the trailer.
strategy
Landnama – Viking Strategy RPG GAME
Landnama – Viking Strategy RPG GAME Embark on a Viking settlement-building puzzle adventure in Landnama! Manage your Viking clan, expand settlements, and navigate the unforgiving winters of medieval Iceland. Every decision you make as a Norse chieftain determines the fate of your people. With a blend of strategic planning, resource management, and puzzle-solving, fans of … Read more
Former Paradox, CD Projekt and 11-bit devs reveal new 4X strategy RPG that splices Manor Lords with Crusader Kings
New Polish studio From Chaos consist of former members of Witcher developers CD Projekt Red, Frostpunk developers 11 bit studios and 4X household Paradox Interactive, led by erstwhile Gwent programmer Tomek Dietrich – so it’s no huge surprise that their debut game, Liegecraft, is a big beardy historical strategy RPG.
It’s a hex and turn-based experience in which you play a dinky little despot running around a medieval world building castles, taking vassals, mustering armies, and going on quests that involve branching dialogue. It’s got a pleasant upstairs-downstairs vibe. On the one hand, you get to paint toy towns on hexagons, as in a traditional 4X or Civ clone; on the other, you can smash-cut to a banqueting scene and watch a drunken dignitary throw a goblet at your master of horse. Here’s the trailer.
In action strategy builder RailGods, Cthulhu is a train and you’d better keep it fed
RailGods Of Hysterra is one of those games that, as it were, shovels a bunch of relatively dried-up concepts into the squirming furnaces of something appealingly ghastly. On the one hand, it’s burdened by talk of “crafting”, “base-building” and “survival” – all things I have enjoyed but am currently weary of, and which together make the game sound interchangeable with half of Steam. But it’s elevated, on the other hand, by talk of living helltrains that eat crocodiles for breakfast. Without further ado, here’s a trailer.
Dunebound Tactics brings terrain manipulation to a strategy RPG where you can sacrifice companions to power your ship
Genre tags are slippery, fickle things at the best of times, but I feel like each one I use to label Dunebound Tactics almost diminishes it, as I’m sacrificing something precious for the sake of powering on through the arid sands of easily comestible, digestible, poop-estible online content. Ah well, circle of life and all that. Plus, at least it’s thematic: you’ll have to make sacrifices yourself if you want to progress across its unforgiving deserts. This one’s got shades of roguelite, RPG, strategy, and turn-based tactics. Nothing too uncommon, but it’s the shades of Red Faction, Frostpunk, and Sunless Sea that have me interested.