Wordsmith's Anvil

  Image courtesy of Deck Nine and Telltale Games If you know anything about the show The Expanse , then you probably remember Camina Drummer as the no-nonsense take-charge from the Belt. She spends a lot of the series in the #2 role amongst the likes of Belter leaders, those bosmangs, like Anderson Dawes or Fred Johnson, but Drummer consistently shows that her leadership style of cutting through the bullshit and doing the heavy lifting from the front will one day place her as top dog. The Expanse: A Telltale Series displays that penchant for solid leadership even more.     Cara Gee returns to voice Drummer without skipping a beat in style, voice, and attitude in this prequel taking place around three years before the events of The Expanse 's first season. Drummer is the Executive Officer, there's that #2 again, on a scavenger ship called The Artemis that is exploring the solar system in search of salvage. They're hoping to hit a score big enough to let the entire crew liv...

  Image courtesy of Gunfire Games Recently I reviewed Chronos: Before the Ashes and felt like it was good enough. It held its own in trying to pull a VR experience into a  more traditional hack n' slash. Remnant is the sequel to Chronos , and moves the series forward in every way.     In Remnant: From the Ashes  you play a nameless protagonist arriving at the same Ward 13 from Chronos with a mind to stopping the root that threaten Earth. The "root" is the name given to all the plantlike creatures that threaten every world in the series, and they have done so by eliminating certain guardians that were meant to look over these worlds. Your main goal in the game is to find Ford, the original commander of Ward 13 and a man who did more than simply witness the initial invasion of the root. You have to fight through an army of problems in order to get to him and solve the ultimate disaster across these worlds, destroying minions, mid-levels, and full-on bosses in the...

  Image courtesy of Fabled Games This is going to be a relatively short review, mainly because it's a relatively short game.     That's not to say that you can't pour hours upon hours into Pirates Outlaws , because you certainly can, but in terms of a storyline ushering you from a start to a finish... That's not really what's going on here.     Pirates Outlaws is a deck-building roguelike with a clear pirate theme. It is divided into multiple sections, or isles, that must be unlocked through playthroughs. Only one is ready at the offset, but it has varied choices as you sail the sea that make each run unique while you fight your way through thugs, drunks, and bosses to achieve treasures lying in wait. The Good There really is some good here for such a small little indie.     The art style is incredibly unique. The characters look like little paper cut-outs mishmashed together to create a character, and that works well for a game that isn't afraid to ke...

Image courtesy of Jessica Mastorakos & Michael Pritsos Wailing of newborns could be heard from down the hallway as the two officials strode quietly to the nursery. Each man carried a wax candle with a cupped hand to shield the flame. Upon entering the nursery, they broke apart and went to the infants. The room was still dim with four torches providing light from each corner. The younger official smiled as he looked down on the inquisitive faces of each boy and girl. “Jacob,” the older man called from the other side of the room. “Careful not to spill the wax.” “I know,” Jacob replied curtly. He rolled his eyes and felt a slight tension in the room as his superior trespassed into his mind. “ I know how to do my job,” Jacob thought flippantly. “I merely wished to remind you of the children’s fragility. Watch the flame,” Esau answered without looking at his young companion. Jacob guarded his thoughts and turned to the small girl before him. He held the candle above her cradle. The flam...

  Image Courtesy of Gunfire Games A few months ago I reviewed a game called Wayfinder . It was one of the first reviews that I've done, and I wanted to showcase it early on for a couple of reasons. For one, I had just finished it so as always I wanted to stay pertinent to what I am playing at the time. For two, it was made by Airship Syndicate, a company that I have grown fond of after playing Battle Chasers and Ruined King . There's a storied past here, but I'm not going to go into full detail for the sake of your time. Suffice to say that there was once a game studio called Vigil Games (the originators of the Darksiders series) that was established by a couple individuals named Joe Madureira (comic artist/developer Joe Mad) and David Adams. Vigil eventually went bankrupt and everyone had to go their separate ways, with some of company joining Airship Syndicate with Joe Mad and the others going with David Adams to start Gunfire Games.     Fast-forward into Gunfire's re...

Image courtesy of Room C Games & Croteam Strategy RPGs are a thing nowaday in more ways than one. They’re popular, and that popularity has led to variations within the genre. Some of them are straightforward. Some are deckbuilders. Some are roguelites. And some are combinations altogether. Game studios from big to small have started tapping into the tactical RPG market, and I think this probably has a lot to do with the ease of their development. Someone can make a game for peanuts, and it can sell like hotcakes if it’s actually done well. Hand of Merlin is a game that doesn’t look like would cost very much, but still tells a coherent story with enough variation from run to run to make it stand out against the others.      Hand of Merlin ’s story takes place from medieval England all the way to medieval Jersusalem. This crusade is conducted by three simple characters chosen by the player in the beginning of the run. They go from encounter to encounter, some combative ...