What's Your Gam3? #18

Welcome

Welcome to What’s Your Gam3? #18 My aim with everything I do is to introduce you to new games! As I continue to improve the newsletter, all feedback is gratefully received. Now, let’s see what has happened this week.

What’s That Gam3? [review]

You can join me live as I play new games on Twitch! Alternatively, you’ll find edited versions of my playthroughs on my YouTube channel. [Don’t forget to follow and subscribe].

Angelic

“Narrative Strategy-RPG Set in a Dark and Collaborative Sci-Fi Universe”

TLDR: 

• Strategic deliberate play

• Deep variety of heroes

• Decent variety of map

• The controls and camera are a little wonky

• Decent graphics but UI needs work

How to play

• The game is closed testing

• Available to wishlist on Steam and Epic

Game Loop

• In the chaos theatre, there are currently 3 game modes and a tutorial.

• You can pick, free for all, 1v1 and 2v2.

• In the testing, there were 3 maps to choose from

• Each map had a different theme but with similar points of interest

• As you load into the game your first decision is which heroes to deploy

• Each hero has a deployment cost, and you get a pool of deployment points to use.

  

• This pool refills as the game progresses allowing you to deploy more units later on in the later deployment phases

• When picking a deployment spot it is key to consider the points of interest on the map

• The map has stand items, such as obstacles and cover, it also has different terminals you can activate.

• These terminals offer a range of things to assist in the battle, from an attack robot, a healing droid, or just a healing point, plus more.

• Each player then takes it in turn to deploy their units.

• Once deployment is finished you then take control of the heroes.

• Each turn/hero has an action point pool.

• These action points are used for movement, attacks, skills, and interactions.

  

• As it is turned-based, it is important to guess what the opponent will do so that you avoid leaving your units in trouble

• Each unit has health, shield, and movement

• They also vary in how powerful their attacks are

• In general the more powerful the attack the more action points it took.

• Your goal is to clear the map of all the enemies

Game feel

• The hero models and animations are decent. Whilst there are also skins these are pretty low variations, with some just being the model in a different colour

• Before loading into the game the hero screen doesn’t give information about them, which means you have a lot of reading to do during your turn or remembering

• Control of the camera during deployment was a little tricky to get the hang of at first and did result in my missing a couple of deployment phases

• The trickiness with the camera continued with the unit movement, with the camera often getting stuck underground.

  

• Outside of the camera issue, I found it to be a very strategic game

• The variety of heroes and moves meant I was constantly trying to get the best position for my opponents.

• When we played a 3 person free the map did feel a little large and we spent a lot of the first turns trying to find each other

• The animations and movements were decent and the opponent's reactions were good, if sometimes a little over the top - as I sent a body flying.

• Picking key terminals to activate can help swing the battle - but beyond symbols, it is a little unclear what each will do

• Similar to learning the heroe abilities, this leads to a steep learning cover for new players

• Whilst the fighting feels pretty action-packed, it is important to come in with the right expectations of game speed - it is more like chess in terms of speed than an action game.

• It could also do with a little work on the UI which was a bit confusing/hard to interpret at times.

Rating

• The steep learning curve makes it a bit more niche to those willing to learn

• Very strategic, so should appeal to deep thinkers

• The models and aesthetics are pleasing and set in their wider sci-fi universe

• It is slow, so don’t be fooled by the action animations

• A narrow recommendation with a caveat because of the slow gameplay

Web3 integration

• To be announced.

For more information follow their Twitter to keep up to date.

Blocklords

“The most ambitious strategy game of our age.”

TLDR: 

• Good aesthetic

• Potential for world-building

• Too restrictive on customization

• Lacking strategy depth at this early stage

How to play

• Free to play on Epic Store

• Some content NFT locked

Game Loop

• Your first choice is which region of the world you want to settle

• Each region has specific benefits and central buildings

  

• Once you’ve picked your region you settle your farming village

• Initially, you just had a central house and some workers

• Getting your workers to gather resources is your priority

• To guide you through the process there are quests for you to complete

• These quests provide rewards

• As you complete different buildings additional teams of workers and buildings are unlocked

• Each team of workers has a specific role

• The workers then have a range of tasks they can complete in that role

• These tasks consume energy

• If your workers run out of energy they need to return to one of the houses and eat

• Collecting a variety of resources you either spend it to complete new buildings and items or you can sell it for gold to the central market

• When picking where to place your buildings you are limited to 1 or 2 spots

  

• Some buildings have additional options for you to choose which affects the tasks and resource output performed there

• Now and then you will also encounter events - these give you options to choose with an unknown outcome

• There may be other mechanics I hadn’t tried yet, but at the point of writing I had completed all the builders and workers and my village was running along pretty self-sufficient.

Game feel

• The graphics and animations are engaging

• Having a whole map to choose from with different regions having different bonuses gives you some early strategic choices

• After picking your zone though the choice reduce

• Each building only has 1 or 2 options with no customization or optimization possible

• Villagers all have specific roles, reducing any strategic choices

• The events are nice but rare

  

• Possible to get soft/hard locked if you run out of food and gold at the same time

• Some tasks took several clicks for a full process for no real added strategic choice

• Could benefit from a speed-up mechanic as the lack of options left you with nothing to do for periods

Rating

• Looks nice

• Some good interactions

• Too simplistic right now - kids paint by numbers village management

• Maybe worth a look just to appreciate the style

• Currently too shallow to recommend to a lover of the genre

• Hopefully, future development will add more depth

  

Web3 integration

• To access the play to earn version you need a Land NFT which is on eth

• The game’s coin ASG is also on the chain

For more information follow their Twitter to keep up to date.

What’s on the timeline

Games that died

I was doing a Twitter space for gam3s.gg and we covered web3games that have died based on the report. 407 discontinued, which I think is probably an underestimate.

There will be a lot of different reasons these games have closed, and some were probably never going to make a game. However the general trend isn’t unique to web3, the picture is likely very similar in web2 gaming.

This is the reason I am more interested in studio-wide NFTs. A studio rarely hits a home run on the first attempt. Selling the NFTs early ties the project to an idea that might not have any legs. I much prefer a project to have the flexibility to drop an idea if it isn’t working. This is one of the risks of building with so much transparency, web3 would see that as a rug even if it was a perfectly reasonable business decision.

Anyway, that was a bit of a ramble - the short version is games die so be careful.

What's Your Gam3? Ep 72. Nitro League

Introduction

• Nitro League, is a high-octane racing game.

• Series aimed at introducing new games and developments in gaming.

Game Overview

• Early Alpha stage with single and multiplayer modes.

Upcoming tournaments and events.

• Unique game elements: Shelby cars, custom IP vehicles, and community-themed vehicles.

• Downloadable from the Nitro League website with virtual sign-on and XP earning features.

• Free to join and participate.

Gameplay Mechanics

• Controller support for diverse playing styles.

• Plans for future game exposure and player engagement.

• Integration of real-world and fantasy tracks in the game.

Game Development and Community Engagement

• Focus on user-generated content (UGC) and community-driven activities.

• Introduction of race-with-friends mode for personalized gaming experiences.

• Organizing community game nights for feedback and engagement.

Game Dynamics and Features

• Balance between realistic and fantasy elements in racing.

• Plans to introduce varied game modes, including sabotage and skill-based racing.

Monetization Strategies

• In-game advertising fits the racing aesthetic.

• Integration of sponsorships and brand collaborations.

• Emphasis on not burdening players with ads.

Breaking Out of the Crypto Bubble

• Making the game accessible to traditional gamers.

• Simplifying blockchain and web3 elements for easier user experience.

• Focus on bringing enjoyable gaming experience to a broader audience.

Catch up on all previous episodes on YouTube.

Don’t forget to join us next week!

WYG?: Gam3 Changers

Nothing this week!

Catch up on all previous episodes on Spotify.

Thanks for making it to the end, that is all the new games for this week. Do you know any you’d want to hear more about? Let me know.

Remember to tell your friends about What’s Your Gam3? Otherwise, they’ll hate you for letting them miss out on all the new games.

Remember to play games you enjoy!