Posts from ‘Turn-Based Strategy’ Category

Nova-111

By: Alehkhs

On: August 25th, 2015

From funky-fresh indie studio Funktronic Labs‘ comes sci-fi adventure/puzzler Nova-111. Bringing together a mix of turn-based movement and attacks with both turn-based and real-time threats, Nova-111 manages to evoke memories of the classic Chip’s Challenge.

Players control the Nova, a scientific vessel that has been flung into a strange dimension of mixed time, and are charged with guiding the ship and 111 collectible rescuable scientists back to safety. Along the way, upgrades can be found for the Nova that give the player more ways to move about the environment and manipulate time. Puzzles present themselves not only in navigating the terrain, but in the crafty and effective dispatchment of enemies. Combine this with the vibrant art and groovy music from Funktronic Labs, and progressing through Nova-111 can quickly approach a dance-like experience of timing and positioning. With global leaderboards for both “least turns” and “least time,” it surely won’t be long before some amazing speedruns appear.

Nova-111 launches on PC (via Steam, and DRM-free from the game’s website) and PS4 today; Xbox One on August 28th; and PS3 and PS Vita on September 1st. A Wii-U release is expected later this year.

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Royals

By: Derek Yu

On: May 4th, 2015

Royals is a fun little strategy game from Asher Vollmer, one of the creators of Threes (iOS). As a peasant seeking to attain royalty, each turn on the game’s randomly-built map takes a year of your life, which you can spend accruing resources in a variety of ways. Saying anything more would spoil the fun of figuring out how everything works. You can download Royals on a “pay what you want” basis.

The Banner Saga: Factions

By: ithamore

On: May 17th, 2013

If you like tactical games and free PvP, then you might get as addicted to the Banner Saga: Factions as I have (Factions’ Steam page).  It’s much like playing a timed chess game with a greater depth of variety in terms of strategy, which is provided the fantasy elements of the game and its unique battle mechanics.

Preview: Frozen Endzone

By: Derek Yu

On: March 21st, 2013

Frozen Endzone, by Mode 7 Games

Mode 7 Games have announced that they’re currently working on Frozen Endzone, a spiritual sequel to their innovative tactics game Frozen Synapse. Endzone applies the “simultaneous turn-based” tactics that were developed for Synapse to a futuristic sports game. Players will square off against one another in a randomly-generated arena and attempt to score points by bringing the ball into their opponent’s endzone.

The game is slated for a 2014 release on PC.

Steam Greenlight: Frozen Endzone

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Skulls of the Shogun

By: Derek Yu

On: January 30th, 2013

Skulls of the Shogun, by 17-Bit

Skulls of the Shogun was released today on XBLA and Windows 8/Surface/Phone. Inspired by fast-paced tactics titles like Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, Skulls promises relatively deep and engaging decision-making based around a simple ruleset and a limited number of units (7 total, including the singular General unit). Also, the game eschews grid-based, menu-based movement – instead, players move their units within a circle that represents the maximum distance they can travel each turn.

On top of a “15-hour” singleplayer campaign and hotseat local multiplayer, Skulls of the Shogun also offers an online multiplayer mode can be played between platforms.

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TIGS Sports Compo: Footbrawl Quest Scores!

By: Derek Yu

On: January 8th, 2013

Footbrawl Quest

Happy new year! The winner of the TIGSource Sports Competition was announced last month… a huge round of applause for (drumroll, please) Footbrawl Quest, the turn-based American football game made in the style of a dungeon crawler! It’s quite fun – go check it out.

The top 5 games from the competition are:

1. Footbrawl Quest
2. Unicorrida
3. FLOG
4. BLOODBALL (TIE)
5. Tiny Soccer Manager Stories (TIE)

You can view the voting thread here. Congratulations to anyone who participated! This was a solid return to form and here’s looking to at least one other TIGS competition this year!

Meriwether: An American Epic

By: Andy Hull

On: December 8th, 2012

Meriweather

I’m guessing most of you learned what dysentery was at a young age, and I’d also bet that your teacher wasn’t the reason why. MECC found a way to incorporate real history and fun gameplay into a groundbreaking educational game to teach players not just what happened, but what it was like to be there. What The Oregon Trail did for the Oregon Trail, Sortasoft’s Meriwether aims to do for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to travel across the United States to the West Coast. They were to catalog and study the plants, animals, natural resources, and geography along the way. They were also charged with establishing trade and U.S. sovereignty over the Native Americans along the Missouri River. Helping them in these endeavors was a small group of volunteers known as the Corps of Discovery.

Gameplay in Meriwether consists of two types of levels. In Lewis levels, the player will be navigating handcrafted levels focused on storytelling and dealing with situations that faced the actual expedition. In the travel mode, players will control the entirety of Meriwether’s Corps of Discovery through procedural wilderness as you gather resources, discover wildlife and ration whiskey. In both modes, Sortasoft seems committed to delivering a historically plausible account of the expedition. They have even gone so far as to have a Lewis and Clark historian involved in the project. However, Meriwether isn’t meant to be just a fun experience for history buffs, but for anyone looking for an entertaining survival/exploration game.

I actually had a chance to play this game about a year ago and found it extremely involving, even at such an early state. From the looks of their Kickstarter page, the game has improved by leaps and bounds since then. Check it out for tons more information on the project and the expedition itself. Who knows, you might even learn something!

Desperate Gods

By: Derek Yu

On: November 29th, 2012

Desperate Gods is an open source “digital board game” developed by Wolfire Games for Fuck This Jam, a week-and-a-half-long game jam based around making games in genres you generally dislike. In his design overview, Wolfire’s David Rosen describes how he enjoys board games but feels that their video game counterparts lack a lot of what makes them fun. Check out the video above to see how he and artist Aubrey Serr tried to overcome these problems while developing a unique board game from the ground up.

Frozen Synapse: Red

By: Derek Yu

On: June 2nd, 2012

“Red”, an expansion pack for the turn-based strategy game Frozen Synapse, has been been released and offers two-player co-op, a riot shield unit, a new “kill the hacker” multiplayer mode, three mutators, a 15-mission single-player campaign, 10 single-player challenge missions, new music from nervous_testpilot, and “Red Mode”, which lets you play the game with red environments. The $10 expansion is available from the Frozen Synapse website or Steam (Steam keys are provided even if you buy directly from Mode 7 Games).

On top of that, the game has received a free update that adds Hotseat Mode, timed turns, and non-randomized multiplayer maps for competitive play. See the Mode 7 Games blog for more details.

TIGdb: Entry for Frozen Synapse

Unity of Command 1.03 and Demo

By: Derek Yu

On: May 30th, 2012

unityofcommand2

Unity of Command, the operational turn-based strategy game set in the Eastern Front of World War 2, has received an update that adds an undo feature for actions and various improvements to History Mode.

Also, a PC and Mac demo has finally been released for the game. It contains the tutorial as well as a single-player scenario to try out.