Happy New Year!
2021 wasn’t the best year for big, exciting releases with so many titles being set back until 2022. I mostly played Shadow Empire and Dominions 5, if truth be told. That said, for weirdo grognard gamers like myself, there were obvious highlights. I won’t bore you with my usual over-lengthy rambling nonsense, so let’s jump straight in.
GOTY: Conquest of Elysium 5
llwinter Game Design’s latest iteration of their oldest title, originally developed for the Atari Falcon, dropped in the late summer of 2021. Conquest of Elysium 5 attains the lofty heights of my Game of the Year award simply because I played it more than any other (closely following Shadow Empire and Total War: Warhammer 2). 2021 was a busy year for me and time for gaming was rather limited, but CoE5 is easy to pick up and play for short bursts and campaigns can be completed relatively quickly compared to most 4X-like games and that makes it a winner for busy humans.
CoE4 boasted a huge amount of content but felt incomplete in some areas: with numerous small additions and improvements right across the board, CoE5 is a drastic improvement and finally feels like a fully fleshed out, finished product. As much a traditional RPG inspired roguelike story generator as it is a wargame/4X hybrid, the design behind Conquest of Elysium is absolutely masterful, with it’s unparalleled faction asymmetry, seemingly endless content, and many difficult or rare game locations and events that encourage the player to take their time exploring the world of Elysium at their own pace. It definitely requires some learning, but this is one game for which I would advise readers to avoid spoilers, so stay off the wikis and guides until you’ve played it for a decent amount of time first!
I really wanted to tie the GOTY between this and Remnants of the Precursors but apparently, I’m not allowed. So I’m going to do it anyway because rules are for losers.
GOTY #2: Remnants of the Precursors
Remnants of the Precursors is developer Ray Fowler’s Christmas present to the entire world, a free remake of Master of Orion, undeniably one of the finest PC strategy games ever made and a paragon of efficient game design. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t hoist it up onto the podium along with CoE5 to share the GOTY accolade. Full disclosure: since I came across ROTP several years ago I’ve played the hell out of it, I’ve spent a long time discussing the game with the developer and he’s become a mate of ours here at eXplorminate, so please bear that in mind when I recommend it. That said, I know a good game when I see it and I won’t allow that to influence my decision.
ROTP improves on MoO in every way possible while still being essentially the same set of rules: I’m no game developer but I know enough to understand that this was no easy feat and Ray’s efforts to keep the spirit of Simtex’s original masterpiece alive are to be applauded. Small changes to the ruleset were chewed over for years, and the diplomatic game particularly is far superior to the original. The user interface improvements alone would be enough, but the new art, music, and writing all top off a fantastic game. And it’s free, so there’s absolutely no excuse not to give it a try, and even the most established of 4X games developers are recommended to examine its UI innovations carefully. Keep your eyes peeled for a review from eXplorminate soon.
Honourable Mentions: Old World and Imperiums: Alexander
Old World and Imperiums: Greek Wars – Alexander are both fantastic games. Unfortunately, I’ve barely had time for either, but I’ve played enough to understand why they work so well. I’m really not that bothered about historical 4X anymore: Soren Johnson’s masterpiece Civilization 4 was the absolute best of the Civ games and I still don’t feel like I’ve fully explored that still, despite having owned the first version when it was released way back in 2005. The sequels did nothing for me (I only bought Civ 6 because I find Sean Bean hilarious) and dodged the rather disappointing Humankind after bouncing off Amplitude’s previous titles harder than most do, but both Old World and Alexander differ in wisely constraining themselves to the classical era, allowing for an in-depth exploration of that rich and fascinating period of history.
Rob has covered Old World extensively, so I’ll just add that Mohawk has created a truly unique and engaging 4X game that shows masterful craftsmanship in blending engaging empire management, non-intrusive story elements, interesting characters, and a solid tactical combat system into a great looking, beautifully neat package. It doesn’t quite grab me like it does some of my colleagues though, and I’m not quite sure why that is yet, but at the moment I put it down to just not really having the time to properly play it. That said I recognise a good game when I see it, and I recommend you all go check it out!
Alexander might be the better game. It stands out for its resource-based economy, a finely implemented trade and diplomacy system of a quality and execution rarely seen in this genre, deep and detailed combat and supply mechanics that are more akin to a traditional wargame, and a solid AI that punishes thoughtless play and knows how to exploit gaps in the player’s defences. It is let down by its rather confusing graphics, particularly down to a badly matched colour palette, which I think is likely why we’re not seeing more people play it, but visuals alone do not a game make, and with gameplay this fun, I can entirely forgive Kube for this (who I’m sure are completely fed up of us making this point over and over). Map graphics aside (and they’re really not that bad), everything else looks great, including what I consider to be a very good user interface.
I was surprised to learn that we’ve never done a review of either this or the base game, and honestly, we are foolish for doing so because somehow we’ve missed one of the best 4X games to be released in years. I can’t help but feel that if the next iteration in the series includes clearer graphics, it could become one of the best strategy games on the market because mechanically it blows pretty much everything else in the historical 4X category out of the water. Others might disagree, and I concede that these kinds of games with complex mechanics underneath a simple presentation float my boat particularly, as regular readers will well know by now!
Caster of Magic for Windows
Caster of Magic is another game I’ve discussed extensively on our podcasts: Caster of Magic for Windows, published by Slitherine, is a bigger, better version of the original Master of Magic by Simtex, with an engine that no longer requires DOSBox and many new options to allow bigger and more customisable matches. This is another one I’ve barely had a chance to playtest in the months since release, but Seravy’s original CoM is one of the tightest mods I’ve ever played (I have many hundreds of hours in that one) and the original MoM pales in comparison: the price tag is currently so cheap as to be almost free, meaning even those old PC gaming longbeards and their endless grumbling about the monetisation of mods should be well placated, or else be cast back screaming into the warp from whence they came.
Highfleet
Aussie Shaun covered this (you might need to flip your screen vertically to read his topsy-turvy upside-down writing), but I second this recommendation with no hesitation as the man has taste. A masterclass in crafting a user interface as an essential element of gameplay, with interesting graphical effects spicing up a simple but solid combat system and the punchiest sound design I’ve had the delight to experience in years. You really have to hear Highfleet to believe it! It is also responsible for some of the better gaming memes floating around in the electronic ether, although the best of them require an ELINT to decode. Heh.
A difficult, tactically fascinating game that throws the player a whole lot of tools and then says “Go play!” before laughing hysterically as you fail hard. Just be careful with the nuclear weapons… once you pop, you can’t stop! Along with Carrier Command 2, a surprisingly good modern re-imagining of one of the first strategy games I ever played on my old ZX Spectrum 128k, Microprose has made a solid comeback!
XPiratez
Firaxis’ XCOM sucks. There, I said it.
Yeah, I can hear the boos and jeering now but I don’t care, deep down in your hearts you all know the truth of this statement. Every time you play, there’s a little voice in the back of your mind that keeps whispering “… this is bullshit!“. AAA wannabe graphics and presentation are nice but they’re glossing over a drastically dumbed-down gaming experience. The tactical system gets boring fast and the mess of a strategic layer is just appalling. No amount of skimpy pink-haired nekomimi soldier mods or Long War (who the hell wants to make that last any longer?) will ever fix that mess.
Real men who smoke pipes, chop their own wood and do other manly stuff play the original Gollop brothers classic UFO: Enemy Unknown with OpenXCOM, but if even that isn’t difficult enough for you then go check out the mind-bogglingly large OXCE mod XPiratez by developer Dioxene and prepare to read or die. In his own words, “If you absolutely can’t stand bikini babes fighting Nazis with chainsaws, you may suffer some trauma.”. Ever wanted to rescue a naked chick from a BDSM dungeon at the bottom of a brothel by sledgehammering through the wall and sending attack dogs through to maul the crackhead hookers guarding her?
Well, now you can.
Xpiratez is a colossal leviathan of a mod, too big to fully describe here. UFO had just over one hundred nodes on its tech tree: XPiratez has at least four thousand… many hundreds of weapons and armours support a rejigged action point system allowing a focus on melee-heavy combat, a well-developed story with a surprisingly coherent narrative told through the research system, and a Heavy Metal-like aesthetic blending swashbuckling pirates, 80’s pinup bimbos, anime tropes and lots of NSFW content to upset the morality police. Xpiratez also sports one of my favourite game soundtracks and has some excellent buried treasure in its references to internet lore (lookout for the “Russian Bad Advice Poems” hints and tips section). I think if this was made by someone with a less clear artistic vision it’d be as bad as it sounds, but Dioxine has made an absolute monster of a game and everything in it feels well placed.
XPiratez is one of the best games I’ve played in years, and if you can learn to enjoy the brutal difficulty there’s enough content here that you’ll basically never need to buy a video game ever again. I’m not in love with the current difficulty spike in the early game, but the famously grouchy developer is admirably resistant to making the game any easier, stating that it is intended for experts only and usually responds to such criticism by essentially saying “git gud m8”, an attitude I wholeheartedly endorse in such a project.
What will 2022 bring?
Total War: Warhammer 2 is one of my favourite games. I don’t talk about it a whole lot because it’s pretty mainstream and everybody and their dog covers it, but suffice to say I’m hugely excited for Warhammer 3, particularly as I’m a life-long Chaos player (all the way back to the good ol’ days of the late 1980s, when your local Games Workshop was staffed by tattooed bikers stinking of weed and blasting out Slayer, and when the decidedly adult Chaos Army book still had warriors, beastmen and demons all rolled into one… a far cry from the squeaky clean, corporate yawn-pit it has become now) and the new factions look to have nailed the aesthetic. Some of the new game mechanics look a bit… gamey I think is the word. I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve played it, but I honestly think that Creative Assembly will have to roll a whole string of double 1’s to mess this one up.
Blood Bowl 3… Yeah, another Games Workshop board-game conversion, but Blood Bowl is really one of the best two-player games ever made, better than chess (chess is for noobs lol)! Not looking forwards to having to buy all the teams as DLC for the third time running but I will because I’m a sucker and I expect the player-base will migrate over pretty quickly. In all fairness to developer Cyanide, the game does look fantastic, and with a new ruleset and teams there’ll be plenty for old veterans like myself to enjoy.
Distant Worlds 2 is due to release in March 2022. We can’t talk about it yet, but just know I’m as excited as you all are for its release.
Well, that’s all I’ve got. I’m not the kind of person that looks forwards to things, having long ago learned the lesson of unnecessary disappointment. Let’s see what 2022 brings!
I also lied about the rambling nonsense. I am not sorry.
Otherwise known as BATTLEMODE, Ben contributes to eXplorminate via the eXplorminate Podcast and through his excellent writing! He’s a great asset to us here at eXplorminate, and we’re happy to welcome him on board! His Shadow Empire review is known throughout the internet for its depth and incredible detail!