Becastled Preview
I am starting to really like castle defending RTS games: the gameplay loop is fun and immensely satisfying when the defenses I have meticulously placed repels a terrifying force trying to wipe me from existence. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw another recent castle defending game right after I finished reviewing Stronghold: Warlords. […]
City of Gangsters Preview
City of Gangsters is a turn-based mafia management game set in the U.S. during the time of prohibition. The game focuses on the relationships between the people who live in a single city, influencing each other and the player. By treating people you meet with respect and trading with them, you gain useful favours that […]
Fabled Lands Early Access Preview
Fabled Lands, by Prime Games, is a tactical turn-based RPG based on the Fabled Lands gamebooks released in the 1980s and again in the 2010s. In it you operate as a lone character who explores and pursues quests in a dangerous but still familiar fantasy setting. The player takes the role of a new traveler […]
Star Zeal Preview
Star Zeal, a Look Ahead It’s hard to find something new in today’s 4X games. After all, the genre has been around longer than many of you reading this. This holds especially true for space-based 4X games, as sometimes they seem to be just clones of each other. But there may be something different on […]
Ratropolis Preview
So here I am playing this cute little Redwall-esque, zombie, rogue-lite, tower defense, city building card game, that I never would have seen myself playing. Rouge-lite card game? Meh, I did not fall for the Slay the Spire craze. 2D art style? I want my pretty 3D! Zombies? Is there a more tired trope in […]
Trials of Fire Preview
This week’s Less eXplored game is Trials of Fire. Trials of Fire (ToF) is a narrative-driven, turn-based roguelike with card-based combat. It’s set in a post-cataclysmic world where your party of heroes is tasked with surviving the desolate wastelands in order to make a positive impact on an increasingly bleak world. In your search of […]
Empires in Ruins EA Review
Empires in Ruins is an early access release that bills itself as a fusion of 4X strategy and Tower defence. While I’m not claiming to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the two genres, I’d be happy to wager that this is the first time this has been attempted. Before I get into the details of […]
Interstellar Space: Genesis Q&A
Explorminate has made a conscious effort to reach out to as many of 4X studios as possible to find out more about their projects through a series of Q&A’s. That series continues today with Praxis Games and their upcoming title Interstellar Space: Genesis. Could you start by telling us about your team? The development team […]
An eXclusive: Research in Distant Worlds 2
Distant Worlds 2, by developer Code Force and published by Matrix Games/Slitherine is the well-anticipated sequel to a title the staff at eXplorminate recently voted “The Best 4X Game Ever Made”, or words to that effect. Distant Worlds: Universe was an incredibly ambitious real-time space 4X game with a huge scope and a solid execution: […]
The Pegasus Expedition Early Access eXamination
The Pegasus Expedition is a narrative-driven strategy game with a strong emphasis on fleet combat. The story it attempts to tell is a classic space opera, exploring themes likely familiar to science fiction fans, projected through the collective lens of a cast of characters with each reflecting their own unique worldview onto the narrative. The […]