Moving back to a twice-a-month format, as many weeks are a bit light on news. Plus, with Rob’s recent health issues, this has been a bit harder to keep up with.
A Fortnight of News:
Paradox Interactive announced the release date of their upcoming Stellaris DLC, “Nemesis”, giving it the go-ahead on April 15th, alongside the free patch to version 3.0. Less than a month from now, you’ll be able to dive into the new intelligence system, greet aliens in a new, mysterious way, handle population differently, and much, much more. They’ve given the new content the Paradox Stream treatment here: Paradox Twitch Stream
Speaking of Paradox, they’ve also unveiled a subscription service for all the DLC to Europa Universalis. Who didn’t see that coming?
GPawley Games and Iceberg Interactive released Star Dynasties into Early Access and it’s off to an okay start. It sat at “Mixed” on Steam for far too long before rising to “Positive” in the days after. Rob played it a bit on the YouTube channel and was impressed with the user interface and general flow of the game, but began to feel that there wasn’t enough content, too much drama (yes, things were happening a little too fast), and not enough direction. Since it’s in Early Access, and Glen of GPawley Games is extremely responsive, we think these issues will be worked out before release. In case you missed it, here’s Rob’s short video series:
Arcen Games continues to improve its beta of AI War 2. More balance changes, more bugs fixed, more fine tuning, and more preparation for the next DLC were all in order. Rob has a Let’s Play going that starts after the initial tutorial videos that he created here:
HeroCraft Games wrote a dev diary on changes planned to their combat system for Revival: Recolonization. Evidently, based on feedback in their closed alpha (you can sign up to play here), these changes are meant to make the combat “more akin to chess, with the movement and placement of units having a far greater impact on battles.” The changes sound great and you can read more about them here.
Shiro Games released what they call their “biggest patch yet” for Northgard, a game that we haven’t quite given enough air-time to. Hopefully, we change that soon. We’ll see if we can pester Shaun into writing a review of it. Until then you can check out the lengthy changelog here.
Firaxis Games has unveiled the contents of the final bit of content for their season pass of Civilization VI. With the final DLC, they’re adding zombies, of all things, and releasing a new faction, Portugal. They haven’t yet released more information on what the zombie gameplay will entail, but they did provide an in-depth look at what Portugal, and its leader, João III, will be about. You can check that out here:
Mohawk Games continues to plug away at Old World, reaching v0.1.48605 Test (03/22/2021). The changelog, found here, shows many balance changes, art additions, UI upgrades, and as usual, more events. The biggest highlight of the build appears to be new music tracks being added (we’ve heard them and they’re great).
By the way, if you’re considering purchasing Old World, or any other game on the Epic Games Store, for that matter, please use the Creator Code “EXPLORMINATE” at the checkout. That will help us reach our funding goals and keep this ship afloat. Thank you!!
Relic Entertainment unveiled an event on April 10th where they will begin peeling back the curtains on the upcoming Age of Empires 4. To say we’re excited to see more of this very promising title is an understatement of grand proportions. Set your calendars!
Despite being hard at work on Stellar Monarch 2, Silver Lemur Games patched the original Stellar Monarch to v1.46. It’s a bit light on bugfixes and content, but you have to give them credit for continuing support on the original, even while actively working on the sequel.
VRDesigns began promoting an amazing mod for Shadow Empire which gives the strategem cards a whole new look (a much, much better look, in our humble opinions). We’ve already made a donation to the modder and picked up the pack ourselves. They look fantastic! Here’s hoping that Pymous, the mod’s author, keeps working to improve the look of Shadow Empire!
Modern Wolf and Little Red Dog Games released the strange, unique, and surprisingly fun strategy/rogue-lite hybrid, Rogue State Revolution. The game is set in a fictional Middle-East setting, where the player attempts to restore order to Basenji. It’s equal parts interesting and bat-shit crazy and even features Full Motion Video (FMV) that will remind you of the old Command and Conquer or Red Alert games. Check out this trailer and see for yourself just how bonkers Rogue State Revolution is:
And if you’re intrigued by that, be sure to watch Rob’s Let’s eXplore of Rogue State Revolution here. We’ll have a review for it in the coming weeks, too.
And finally, Nepos Games revealed that v1.1 of Nebuchadnezzar will be coming soon to a PC near you. The update promises to provide a sandbox mode and scenario maps, “taxes and wages”, and “clickable walkers with voice overs”. Sounds good to us. Have you read our review of Nebuchadnezzar? You should.
Anything we missed? Be sure to let us know below! eXplorminate members are hard at work on some great features, coming soon. We have a review of Troy: A Total War Saga coming soon, a reexamination of Civilization 6 that’s nearly complete, a review of Black Legend, and much more, so stay tuned! In the meantime, come join our Discord server or Steam Group and speak with like-minded fans of these great games!
Also, be advised that at some point in the near future, eXplorminate will have to go offline for a few days as we update our backend and upgrade our servers. We’ll provide more information on that as we get closer! We are currently raising money for that on Ko-Fi. Please consider donating here:
