The strategy gaming scene continues to buzz with activity this week, featuring several notable releases, community developments, and industry moves that have players talking.
Game Releases and Updates
In the space 4X genre, Astro Protocol has hit its 1.0 release milestone. The game has been generating positive buzz in the community, with notable strategy content creator, and all round nice guy, DasTactic recently streaming gameplay for his audience. But we were first! This is easily our game of the month. Keep going Zeikko!
King’s Bounty: Legend is receiving a remaster, 1C Entertainment announced via Steam. The beloved tactical RPG from 2008 will get a fresh coat of paint for modern systems, though specific details about improvements and release timing remain under wraps.
Age of Wonders 4 fans have something to look forward to as developer Triumph Studios announced the release date for the upcoming “Rise from Ruin” expansion. The announcement adds to the game’s growing – potentially never ending – post-launch content library. There are some very interesting changes afoot! What are you looking forward to the msot – Rabbit/Hare form, or the movement revamp?
For players interested in trying before buying, both Atre Dominance Wars and Civirevival now offer playable demos on their respective platforms. Caveat, Civi defaults to Chinese, so you have an additional challenge when playing the game. Both games have cool premises though, definitely worth a look.
Meanwhile, Disciples: Domination has officially launched. Early reviews are trickling in as players dive into the latest entry in the venerable turn-based strategy series. Early impressions are that it is very much more of the same as the preceding game.
The real-time strategy community hasn’t been left out either, with Dawn of War 4 entering another closed alpha testing phase. Community member Shake_Vivid is in the closed beta, and his reports are favourable, and NDA friendly.
Space sim enthusiasts should keep an eye on Astrox Imperium on Steam, which continues to receive updates and improvements. Game is not dead, still looks interesting.
Thanks to Sidius in the community for making me aware of Masters of Albion. It is a god game with something extra. It is being developed by some newbie called Peter Molyneux.
Fall of an Empire continues to draw my interest, this time with a dev diary on Diplomacy and Wars. Release is imminent, stay tuned.
Lastly, how could we not say something about Mewgenics? The above image says it all really. Our resident King of Tactics games, Doubt, is very enamoured of Mewgenics.
Community and Industry News
The eXplorminate database link has been restored after a period of downtime. We encourage community members with game suggestions to reach out directly for additions to their comprehensive strategy gaming database. Yes, that means you!
A more controversial development comes from Discord’s implementation of facial scanning technology for age verification purposes. This move raises questions about whether other gaming platforms like Steam, Epic, or GOG might follow suit with similar measures. Will we as a collective use the same fake image to bypass the filter? Is it maybe time to find a Discord alternative? Is there even such a thing?
DreamHack Birmingham has been officially announced, giving UK-based strategy fans another opportunity to connect with the community at a major gaming event. There is a slight chance eXplorminate will be in attendance, as fans.
The eXplorminate team has received an invitation to appear on Turn Based Thursday, though we’re still deciding which games to showcase for the stream. We get 3 games, and right now those are likely to be Age of Wonders 4, Old World and Astro Protocol.
In hardware news, OMEN has launched a gaming PC subscription service with monthly payment plans. The rent-to-play model bears similarities to car rental services, offering an alternative to outright purchasing expensive gaming rigs. Is it worth it though? Benign, or another step on the road to renting your entire life and owning nothing?
Finally, Stardock Entertainment has announced Clairvoyance, their entry into AI-assisted game development tools. The name – “clairvoyance” has connotations of seeing beyond Human senses, of knowing everything. I find it a bit creepy to be honest. But, like the mixed up Human I am, I have signed up to the waitlist!
Community Discussion
We are soliciting community input on a fundamental question:
What does “eXploration” mean in the context of 4X games?
As one of the four pillars of the genre (alongside eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate), exploration mechanics vary wildly between titles, and the team is curious about what players value most in this aspect of strategy gaming.
eXploration is the subject of our next podcast, to be recorded soon. If any developer wants to jump onto this podcast, please email explorminate@gmail.com
Did we miss anything this fortnight? Be sure to let us know in the comments below if weâve missed an important news item!
Want to write for us? Have a game or two that you love to keep tabs on? Let us know! eXplorminate@gmail.com
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