Recent reviews by blkbutterfly

3D Slay The Spire

The French have brought their art and craft for cinema to gaming.
It was only a matter of time, given the convergence of gaming and TV shows/movies.
Bravo to this little indie studio for pioneering this.

Hope this will inspire more indie studios in France to follow suit.

Endless Legend 2 is a narrative driven 4X.
A 4X adjacent game, IMO.
And that is a good thing.

Traditional 4X: explore, expand, exploit and exterminate is tired.
Yes, you can 4X to your hearts content but the real innovation is in Endless Legend 2's narrative and quest system.

The 5(?) factions are unique (or "asymmetrical") and have their very own narrative. Victory is also narrative driven. You can choose from a number of different narrative or quest victories. Or just eliminate everyone as you would in traditional 4X if you prefer.

But where Endless Legend 2 shines is in the narrative.

Bravo to Amplitude for producing another quality game!

Endless Legend 2 is the game I didn't know I needed on my 4X rotation.

Note: I played ~30 hrs in the Insiders programme as well.

I love the Dune movies and am a sci-fi nerd.
This is a fun game even though I'm not particularly fond of the RTS element. (I prefer turn based strategy).
That said, I was an early adopter and participated in user feedback and bug reporting, many of which were fixed by the developer.

If you like Naval gameplay then this DLC is for you. Polynesia is a must have culture for an early game navy.

A hidden gem!

The most fun since BioShock! And then some...

But the narrative is peculiar, presumably written by Marvel. The big bad is...your mum! LOL
Easier than XCOM 2, it apparently is nothing like it (besides being turn based strategy). I highly recommend playing it on a free-to-play weekend or on game passes and then pick it up on a sale (which is what I did).

Typically Firaxis, Marvel's Midnight Suns is turn based strategy just like Civ.
Because I mostly play while cooking or doing chores being able to attend to other things whilst playing is crucial and is how I am able to make time to play.

Civ V is "peak civ".

Or perhaps its successor Civilization: Beyond Earth is? IDK
Either way, with the release of Old World from Mohawk, 4X is stepping back in time. Civ V is retro as hell.
If like me you like scenarios and maps, then Civ V is vastly superior to Firaxis' followup Civ VI. Scenarios Into The Renaissance and Scramble For Africa are sublime.

As for MP, Beyond Earth and Civ VI are better games. But the single player experience in Civ V considerably more challenging.

Civ V honed the addictive "One More Turn" game play. Civ VI not so much.

HUMANKIND is a breath of fresh air!

There is a steep learning curve and arcane language that belies this deep and complex entry in 4X strategy.

Notably the mini tactical battles that if anything borrows from XCOM. (It puts Firaxis to shame for not having thought of this themselves first for Civilization). These mini game-within-a-game battles make city sieges considerably more interesting than in Civ VI.

If you were waiting around for Civ VII (that is 7!) from Firaxis+2K, then this game, though not without bugs and exploits, is definitely worth checking out. HUMANKIND is very much a next gen 4X strategy game.

Sega + Amplitude did the unthinkable: they reinvent the wheel in 4X strategy. And then some.

Bravo!

TL;DR Step aside Civilization. The new king of 4 X is here!

Amplitude did the unthinkable: it reinvents the wheel and succeeds. Bravo.

HUMANKIND is the game we all wished the studio behind the Endless series - Amplitude - would make. Now they have, finally.

IMO HUMANKIND is to Civ what Facebook was to MySpace.

Anyone who pre-ordered HUMANKIND can join the Closed Beta. I highly recommend trying it out.