Month: February 2020

After a fairly slow January for board games, things are beginning to speed up. We’ve got a delicious selection for your delectation this month. The board game releases range from raucous party games, through classic board game revamps to fresh new ideas. And we’ve got expansions to two of the very best titles from last year, a great reminder to check them out if you haven’t already.

These are all picked out of this month’s new releases with a likely-looking pedigree. So buckle in and read on for the highlights of February’s release round-up.

Board Game New Releases

In the Hall Of The Mountain King

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Optimization games are often cloaked under a drab theme, but in this one you get to be a clan of trolls, carving tunnels and statues deep beneath the earth. Players recruit new trolls to their team with a novel pyramid mechanic that can get you bonuses from existing workers. Then they’re set to work making burrows from a stack of polyominoes, adding spatial strategy to the mix. After enough delving, you score by erecting various statues to adorn your new hallways. It’s a tight, challenging mix of game elements that appeals across genres. Digging has never been more diverting.

Wavelength

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Wavelength is the latest hot party game to wow your friends and family and hobby group all alike. Divide into two teams — or one to play co-operatively — and players on each team take turns being psychic. This involves showing a card with two extremes of the same thing — say dystopia and utopia. They use the clever plastic wheel included to secretly choose a point between these two, then give a one-word clue. Their team-mates use this clue to try and match the chosen point. Wavelength has the usual fun guessing common to party games but its genius is that wheel. It allows leeway between right and wrong, giving more margin for error and keeping everyone engaged in the game.

Letterpress

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Word games are another wide crowd pleaser and Letterpress is no exception, with its smart tweaks to every stage of the formula. First, you get a hand of letter cards by draft, picking one and passing the rest on. If you win the round with a high scoring word, you get first pick of the letters used, plus a challenge letter if you’ve met the conditions, to add to your stash. Then it’s all on the fraught fifth round where you use what’s in your stash to make one final word, with the winner taking the game. This buildup of letters from round to round gives it a keen strategic edge its peers lack.

Sanctum

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From the fiery face on the box to the red and blue globes on the player board, it’s clear Sanctum is a homage to the classic video game franchise Diablo. Players advance across different areas, accumulating hordes of demons to stop and fight. Strategy comes from the clever skill and inventory system which demands tough decisions on what to upgrade and when. The rest of the game propping up that core is rather flat and repetitive, though. And it feels like a co-operative game with an awkward win condition shoehorned on at the end.

Rallyman GT

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This is a sweet revamp of 2009’s Rallyman, with all new components and rules. It’s a dice-based racing game where you go head to head around a twisting rally course you’ve built from the included pieces. Movement means rolling dice according to your current speed and using the results to plot your way around the course. You’ll need high gears to overtake your competitors but beware: hit a corner too fast and you’ll spin out of control. A risk-versus-reward game with a vicious edge to punish the overzealous, it’s a thrill ride to the finish line.

Sorcerer City

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Time pressure is becoming a more and more popular way to spice up stale genres. Sorcerer City brings the tyranny of the timer to tile laying as you compete to make the best district of a fantasy city from your stack of tiles. This isn’t just a race for points though: that’s only one reward you’re seeking as you struggle to slot your tiles together. There are other resources allowing you to buy new tiles for your stack and player order, making each round a balancing act. You also need to beware of the monster tiles that slip into your stack and cause havoc with your well- (or badly-) laid plans.

Board Game Expansions

Tiny Towns Fortune

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Tiny Towns was one of the best board games of 2019, an apparently simple and benign game of picking resources and making patterns out of them. One play revealed it as an infuriating, unforgiving, vicious game full of spatial puzzles and hate-drafting. Fortune adds a new resource — money — and building cards which use it. The catch is that you can’t pick it like other resources: it’s earned by saving cubes to make two builds at once. Cue even more spatial puzzles and hate-drafts as everyone’s town plans fill up with unfinished buildings.

Unmatched: Bruce Lee and Unmatched: Robin Hood vs Bigfoot

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• See Unmatched: Robinhood vs Bigfoot at Amazon

Unmatched is fantastic skirmish system, stripped to the bare essentials yet still full of tactics and variety. Its schtick is that it pits heroes from across time and space against each other. Bruce Lee is the latest legend to join the lineup with a snazzy sparkling base and dragon logo. His deck feels like a Kung-Fu manual, rewarding combos and sequences, a new feel for the series. Robin Hood vs Bigfoot has been out a bit longer, facing English archery against the melee might of the hairy hominid. It’s a bit more like the base set but is playable in its own right, with rules and a new board.

New Board Games on Kickstarter

Gladius

• See it on Kickstarter

Take your seats in the gladiatorial arenas of ancient Rome, and aim to walk away with the biggest purse. Gladius is a fast and furious betting game of stacking the odds in your favor. A random fight gets drawn from different events and gladiators and you’ve got to weigh up their chances and bet on the victor. Then comes the fun part where you plot, bluff, and backstab to try and influence the outcome. Already riding high on a slew of pre-publication awards, the production version boasts wonderful cartoon art.

Public Market

• See it on Kickstarter

Fish markets aren’t the most promising subject for a board game. But what stands out here is the clever recombination of standout gaming mechanics. First, there’s a classic auction where you bid for the best fishing spot. When you’ve landed your catch, you’ve got a spatial puzzle to solve to make sure you can get the lot into your frozen hold. Finally, it’s time to face the market with a challenging combination of demands to match against your haul of fish. All the parts fit neatly together into a new game in a classic mould.

Octane is such an adrenaline junkie. Granted, that’s his entire schtick–we’ve known this about the Apex Legends character since his introduction in Season 1: Wild Frontier. The dude blew off his own legs in order to gain the necessary boost of speed to beat the Gauntlet record after all. But the speed demon’s heirloom takes Octavio “Octane” Silva’s obsession with chasing the high to new extremes and acts as a reminder that the adrenaline junkie’s backstory is a sad one.

Coming to Apex Legends next week, during the System Override Collection event, Octane’s heirloom is a butterfly knife. This isn’t an ordinary blade though–the knife is filled with Stim, the drug that Octane uses to achieve his enhanced speed. And so Octane has customized the butterfly knife so that it can be used to both slash opponents and inject the drug into his own body.

While inspecting the heirloom, as seen in the video on the Apex Legends blog, Octane will dangerously twirl the butterfly knife around and then stab himself with its plunger to get the Stim into his system. He’ll stab himself just because. He doesn’t go on to use the drug to run faster either–Octane just celebrates the rush of the Stim coursing through his veins.

It’s the first time we see Octane use Stim recreationally. Both in-game and in cinematic trailers, he’s only used Stim as a means of achieving greater speed in a pinch. There have been signs that Octane is addicted to a drug for a while–when standing still on the home screen or during a match, he’ll start uncontrollably twitching–but this seems to confirm the long-held belief that the character is specifically addicted to the Stim he uses for the Apex Games, not a more traditional stimulant.

Which is kind of sad when you think about it. Octane is now such an adrenaline junkie, he needs to inject Stim into his body just to feel anything at all–it’s not enough to only use the drug to feel the rush of fighting skilled opponents during a match. When taken into consideration with his falling out with Ajay “Lifeline” Che, one of his oldest friends and perhaps the only one he’s ever had, it’s a sad reminder that even though Octane is the resident wild child of the legends, he’s also one of the few individuals in the group who’s totally alone. With no friends or family to turn to, his only joy in life comes from the Apex Games, when he can hang out with the other legends and abuse the drug he’s addicted to without judgment.

On Respawn’s part, it’s great storytelling to use an in-game item like this–providing greater context for a character who doesn’t seem all that deep at first. The developer has proven it isn’t averse to unorthodox storytelling methods when it comes to fleshing out the lore in Apex Legends, and the battle royale game is made stronger for it.

Developer Illfonic is running a trial weekend for its upcoming asymmetrical multiplayer shooter, Predator: Hunting Grounds. The trial kicks off on March 27 and runs through March 29, and will be open to Epic Games Store players and PS Plus members on PlayStation 4. There’s also cross-play support.

The trial will be available to download on March 27 at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET / 4 PM GMT. You’ll be able to play solo as the Predator, or team up online with three others as part of a human Fireteam.

Late last year, Illfonic revealed some details about the various Predator classes you’ll be able to play as in Hunting Grounds, including some of the deadly weapons you’ll wield as the galaxy’s premier killing machine. Now, the studio behind 2017’s Friday the 13th has shed some light on what it’s like to play as a gun-toting human.

Clearly, the odds are stacked against you, even if the numbers aren’t. You’re still armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weapons and gear, but the Predator is a terrifying foe. Fireteam players are given a mission to complete beyond just surviving and must face off against AI opponents as they complete key objectives as well as fend off another player hunting them as the titular monster.

Illfonic promises plenty of suspense when the relentless Predator attacks, aiming to capture the thrill of the hunt that made the original 1987 film such a hit. A key part of the Fireteam experience is deciding how you’re going to make it out of the jungle alive. Do you escape from the Predator or turn the tables and hunt it down, banding together and using your collective firepower to fend if off? Maybe you’ll use the environment and AI enemies to your advantage, or divide and conquer. The tactics and strategy for survival are up to you.

Predator: Hunting Grounds is set for release on April 24 for PlayStation 4 and PC.

Back in January, developer Frictional Games–the studio behind horror titles Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA–began teasing its next game with an abstract ARG. The studio’s official website links to a page for “Next Frictional Game,” which previously displayed little more than a pulsating white object that has now evolved into a pulsating white fetus.

This was accompanied by two unlisted teaser videos uploaded to Frictional’s YouTube channel. Fans have combed through the two cryptic videos and compiled a list of all the possible ideas and theories they have on a Google Doc found on the Frictional Games Discord. Now, the studio has released another unlisted teaser simply titled “I am Tasi.” Like the first two videos, this one doesn’t show much beyond what appears to be a (possibly alien) desert landscape. The frantic character voiceover reiterates that “I am still Tasi,” which certainly lends itself to the physiological horror the studio is known for.

Frictional announced in 2017 that it was working on two new projects, so it’s likely this is related to the previous teaser videos or concerns a completely different project altogether. The studio previously used an ARG to market SOMA, with the end result being a 12-minute gameplay trailer. SOMA was already announced at that point, though, so this latest tease definitely more intriguing.

After promising the feature even before the game launched in November 2018, DICE has announced that tank customization is finally coming to Battlefield 5 as a free update for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 4.

As part of Battlefield 5’s upcoming 6.2 update–which also includes a big weapons balance adjustment and drops next week–tank customization allows you to deck out your armored-ballistic vehicle to your heart’s content. With both Company Coin or Battlefield Currency–Battlefield 5’s two in-game money options–you can make all sorts of changes from the tank’s chassis to its turret and everything in between.

DICE will be adding 37 customization items to purchase through your Company, with “the rest of them [rotating] through [the] Armory.” Like weapons or soldier skins, the rotating items will come in a variety of rarities. More customization pieces will get added in the future, with DICE saying that “salad tanks” (i.e. “a cool feature where the foliage changes color with the skin you apply”) may be coming sometime soon.

Tank customization has been long-requested by the Battlefield 5 community. On the game’s menu, the feature had the “coming soon” tag for so long that DICE is turning it into a paint job. If you log in between March 4-24, you’ll get an Epic “coming soon” chassis for the Sherman tank. Check some of the images below.

Earlier this month, DICE tweaked Battlefield 5 a little by adjusting the tank spawn rate on Breakthrough’s first Sector. The studio said this should create a “balanced number of Tanks on the Battlefield for the Second Sector.” This adjustment came not long after Battlefield 5’s Into the Jungle update went live on all platforms.

A new Holiday Joy Fest in the Seliana Gathering Hub is taking place in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Live through March 12 and only on PC, the event includes new festive decor, new food platters, new armor and weapon pendants, and special event quests.

Each day you login, you’ll receive an event-exclusive Joyful ticket. It can be used in a variety of ways like crafting an Oolong Armor or a Lucky Crimson Tiger Pendant, and for your Palico, a Shishi-mai outfit. (You’ll need other materials as well, of course.) Players can also exchange the Joyful ticket for Melding ticket to the Elder Melder and try their luck at getting Armor Skill Decorations. Melding tickets can also be obtained by helping the Steamworks.

A rarer type of ticket, the VIP Joyful ticket, will also be available. You can come across them while helping Low Rank & High Rank hunters and during special event quests. To increase your chances of getting one, you’ll need to craft the standard Oolong Armor and wear it during the aforementioned activities.

Speaking of event quests, four more have appeared: A Chilling Entrance, Muscle Monkey Madness, Scores of Ores, and Duffel Duty. You can craft a unique gear from each, including the Sealed Dragon Cloth, Buff Body, Mad Scavenger Pickaxe, and Duffel Penguin Mask, respectively.

Netflix has announced that Killing Eve actor Kim Bodnia, will portray Vesemir in Season 2 of Netflix’s The Witcher.

“I am so thrilled to welcome Kim Bodnia to the cast of The Witcher,” series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich said. “I have admired his unique talents in shows like Killing Eve and The Bridge, and cannot wait for him to bring strength, tenacity, and warmth to the character of Vesemir, who is such an integral part of our upcoming season.”

To see Bodnia, and all of the other new and returning characters coming to The Witcher’s second season, check out the gallery below:

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Here’s how the streamer describes Vesemir in Season 2: “A charming relic of the witcher Golden Age, Vesemir is the oldest and most experienced witcher in our series, as well as a father figure to Geralt. As one of the survivors of The Massacre at Kaer Morhen, a haunting slaughter that nearly exterminated the Witchers, he is fiercely protective of the remaining few, who he sees as an endangered community who can find glory on ‘the Path’ to slaying monsters.”

Before Bodnia’s casting announcement, there was a social media frenzy about the possibility of iconic Star Wars actor Mark Hamill portraying the elder Witcher. Back in January 2020, IGN spoke to Hissrich about Hamill’s interest in the project and the fan reaction around it. “Mark has always been of interest to me and interest to the project,” Hissrich told IGN. “We have not contacted his agent yet because we’re not casting the role quite yet, but that being said, I am loving what’s happening on the internet. And I’m loving all of the fan reaction to it. Obviously, we’ve seen what a huge fanbase The Witcher has, and to add that to a Star Wars fanbase… it makes my mind explode a little bit.”

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Season 2 of The Witcher will premiere in 2021, but if you want to see Bodnia sooner than that, be sure to check him out in Killing Eve and the upcoming Netflix fantasy series, The Letter for the King. What do you think of the casting? Let us know in the comments below.

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David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He’s also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.