Competitive games with low interaction
SpaceCorp is a game of exploration, expansion, and exploiting the precious resources found on other planets and asteroids. In fact, I guess you could call it a 3X game, instead of a 4X, as there's not much in the way of extermination going on.
Cogito Ergo Meeple are the brains behind the Philosophia titles Dare To Be Wise and Floating World, and the upcoming Sci-fi epic, Solar 175. I had the chance to grab some time with them to ask a few questions about the team, their games, and their taste in biscuits.
If you've read The Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights) collection of stories, you might be familiar with the fate of the sultan's bride, Scheherazade. In Almadi, rather than kill her as he intended to, the sultan is won over by her tales, and decides to build her her own realm - Almadi.
The word canopy conjures up three images for me. Parachutes, rainforests, and misheard hors d'ouevres. Canopy in this instance is about the one in the middle - rainforests.
Anno 1800 has made the transition across the ethereal planes between digital and physical, and thanks to Martin Wallace and Kosmos Games, we can now play it on a table
Ahau: Rulers of Yucatan takes the Maya civilisation as its inspiration, delivering a Euro game mixture of area influence and engine-building. During the game you'll be expanding your city state, building pyramids, and if push comes to shove, asking the gods for a helping hand
You play as entrepreneurs who have bought derelict space stations, and aim to turn them into the swankiest holiday resorts in the cosmos. This isn't your Airbnb style holiday, think about it more like Space Vegas. (note to self - trademark 'Space Vegas', it sounds awesome)
"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?". Why yes, yes I do Harry Callahan. It's a good thing too, as push-your-luck is one of my favourite things in a game.
Holidays, as I understand it, are coming. As I write this, Christmas is barrelling down on us like a festive red-and-white juggernaut, and it's the time of year when families reach for games. If your experience of games at gatherings can be summed-up with Charades and Pictionary, you might be pleased to know that there are loads more to choose from.
Roll-and-write games are bigger now than they've ever been. The runaway success of games like Railroad Ink and Ganz Schön Clever paved the way for more ambitious, complex games like Hadrian's Wall. There are plenty of games out to the gap between those light and heavy titles, and Rolling Realms is one of the latest.