A Hat in Time Review

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Release Date: December 5, 2017 (PS4)
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Mac
Developer: Gears for Breakfast
Price: $29.99

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In A Hat In Time players play as Hat Girl, a top hat wearing child captaining her own ship from world to world on her own. As the game starts, you encounter a bald mafia man knocking on the outside of your windshield and demanding you pay a toll for occupying his planet’s airspace. When you refuse, he smashes the window, sending you, along with 40 hourglasses that power your ship, falling towards the planet.  To make it back home, she must venture down to the surface and collect all the time she lost. Naturally, the only way to survive the planet's strange locales is to utilize a bottomless collection of flashy headwear.

Stages come in the form of different planets, floating across the universe, waiting to be unlocked with timepieces. Hat Girl’s spaceship is filled with cuddly toys, pillows, and even a Roomba. Jumping on the latter unlocks a trophy, highlighting one of the many excellent touches A Hat in Time hides across its charming world. The hub area is filled with nifty secrets, many of which are discovered naturally once you unlock new hats.

Along with collecting the hourglasses needed to power your ship, you can also collect balls of yarn.  These balls of yarn are used to craft different types of hats that can be used in many ways.  You’ll only craft a small range of hats throughout A Hat in Time, but the number of ways they can be used are vast. Whether it’s a hat that gives you the ability to sprint or see into the nether realm, platforming and puzzles are engineered to make you think both fast and outside the box.  Gaining different abilities using these hats made me want to go back to previous levels to explore for more hidden goodies.

Visually, A Hat in Time looks wonderful and the controls are smooth, for the most part.  However, my one main gripe is that the camera can be unpredictable from time to time, making some platforming elements difficult and frustrating.  The main levels are fairly easy to get around and enemies are easy to defeat.  The boss battles are a lot of fun and each one is different.  While they are not difficult, each boss battle takes some thinking to figure out the best way to defeat the boss.  Again, each hat you craft can help you defeat these bosses in different ways. 

Overall, A Hat in Time gives off a Super Mario 64 vibe and is a very fun platformer collect-a-thon.  There is a lot to explore and collect, levels are a decent difficulty and each boss scene is fun and unique.  I found myself using the different hats I crafted to explore as much as possible and reach areas that I thought weren’t possible before obtaining certain hats.  

Pros

• Lots of collectibles to find with many ways to explore the world.
• Visually fantastic
• Boss battles are fun and unique

Cons

• Camera can be very unpredictable

Thank you to Gears for Breakfast for providing a review code.  This review was done on the PS4 version of the game.

Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic Review (Xbox One)

Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic by developer Bitfather is a turn-based action game that reminds me of a mix between the original Dragon Warrior and Oregon Trail.  It succeeds in satisfying nostalgic yearnings, but still leaves a few things to be desired.

In Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic, you begin your adventure in a pub where you must assemble a party of three adventurers from seven unique classes. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, which are of the standard RPG tropes of Strength, Dexterity, Faith, Life, and Intelligence. Additionally, each class has two specific skills that can turn the tide of any battle. There are a lot of characters to choose from, which is a really nice feature. Initially, these character options are limited to a handful, but through the course of play you'll unlock 30 unique characters, each with their own skills, strengths, and weaknesses. This massive amount of variety and options are a huge bonus to the game's replayability, and you will do a lot of replaying.

After getting your team together, you will set out to complete three different adventures that get progressively more difficult. Within each adventure, you will encounter six randomized dungeons. After completing these six dungeons, you will come to a "final" dungeon for the adventure. Beating the final dungeon will unlock the next adventure difficulty.

Each dungeon has its own unique style.  Figuring out a dungeon's weaknesses while defending against its’ strengths is can be very difficult.  There are 16 different status effects and four different elements at play within Pixel Heroes.  Knowing the weakness and strengths of each dungeon and being able to defend and attack against those is the biggest challenge within the game.

Being able to gear up your party is the most important part of the game.  Unfortunately, there is no inventory stash of any kind to keep items. As you move on from dungeon to dungeon, you'll almost certainly have to re-gear your party from scratch with either found loot or items and spells purchased in town between dungeons. It’s really frustrating when you have to discard a weapon or some sort of equipment because you know it won’t be of any use during the next dungeon, only to need it at the following dungeon after that.  Some kind of a stash at towns between dungeons or something would have been great.

The controls in Pixel Heroes are very simple and straight-forward, which you would expect in this type of game.  However, while the UI is pretty basic, I found it to be very hard to navigate and understand what I was doing.  The game features no instructions on how to use the UI and it took me awhile to get a basic understanding on how to equip and unequip items, as well as what these items do. It also took me awhile to figure out how to get rid of items and which items I need and didn’t need.  Since you're not allowed to advance to the next room in a dungeon if you're overburdened, this took some time to figure out.  While the controls are simple, not all of the buttons are used.  It would have been nice if there were buttons to do the simple tasks, such as throwing away items or equipping.  A tutorial or built-in instructions would have been helpful as well.  

The combat in Pixel Heroes is pretty good.  During each battle your three heroes go up against three enemies. Only one hero and one enemy may act each turn. After each turn, the hero/enemy must then rest the next turn. This makes for a nice, tactical experience. Each hero is limited to two attack actions and two special skills that have cooldowns that can last for multiple battles. While this may seem like a downside to some, it makes preparation for each dungeon even more important.  When a hero dies in battle, their ghost follows along with the team for the remainder of the dungeon. If you complete the dungeon and get back to town, you will have the option to resurrect your fallen heroes. If all of your heroes die in a dungeon, your adventure ends, and your heroes get buried in the Graveyard, which you're able to visit from the main menu.

Overall, Pixel Heroes is a successful blending of that classic, turn-based RPG gameplay with a modern, rogue-like twist. The UI, lack of a "stash" feature, and lack of general instruction are my biggest gripes, but the combat system and deep replayability make up for those gripes.

3/5

Rise and Shine Review (Xbox One)

Rise and Shine is a side-scrolling platformer/action game, published by Adult Swim Games, with a comic book art style and (sometimes) brutal gameplay.  Players play as Rise, a little guy who’s thrown into a war between humans and aliens on his home planet of Gamearth. After a brief encounter with a giant robot, you wake up in a mall filled with chaos and destruction. There you meet a guy who gives you a gun named Shine. Shine is no ordinary gun, Shine is a revolver that has special abilities such as a homing system, and a range of different types of bullets. After getting out of the mall, you embark on a constant mix of firing Shine, manipulating his bullets and contemplating your next move.

The control system is fairly basic, but can be a little wonky at times. Players move with the left stick, jump with A, hide behind cover with B, very simple controls.  Shooting is done by bringing up the aiming reticle by holding the left trigger, using the right stick to aim and pressing the right trigger to shoot.  The left bumper is used to change gun enhancements and the right bumper is used to change bullet types.  These enhancements and bullet types have different uses throughout the game.

Gameplay-wise, Rise and Shine is really difficult at many points, but it is fun enough to keep players engaged and wanting to get through the tough parts.  One of the main things that makes the game so difficult is that, for the most part, it takes only one enemy bullet or strike to kill you.  Thankfully, you restart at the closest checkpoint, which are abundant enough to keep you from having to go back too far in a level.

Rise and Shine incorporates a lot of puzzle mechanics in its campaign, which really helps keep the game entertaining.  For example, you’ll come up against a door that won’t open, but by selecting the homing bullet, you can use it to move through tight gaps and past unsuspecting gun turrets to blow up the generator.

The artwork in Rise and Shine is very, very  good. There’s a rich palette of color, plenty of variety in each scene, and a real attention to detail. From the beginning of a stage to the end, nothing seems to repeat itself.  There is a lot of over the top violence and gore, especially for the comic-book style artwork.  There is lots of blood, as well as heads and other body parts rolling around.  This caught me off-guard at first, but is actually pretty cool.  

Overall, Rise and Shine is a really fun game.  It is very fast paced and keeps you on your toes and thinking both at the same time.  The puzzles really help save the game from being a boring side-scroller.  

3/5

Small Radios Big Televisions Review (PS4)

Small Radios Big Televisions, developed by Fire Face and published by Adult Swim Games, is an adventure puzzler that takes place in a series of buildings, each with multiple doors to alternate areas that only become apparent through exploration. Players move through a series of closed doors in each building by clicking around, with the goal being to navigate through each area fully before moving on. In order to open certain doors, players will need to find gems that are obtained from cassette tapes scattered around each building.  Each cassette tape transports players to a different world based upon the title of the cassette.  These tapes contain all different types of worlds, including a beachfront area and visualizer type scenes, with each becoming even more bizarre when run through magnets hidden around each stage. Moving around a given building is never difficult, often feeling more relaxing than challenging.

The puzzles in Small Radios BIg Televisions are fairly simple and the game can be quite relaxing.  Some of the more in depth puzzles will require you to block light to kill door-blocking weeds or collect missing parts to complete a machine, but these won’t hurt your head. Flowing through buildings in a seamless, smooth manner is what makes Small Radios Big Televisions so mesmerizing and relaxing, so the fact that the vast majority of gamers probably won’t ever find themselves stuck is a good thing.  

While the game is relaxing and flows smoothly, there is no real story or plot to why you are navigating through these buildings.  This is probably the biggest weak point of the game.  As far as the little story you do get, after clearing out a given stage, there is a brief cutscene between two off-screen voices. It’s interesting to hear tales of how the same tapes that hold the keys to unlocking factory doors have also corrupted people, but it’s almost the equivalent of a game about war not including details of why the war is occurring. Being such a short game, it would be much better with more detailed narratives.  

The graphics and sound in Small Radios Big Televisions are the strong points of the game.  The graphics are great for this type of game and make the relaxation even better.  The developers incorporated a great combination of 2D and 3D visuals and having graffiti on a wall of a building mocking you by saying that you will never solve the puzzle ahead of you really immerses you in the environment.  The soundtrack of the game is very tranquil and does a great job immersing you in the game as well.

Overall, Small Radios Big Televisions is a decent adventure/puzzle indie game.  It is fairly short, roughly 2 hours, which may be a good thing.  It is a fun game while it lasts, and a good starting point for what may come in the future of the genre.  You can purchase Small Radios Big Televisions for $11.99 on the Playstation Store.  It is also available for PC on Steam for the same price.

3/5

Blood Bowl 2 Review (PS4)

Blood Bowl 2 is a clever mixture of Warhammer’s board game fantasy universe and the basic structure of American football that features violence and humour. Instead of being a live-action type of football game, it’s a turn-based strategy type game. Like traditional American football, an offense consisting of 11 players uses coordinated plays (and some trickery) to move a ball into the opposition’s goal, while the opposition does everything it can to stop their progress and gain control of the ball.

Unlike American football games, Blood Bowl 2 plays like a board game on the gridiron with a heavy reliance on luck, since important movements are followed up with a six-sided dice roll. A single game consists of 16 turns. During a single turn, you, as the team’s coach, position and interact with each of your 11 players. Each player gets one move, in which they can re-position, block, or pass the ball. When you finish issuing orders or when a player fails an action, your turn ends. The success of almost every move depends on two things: your players’ stats against the stats of the opposing player, and the outcome of the dice roll. At certain times the game may feel like it is totally random and luck based, but once you get the hang of it you realize the game is good at calculating what actions are more likely to succeed or fail based on the situation.  With that said, even when you perform actions that seem to be a lock to succeed, they can fail miserably.  You can have a wide open receiver have a pass slip right through his claws, or have a player running free to the end zone and slip and fall a step short of the goal line.

The graphics in the game are great.  Players have a great amount of detail and are very animated when they interact with another player.  Although these animations are great, after a while they seem to slow the game down.  

The single-player campaign is where the game lacks.  It feels more like a challenging tutorial than anything else.  It does a good job at teaching new players how to play the game and brings in new concepts each game.  This is a good approach for a tutorial, but doesn’t give experienced players anything to look forward to.

Multiplayer with friends or a good opponent that won’t quit is a great time.  I can’t think of the last time I had a better time playing a strategy type game.  With that said, I have had a hard time finding good players online that won’t quit a few turns into the game if things don’t go their way right off the kick-off.

Overall, Blood Bowl 2 is a great strategy, turn-based football game.  A better single-player experience would be nice, but the multiplayer makes up for it, as long as you can find good players.

Score 3 out of 5

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Giana Sisters: Dream Runners Review (PS4)

Giana Sisters: Dream Runners is a fast-paced, head-to-head platformer for up to four players developed by Black Forest Games.  The game pits up to four players (or AI opponents) against each other in a looping stage, in local and online competition, speed-running for the finish in an effort to push each other off the screen with the help of boosters and power-ups.  The layout of the level can also be changed by running through “Dreamgates”.  When one player is eliminated, the remaining players have 30 seconds to survive and whoever is in the lead after those 30 seconds wins.  Winning a round gets you a star and winning 3 stars wins the game.

The art style in Gianna Sisters: Dream Runners is very colorful and unique.  There are 9 different stages to choose from and each has its own setting, ranging from sandy desert to snow and ice covered stages.  The sounds and music are a little generic, but fit the game.

Gameplay and controls are pretty simple and self explanatory.  The first stage in the game is also a sort of tutorial in which overlays pop ups at certain points of the stage that explain the controls of the game as well as what the powerups do and how to use them.  After running through a few stages, the controls became pretty easy to handle.  

While Gianna Sisters: Dream Runners is a pretty simple game, it can be a lot of fun with the right people.  I tried multiple times to play online, but had problems finding players quite often.  The real fun was had with local multiplayer.  My family (2 young children and my girlfriend) all really enjoy playing through all the levels when we have “game night” at our house.  When you don’t have 3 other people to play with locally, you can sub in up to 3 AI opponents as well.

Score 3 out of 5

It is a lot of fun with family and friends in short sessions, but gets a little repetitive and boring after playing through the stages once or twice.    

Airscape: The Fall of Gravity Review (PC)

Airscape: The Fall of Gravity is a fast-paced, gravity-shifting, action platformer about a deep-sea octopus who has been kidnapped by a mechanical alien race.  Players control an Octopus  on an adventure to save it's family from the clutches of the motorized menace.  Jump, dodge, and swim through an environment full of floating islands, water formations, and robotic terrors where the laws of gravity do not apply.

The gameplay in Airscape: The Fall of Gravity is what you would expect from your casual platformer, the only difference being gravity, or lack thereof in some cases.  Each environment has its own form of gravity.  In most platformers, you move left and right while jumping and dodging your way through the levels.  In Airscape: The Fall of Gravity, you will find yourself moving left and right, as well as up and down.  The beginning levels are pretty easy and give you a good feel for the controls, but progressively get more and more difficult as you make your way through the 60+ levels.  

Since you are constantly moving up, down, left and right, the camera in the game moves so that your character is always standing “upright”.  This causes the screen to rotate and shake quite a bit. If you are like me and tend to get motion sickness from games that rotate or move a lot, this game may cause some sickness.  Unfortunately, I am one of those people and I did have to take breaks while playing in order to settle my stomach.

Visually, the game looks amazing.  The colors and art style of the characters and environments look great.  There are lots of bright colors that jump out and the style of the darker levels do a great job of making the level feel just that, dark.  The sounds and music in the game fit the game perfectly.

The controls are very simple and feel perfect when playing.  The level design is great as well, and if you find yourself dying a lot, it is because you messed up and not because of level design or controls.  The game may start out fairly easy, but becomes more of a challenge the further you get, which is a big plus.  I found myself having a hard time with quite a few levels, but always found myself trying over and over.

Score: 4 out of 5.

It is well worth the $9.99 price tag on Steam and there is also a demo available for anyone that is still trying to decide on purchasing.  It is one of the best platformers I've played in awhile, just wish it didn’t give me so much motion sickness...

Anna's Quest Review (PC)

Anna’s Quest is a point-and-click adventure game by Daedalic Entertainment. In Anna’s Quest, Anna, the main character in the story, goes on a quest to find a cure for her grandfather’s illness. What makes this quest special is that Anna has led a very sheltered life with her grandfather and barely knows what creatures linger outside her home. Anna’s love for her grandfather drives her to leave the safety of her home and venture out to find the needed cure for him. Unfortunately, she hits her first roadblock right away as a witch, named Winfriede, kidnaps her and performs an experiment on her. This experiment gives Anna the power of telekinesis, which serves as a unique and key feature throughout the game.

While Anna’s Quest’s foundation is of the classic point & click adventure, the various elements are what make the game unique. You’ll explore the world by inspecting the environment, solving puzzles, and using your newfound telekinesis to overcome the various obstacles you encounter throughout the game. Interacting with other characters to form friendships while you gain more information, or even to obtain an ally, are ways that the world of Anna’s Quest can expand. Through the various exploration methods, deeper messages behind the story start to unfold that not you would expect. You’ll also gather items to combine with one another, use in the environment, or fulfill requirements to get you one step closer to obtaining a cure for Anna’s grandfather.

At times the game does get tricky, so expect a challenge from time to time. There are many times you will need to combine certain items you wouldn’t normally expect to combine, or use specific items on things in the environment that you normally wouldn’t. Although the main focus of Anna’s Quest is its unique and compelling story, characters, and atmosphere, it's gameplay is very good. It may be viewed as quite basic, but it does feel very fitting as a package with how the game is presented. The dialogue is straightforward, easy to understand, and conveys what it wants to in a fairly simple and concise manner. In addition, when conversing with other characters, you have choices between certain questions or inquiries that Anna can ask about important information needed or to learn other mysteries within the world of Anna’s Quest.

The art style in Anna’s Quest is simple, yet looks great and fits it's dialogue and presentation perfectly. Even with its simplicity it is capable of expressing each character’s personality very nicely. The voice acting in Anna’s Quest is very good as well, with different accents and styles for each character.

Anna’s Quest is your classic point-and-click adventure game, but mixes in it's own art style, and environment. Any fan of point-and-click games will enjoy Anna’s Quest, no doubt about it. I’m not a huge fan of point-and-click adventures, but found Anna’s Quest to be a great game. The unique story and puzzles will keep players coming back for more.  It is currently $19.99 on Steam and worth every penny.

Score: 4 out of 5

Poly Bridge Review (Early Access PC)

Poly Bridge by Dry Cactus is a bridge building simulation Early Access PC game available on Steam in which the player’s objective is to build a bridge stable enough to support multiple types of vehicles while staying under budget and suiting the needs for different factors, such as ships that may need to pass under the bridge. Players can choose from a variety of different materials such as wood, steel, cable, and hydraulic pistons and must take into account the weight of the various vehicles, the max joint stress of different parts of your bridge and your budget for the level.

Gameplay in Poly Bridge is pretty simple and the game is fairly easy to navigate.  There is a tutorial available to help get you through getting started, if needed, but I was able to figure things out rather quickly without needing the tutorial.  There are also helpful tools, such as the ability to reveal the high and low stress points of your bridge.  There is a campaign mode where players must solve puzzle-type levels by building bridges that have the capability of getting vehicles from point A to point B.  The levels in campaign mode start off fairly easy and plain but get more difficult and interesting as you go along.  I didn’t find any of the levels too difficult, but found myself going back and playing some of the levels multiple times to try out different designs and ideas.  There is also a Sandbox mode in which you can create your own levels and have fun trying out any design or idea you can come up with.  I found myself spending quite a bit of time in Sandbox mode just playing around and creating levels with anything from simple bridges to multiple suspended bridges.  It is a lot of fun coming up with all kinds of crazy bridges and seeing what they are capable of doing.  

The visuals in Poly Bridge look nice and are what you would expect in a bridge building simulation game.  Building is done using a 2D dotted line map.  This is where players select and place the materials they wish to build the bridge out of, along with any other features they would like to add.  The rest of the game is in a 3D type environment which shows the cars, land and water features and of course, your bridge.  The graphics in this environment work great for the type of game Poly Bridge is.  Stunning, life-like visuals aren’t necessary for this type of game and the cartoony style graphics fit the game very well.  

I have played a few bridge building games in the past and was pretty skeptical about Poly Bridge before playing it.  Being an Early Access game, there are a few minor bugs that I ran into while playing, but they were nothing bad enough to really effect the gameplay and the developers at Dry Cactus have been doing a great job at working on and fixing bugs and responding to the Steam community.  It is an addicting game that keeps improving and is well worth the $11.99 on Steam.

Score: 3 out of 5

Dirt Rally Review (Early Access PC)

Dirt Rally, from Codemasters, is an early-access Steam game that returns to an authentic and dangerous off-road racing experience.  Currently, the game has four massive environments and 38 challenging stages. You can drive them during the day or night, along with different weather conditions, such as dry, overcast, sunny, misty, wet, rainy and snowy. Dirt Rally also currently has 20 cars you can drive, from old to new, each which handle and drive differently.  Codemasters plans on releasing more cars and tracks as the game develops.

Dirt Rally also features a few different types of events for players to participate in, such as Rally Championships, Rally Async and custom Rally Events.  The game also features a great team management system where you can hire up to four engineering staff to work on your vehicle between stages.  The car upgrade system is also a great feature where your engineers will become more familiar with your cars the more you drive them and will research upgrades that will unlock the full potential of the car.

The gameplay and physics in Dirt Rally are amazing.  The game is a straight-forward simulation style drift racing game.  There are no over-the-top stunts or bonus points for long drifts.  Codemasters has done a great job so far of creating an emotionally-charged game.  You feel the intensity of every sharp corner as you hug the edge of the turn and do everything you can to keep the car from falling off the cliff while tearing through the track as fast as you can.  Every car has a different feel to it and each car can take some time getting used to.  The controls in the game feel very realistic and fluid.  I used an Xbox 360 controller for the most part while playing and it worked very well.  This is one of the few racing games out that has made me want to go out and buy a racing wheel for my PC.

The graphics in Dirt Rally are gorgeous.  Everything from the cars to the environment have amazing details which will likely only get better as the game progresses towards final release state.  The sounds of the game are also great.  You can hear everything from the gravel hitting your car to your brakes grinding when you hit them too hard.  The graphics and sound combined are some of the most impressive I have ever seen in a racing game.

Overall, Dirt Rally is one of the best racing games I have ever played, even though it is in the early-access stage.  If you enjoy arcade style racing games, this game may not be for you.  If you enjoy realistic, simulation style racers, this game is definitely for you.  It takes a while to get used to the handling of the cars, as one little mistake can send your car spinning.  Once you are used to it, it feels amazing when you hug each corner and improve your times each race.  I am really looking forward to seeing what more Codemasters can do to improve Dirt Rally.

4.5/5

Nevermind Review (Early Access PC)

Nevermind is a very unique and strange horror early access game that takes you into the minds of psychological trauma victims, with the goal of solving the puzzles inside the creepy worlds to figure out what the victims have gone through and help them reach clarity and peace.  

The game can be played with a variety of biofeedback sensors, which monitors your heart rate.  When played with one of these sensors, Nevermind detects your fear level and the game becomes increasingly harder as your fear level increases.  The goal of Nevermind is to teach you to be more aware of your unique internal responses to stressful situation.  Unfortunately, I was unable to play the game without one of these sensors, but I still really enjoyed playing it without.

The gameplay in Nevermind is great.  Even without the biofeedback sensors, it was challenging to solve some of the puzzles.  You really have to look hard and think deep in order to successfully solve the puzzles and help the patient.  Being a horror film and game fan, I was excited to see just how scary this game would be.  I’m the type of person that is not easily scared, especially when it comes to games. (P.T. wasn’t really scary to me, but I’ll admit I jumped a couple times.)  I didn’t really find this game very scary, it was more creepy and dark.  It didn’t have me jumping out of my seat, except for maybe a few times, but I wonder how much my heart rate really changed throughout the game.  While it may not have been very scary, I did find myself “on edge” quite a bit.  I was constantly wondering what I was going to come across next and just what was going on inside of this patient's mind.

The graphics in Nevermind are amazing.  The environment design is very dark and unique and keeps you looking around at all times.  You never know what you will come across in each spooky world.  Every patient’s mind has a completely different look and feel, which keeps the game fresh and shows that the developers really put their time and effort into each world.

The music and sounds in the game are very good.  It is a pretty quiet game for the most part, but the creepy music and sound effects greatly increase the intensity of the game.  As you get deeper in the mind of the patient and things get creepier, the sounds and music do an excellent job of reflecting that.  The voice-overs are pretty good as well, but the developer has mentioned that they may be changed at a later time.

Overall, Nevermind is a great game, even being an early access title.  It is a fun, unique game that should only improve over time.  This game is full of potential and I am excited to see what the developers add and change to the game to make it better.  The game play, graphics and sound are all great already, so the possibilities are endless. I really wish I could have played it with a biofeedback sensor to see just how much it adds to the game.  Maybe I will pick one up in the future and try it out.  If I do, I will be sure to post a follow-up for everyone to check out.  

3.5/5

Thanks to Flying Mollusk for providing a code for review. 

The Witcher: Adventure Game (PC) Review

The Witcher Adventure Game for PC is a digital adaptation of the tabletop board game of the same name.  In this game, the main objective is to complete the set number (one, three or five) of main quests, which is determined before the game starts.  Players select their first main quest from 2 randomly selected quest cards to begin.  Players then travel around the game board attempting to gain red, blue and purple points which are needed in order to complete side and main quests.  Points are gained by investigating or developing, which may require drawing cards or rolling dice in order to complete a task and gain the points.

Having never played The Witcher Adventure Game on either tabletop or in PC form, I was a little overwhelmed at first, but there are plenty of helpful tutorial videos to help you learn the basics of the game.  Once I watched a few of these videos, and started playing around with the game, I found it pretty easy to catch on.  

After playing through a few games, I found the game to be very repetitive.  When it comes to battles and other things that require dice rolls, you simply click on the game area and your dice roll onto the board.  You then select what dice to use in order to pass or fail your battle.  I think having some battle animations of some sort would make the game more interesting for players like me that are not board game purists.

One aspect of the game that kept me playing was online multiplayer.  I was able to play with some players that helped me learn some new strategies and overall made the game experience much more fun than single player.  Most players I have played with have been very helpful and great to chat with.  The only problem I had with multiplayer was that it sometimes takes awhile (5+ minutes) to find up to 4 players to play with.  

Overall, the game plays very smoothly and is exactly what it is intended to be, a digital adaptation of the tabletop board game.  It is nothing real flashy or graphical, but it gets the job done.  Fans of the tabletop version, board game purists, and anyone looking for a new board game will enjoy this game.  The online multiplayer is great for making new friends and learning new strategies or playing with friends and family.  

I highly recommend this game and look forward to playing more and learning new strategies.  It is a great way to pass some time while waiting for The Witcher 3 to release!

I give this game 3/5.