TinyBuild brings another unique title to the gaming community, this time with Undungeon styled like RPGs from the 90’s.
In Undungeon you play as a Herald, a keeper of an artifact called the core. There are multiple Heralds, each with their own unique core. These cores keep you from dying. Any time your Herald dies the core activates and transports you to a specific location. This world you Heralds find themselves in is the result of a cataclysmic event that brought several unique versions of the world into one amalgamation of them all. There are seven Heralds and presumably seven unique worlds that were combined.
The game looks and feels like the one of the classic roleplaying games I would have played in the 90’s on either the Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo. Beyond the nostalgic art style the controls are fluid and the combat is dynamic. The game looks simple at first but there is a large amount of options to fine tune your experience and a well fleshed out story makes this a must for old school roleplaying games.
Happy’s Humble Burger Farm is a restaurant management simulator with a horrific twist. Will you survive?
Going into the new year TinyBuild brought us several new games and now that the new year is here we should see a few more based on their announcements in 2021. Happy’s Humble Burger Farm is one such game. Throughout the game you play a fast food worker that spends every day going to the Burger Farm, punching the clock, making and serving food. Once finished you return home to sleep and go to bed. Pretty straight, right? Not even close. In the real world the longer you take to make an order the more upset your customers will get. At the Farm it’s not clear if it’s the customers or something much more sinister. As you bumble your way through filling orders the longer you take first the lights start malfunctioning. This is the first sign to pick up the pace. Take even longer then you may see neon messages warning you to save yourself on the floor, a charred man will try to grab you or even one of the mascots will come and try to kill you. Sounds like any other day at a fast food establishment.
Graphically the game is subpar with today’s gaming standards as are the effects. Controls are overly simplistic and yet if your pointer is even slightly off target they won’t work. Spending a couple hours in this game I firmly believe this is intentional. It’s meant to be cheesy and the controls seem to give you a false sense of security because of how simple they are. Having completed several shifts making meals I noticed the game wants you to make mistakes, it even gives you achievements to entice you to screw up on purpose. I found the game to be oddly compelling despite it’s low budget, simplistic and cheesy feel. I was surprised at how much I wanted to keep going to see if I could learn more about the world and why these creatures keep appearing and trying to kill me.
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO WARNER BROS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON THOSE I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at Warner Bros (their home page is here) had sent me codes to some of their movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. For the first part of this series we talked about Scoob, Birds of Prey, The Way Back, Goonies 4K, Beetlejuice 4K, Full Metal Jacket, Sherlock Holmes 4K and Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K. Part 2 ‘twas massive and discussed V for Vendetta 4K, 300 4K, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K, The Hobbit Trilogy 4K, Blade 4K, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Tenet and The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Part 3 talked about Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Judas and the Black Messiah. Part 4 discussed Tom and Jerry the Movie and Godzilla Vs Kong. Part 5 was all about Wrath of Man, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Space Jam. Part 6 had discussed Mortal Kombat and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Part 7 discussed In the Heights, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 20 Years of Movie Magic edition. Part 8 discussed A Clockwork Orange, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Shawshank Redemption. Part 9 talked about The Suicide Squad and Reminiscence. We have returned for Part 10 and no better way to celebrate this milestone than to go big with The Outsiders, Cry Macho, Malignant, the Many Saints of Newark and the Mad Max film collection.
The Outsiders
The original film does not hold a candle to the book but this edition of the film also comes with the Complete Novel edition so you can actually watch the entirety of the story. With this addition it makes it much better but even then I still preferred the actual novel to the film.
Cry Macho
This was an odd film for me. I am not typically a fan of Clint Eastwood as a writer, actor or director but somehow I still give his films a chance. I went into this expecting to dislike it but hoping it would surprise me like The Mule did. After finishing it I felt it was okay at best but when describing it to my wife the next morning I realized there was a lot to it that I did enjoy. The film follows a aging cowboy that is sent to Mexico to retrieve the son of a rancher he sometimes worked for. Begrudgingly he goes and finds the boy and works towards bringing him to his father, along the way falling in love with a small community and it’s people. After analyzing the film I must admit it was surprisingly good.
Malignant
As time goes on I am learning to appreciate horror films and the trailers for this film looked fantastic. The story follows a person with some abilities and horribly disfigured is reportedly euthanized in the opening scene but not before killing several members of the hospital staff. Fast forward several years Madison is pregnant and had a long day of work at the hospital. Responding to her being abused a mysterious killer appears and murders her boyfriend. She is then tortured as she can somehow see the killer’s actions as he murders the people who attempted to kill him many years prior. This was a fantastic film that had some very impressive effects when Madison begins to see where the killer is, blending the room she is in with the room the killer is. This film is worth watching for the effects alone but coupled with an interesting story and a strong cast and you have a winner.
The Many Saints of Newark
I have never seen even one episode of The Sopranos but seeing how Tony became the mob boss was intriguing. The cast of this film were fantastic and despite not knowing the source material it was still an enjoyable film.
Mad Max film collection
Growing up I thought there were only two Mad Max films prior to Fury Road- Beyond Thunderdome and Road Warrior. I had no idea the film that started it all even existed- Mad Max. Getting to watch them again was a treat but none of them compare to Fury Road in my opinion.
Which of these films from Warner Bros have you seen and which did you enjoy? Let us know on our Twitter page!
In Phoenix Point you control a squad of soldiers on a desperate mission to rid earth of the alien menace that is threatening to mutate all life.
Phoenix Point is a hybrid of game styles featuring isometric movements and third person shooting mechanics. Visually the game is stunning and the transition between play styles is fluid, making me wonder why more games haven’t tried doing this. Snapshot Games have built a dynamic turned based adventure game that centers around an alien virus that is bent on mutating all life on earth. The virus adapts and grows based on your tactics, meaning it will grow defenses to counteract how you are already playing the game. This isn’t the first game to make this but the execution of it is much more natural than most.
When you progress far enough you will unlock the Geoscape, a worldview dashboard that allows you to plan research, construction and your next missions as well. Between the Geoscape and the dynamic mutations the claim claims to never offer the exact same experience twice. I’ve now started the game twice and each stage I played has ended with this claim seems to have proven itself true, so far. Neither play through has been completed but as I alternate between save files it seems to be the case.
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. We have returned for Part 9 and Ron’s Gone Wrong!
Ron’s Gone Wrong
The only thing I knew about this film before watching it was that it was made by 20th Century Studios. They have yet to steer us wrong and so we watched it without hesitation. The film is a look at how society relies too heavily on technology and that you don’t need to always be connected to our devices. The animation quality matches anything we’ve seen these days with a fantastic cast and story to match.
Besides sharing a naming scheme with Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood shares more than that with the cult classic.
Before we talk about Back 4 Blood let’s take a quick look at the Left 4 Dead franchise. Originally exclusives on the Xbox 360 both L4D and L4D2 brought the ultimate zombie killing experience. Offering more than just well crafted campaign writing the games featured a difficulty called Nightmare and offered Realism mode. The game was already intense before trying these two and together the difficulty was ramped up considerably. I invested more hours into that franchise than nearly any other title I have played. The first of the games did not offer any sort of melee weapon but when they were added to the sequel it was a game changer. Rumors of a third game and a feature film went around for several years before all news ended.
Out of nowhere Warner Bros Games started advertising the game in early builds on computer/steam and the hype started building. Immediately it appeared to be a sequel to the Left 4 Dead games. It wasn’t long before I learned why- some of the same designers were working on this game as well!
The game controls feel very much the same as what we were expecting, the hordes are relentless and the experience feels exactly like successor to the game franchise should feel. The difficulty is either insane or my skills are not what they once were. Despite being so much more difficult than I expected it is still a considerable amount of fun.
Warzone Octarius has come to give us new rules for Orks and Tyranids as well as for using Rogue Traders and even Kill Teams.
Warhammer 40k is constantly evolving and over this year 9th edition is no different. The Warzone supplements expand on rules for existing factions and share the story of a particular warzone. The second round of this is Warzone Octarius with books 1and 2. The previous books were based on Charadon but I suspect Octarius was chosen due to the recent release of Kill Team: Octarius which featured exclusive models and terrain.
Book 1 brings us rules Cadia, Tyranids and the Armies of Renown: Kill Team. Now with the branding of Kill Team I originally assumed this would be the squads from Kill Team: Octarius but instead these Kill Teams are part of the Deathwatch and are comprised of Space Marines. Book 2 however brings the Kill Team flavor with rules for the Blood Axes, the Ork team from the Octarius box, along with Rogue Traders (Astra Cartographica) and the Speed Freeks Speed Mob as this book’s Army of Renown.
These books are less for casual or competitive players but more for those that like to follow an official campaign. Charadon did not see a Kill Team release but with Octarius receiving it’s own warzone books so soon after it’s Kill Team release I am fully expecting that the next warzone will be centered around Chalnath.
The Genestealer Cults are facing off against the Adeptus Custodes on Terra in Shadow throne from Games Workshop for Warhammer 40,000.
About once, sometimes twice a year, Games Workshop releases a new starter, typically surrounding a specific theme. To end 2021 they brought us Shadow Throne and it is centered around the Genestealer Cults infiltrating Terra. These days it seems like there is some form of Genestealer Cult activity on nearly every planet so it was only a matter of time before some reached Terra. You would think that there would be ways of preventing this in a place where the Emperor of Mankind himself resides.
Originally this release was meant to coincide with the release of codices for both the Genestealer Cults and the Adeptus Custodes but due to delays with production they have been delayed until January of next year. Currently the Shadow throne boxset is on preorder and will be released this Saturday. Games Workshop also promises that any preorders made beyond their initial run will be done as part of a second production run! The majority of this box has been released previously but that doesn’t make it any less worth picking up. For the GSC the Genestealer Patriarch is by far one of the greatest sculpts released thus far for the army and is joined by an exclusive Reductus Saboteur. The GSC though are not the only ones to get a new model- enter the Blade Champion for the Custodes! This is possibly the MOST dynamic model we have seen in quite some time for them and the pose reminds me of the Black Templar’s new champion.
What I am most looking forward to with this release though is the fact that I get to revisit one of my favorite armies from 40k- Tyranids, if only slightly with a single model. Additionally though both factions come with nearly enough to be full kill team patrols for the aptly named Kill Team.
With the recent release of Dominion and the more recent release of Battletomes for Stormcast Eternals and Kruelboyz Games Workshop is releasing the next tome and this is for the Maggotkin of Nurgle!
At the time of writing/publishing the new Battletome for the Maggotkin of Nurgle is officially available for preorder and the official release date is December 18th, just in time for my birthday! Games Workshop was kind enough to share the tome and even a few models with us to prepare you with the pending release!
To start with we will be focusing on the Battletome itself. The cover art is amazing and only Games Workshop can take a truly revolting army as the Maggotkin, really anything that is Nurgle based, and do it so beautifully! I mean look at that ugly Rotbringer on the there, he not only looks fantastic but there is even a matching model available for preorder as well! There are already more exclamation points in this article than most I write, that should tell you something about this release. I have always been a fan of Grandfather Nurgle and that hasn’t changed but I’ve been focusing my Chaos forces to be more Undivided because of the amazing Warcry warbands but nothing makes disgusting fun like a Nurgle based army.
The tome has many new rules as well as others that have been tweaked. My favorite of these new rules is Diseased. Basically for each diseased model near an enemy you add one disease point (up to seven) and at the start of the Battleshock Phase you roll a dice for each point and on each 4+ the enemy receives one mortal wound. Just walking around the stench and viral output of the Maggotkin is so high that you can kill your enemies by just being close to them. If only we could do this with a horde style list.
Rotbringer Sorcerer
I don’t recall the last time, in Age of Sigmar, we saw new releases for the forces under Nurgle, with the exception of the Great Unclean One and a few other daemons which also worked for 40k. This is the first Rotbringer of any sort I have seen since returning to the hobby about five years ago and the sculpt is fantastic. Not only that but it comes with two alternative heads, one is a fly head. I understand why flies are so prevalent in the Nurgle forces but I have never been a fan of the fly heads themselves, they always looked a little goofy to me BUT this one is by far one of the best I’ve seen so far. Of course if you were to also purchase the next item we will discuss you will have many other heads to choose from.
Vanguard: Maggotkin of Nurgle
The Vanguard box is the Age of Sigmar third edition version of the Start Collecting Box. Both featured the two Pusgoyle Blightlords and the five Putrid Blightkings. The difference between the two is the Start Collecting Box, while still available, comes with these and the Lord of Blights but this Vanguard box includes ten Plaguebearers of Nurgle and Spoilpox Scrivener. Literally every item in this box was something I wanted to get my hands on to build and paint as is but with all the customization options I think two boxes will be necessary.
Perhaps this is also the perfect time for me to get myself that Feculent Gnarlmaw I’ve been trying to justify picking up?
Battle in Balin’s Tomb is the latest board game from Games Workshop for The Lord of the Rings.
Recently my kids watched the first first Lord of the Rings movie and within an hour of watching the scene in Balin’s Tomb I received the press release for Battle in Balin’s Tomb. The timing could not have been more perfect and Games Workshop sent us a copy to play and share our thoughts.
Players take turns moving the heroes around the tomb, killing each orc and troll they meet. Each wave a card is played to determine the current list of foes added to the mix, some quite deadly. The box comes with a single troll and I saw at least one cart that forced you to fight two of them, thankfully it kept on in a holding area until the other is defeated but things can get pretty harry. Thankfully in our playthrough this card didn’t come up.
When playing we opted for three players, two to field the Fellowship and one for the Orcs and Troll. The cards were mostly in favor of the Fellowship and were able to prevent a majority of the forces from overwhelming us, things got a bit hectic when the Cave Troll was first unleashed but working together we were able to remove the threat. The combat system was very similar to that of Warhammer Underworlds in that attackers rolled a certain number of dice and defenders rolled their defense dice, subtracting the defense die from the attacks.
We found the game easy to pick up, the models very easy to build and the pacing to be quite quick. For those that play the Lord of the Rings Strategy Game may want to pick this up for the decreased cost of getting the minis here. Likewise fans of the films will want to collect these miniatures for their collection.
