Category: Mobile Game Releases

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is a new AR mobile game from Niantic, the makers of Pokémon GO. It’s similar to that of its predecessor and allows players to bring the universe of Harry Potter into the real world.

The main gameplay loop involves exploring the world around you, freeing ‘Foundables’ (like catching Pokémon) and interacting with nodes scattered across the map. Unless you’re in a rural area, when you fire up the game for the first time you may see spires and structures looming in the distance. There are three Harry Potter: Wizards Unite locations that you can visit while you’re playing the game, each which will help you collect Foundables.

These locations are Inns, Greenhouses, and Fortresses. Understanding the purpose of the Wizards Unite locations and how you interact with them isn’t made as clear as it could be, so we are here to help!

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Locations | What does each location do?

Let’s take a look at all of the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite locations and see exactly what each of them do.

Inn 

An Inn corresponds to real world location (often a pub, cafe or something similar) and will appear on the map as a house-like structure. As you come across one, you can enter it by simply tapping on the screen. Once inside, you’ll be prompted to trace a Glyph (swipe with your finger) to activate the Inn. Completing this task will reward you with a meal, which will in turn reward you with Spell Energy. The amount of energy you get depends on the meal you eat… we’ve seen as low as 2 or 3, but as high as 10. The meal you get will depend on your real-world location.

If the name doesn’t give it away, you’ll need Spell Energy to cast spells in Wizards Unite. You cast a spell every-time you try to ‘catch’ a Foundable (and like in Pokémon GO, you sometimes need to try several times before it works or disappears). You also cast spells when you interact with Fortresses (see below). Every time you cast a spell, you will lose some Spell Energy, so it is going to be important to be mindful of how much you have left. If you’re just starting off, you can only hold 75 Spell Energy. While this isn’t a lot, it will be enough to allow you to do at least a day’s worth of activity without needing to visit an Inn, which will help you level up!

Different Types of Inns

There are five different types or ‘colors’ of Inns. Each color represents the real-world location that it is likely to be found in. For example, a Green Inn will be found in rural areas and will offer better meals, since they are hard to come by. On the other hand, Pink Inns can be found in both rural and urban areas and offers meals that give out less Spell Energy. 

Below is a list of all the different Inn colors, locations, and maximum Spell Energy:

• Green Inn – Rural areas; Up to 10 Spell Energy
• Purple Inn– City areas; Up to 7 Spell Energy
• Blue Inn – Rural and Urban areas; Up to 6 Spell Energy
• Brown Inn – Rural and Urban areas; Up to 6 Spell Energy
• Pink Inn – Rural and Urban areas; Up to 3 Spell Energy

Different type of Inn meals

As stated above, visiting the different Inn locations will reward visitors with a meal that will replenish their spell energy. After-all, you cannot cast a good spell on an empty stomach. There are a total of ten meals that you can eat at Inns in Wizards Unite, each giving players 1-10 Spell Energy. 

Below is a list of all of the meals and their corresponding Spell Energy rewards:

• Tomato Soup – 1 Spell Energy
• Afternoon Tea – 2 Spell Energy
• Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans – 2 Spell Energy
• Pumpkin Juice – 2 Spell Energy
• Violet Pudding – 3 Spell Energy
• Bangers and Mash – 5 Spell Energy
• Fish and Chips – 6 Spell Energy
• Honeyduke’s Chocholate Bar – 6 Spell Energy
• Butterbeer – 7 Spell Energy
• Turkey/Chicken Dinner – 10 Spell Energy

If you have played Pokémon GO, it will be best to think of Inns as Pokestops. You aren’t going to need to visit this Harry Potter: Wizards Unite location multiple times a day if you’re just a casual player. So, it’s best just to keep it in the back of your mind and remember to stop by one if you are out and about!

Dark Detectors

Inns have a secondary screen that allows you to place ‘Dark Detectors’ – these are in-game items you can earn (or buy) and act like Lures from Pokémon GO. If you place one in an Inn, you’ll be able to find rarer traces for the next 30 minutes. 

The main purpose of Dark Detectors is to help players collect Foundables faster. During the 30-minute period that they are active, you will earn increased XP and have a chance at locating Foundables that you might not normally come across. Dark Detectors can also be stacked with up to three per Inn. 

Greenhouse

Greenhouses are small glass buildings, which contain pots that are able to grow various plants, which can eventually be turned into potions. When you come across a Greenhouse, you can go inside and choose from three randomized plant pots to grow your plant. After collecting the ingredients from you plant, you’ll need to leave the Greenhouse for 5 minutes before returning.

Growing a Plant

The main purpose of a Greenhouse is to grow a plant which will give players ingredients that can be used to create Potions. Every once in a while, you’ll come across seeds while playing Wizards Unite. You can add these seeds to your collection and use them to grow a specific plant in a greenhouse. You can see the different seeds that you have collected by going to the Vault and clicking the seed icon on the right side of the screen.

There is a total of 10 plants that you can grow in the Wizards Unite Greenhouses, each which are able to be used in different Potions. Everyone who contributes to growing a plant will be able to reap its crop. However, once a plant has finished growing, players will only have 30 minutes to pick its ingredients. 

Below, you’ll find a list of all the plants in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, along with the materials required and the time it takes to grow them.

• Snowdrop – Snowdrop Seed (1), Water (15) – 1 Hour
• Wormwood – Wormwood Seed (1), Water (7), 1 Hour
• Bitter Root – Bitterroot Seed (1), Water (15) – 7 Hours
• Ginger Root – Ginger Seed (1), Water (12) – 7 Hours
• Lovage – Lovage Seed (1), Water (9) – 7 Hours
• Scurvygrass – Scurvygrass Seed (1), Water (7) – 7 Hours
• Sneezewort – Sneezewort Seed (1), Water (1) – 7 Hours
• Sopophorous Bean – Sopophorous Bean Seed (1), Water (1) – 7 Hours
• Valerian Root – Valerian Seed (1), Water (7) – 7 Hours
• Leaping Toadstool – Leaping Toadstool Spore (1), Water (12) – 24 Hours

After you have turned your seeds into plants, you can use the ingredients to create potions that will help you throughout the game. Potions are not unlockable until Level 4, so if you haven’t made it that far yet, you aren’t going to be able to do anything with the Greenhouse plants you collect. 

However, once you have reached Level 4, if you click on the suitcase icon on the main screen, you’ll be taken to a menu where you’ll be able to choose from five icons. The Potions icon is located on the bottom left hand side of the screen, simply click on it to view all of the Potions that you have available and their needed ingredients. Additionally, if you go to the Vault and click on the ingredient’s icon, you can see a complete list of all of the ingredients that you have collected.

Pots vs. Rental Pots

Each Greenhouse will have three pots that are available to use for free. If all three pots are currently being used, then you’ll have to either wait it out or use a Rental Pot. These are pots that can be bought with in game currency and will come with all the ingredients that you need as well as reduce grow time. 

Below is a list of the different rental pots costs and time availability:

• Rental Pot A – 35 coins – 180 minutes
• Rental Pot B – 70 coins – 480 minutes
• Rental Pot C – 140 coins – 1440 minutes

Both the Rental Pots and the free pots work fine to grow a plant. Using a Rental Pot is not going to reap you a benefit that a regular pot won’t. It’ll simply save you some time and supply you with the necessary seeds needed to grow your desired plant.

Fortress

The final of the three Harry Potter: Wizards Unite locations is known as a Fortress. These are really tall buildings that will allow players to complete a series of challenges in exchange for exclusive rewards. They won’t be hard to recognize, as they are the tallest building on the map.

Once you enter a Fortress, you and up to four others can compete in a series of challenges where you choose the difficulty. As you enter the Fortress, you and your partners will be able to fight a series of opponents, who are guarding some of the rarest and most powerful Foundables around.

Runestones

Before you begin a fight, you’ll have to hand over a Runestone, which will determine the strength of your enemy. So, if you give up a higher level Runestone, you’ll face a higher-level enemy. If you hand over a lower level Runestone, you’ll face an easier enemy. 

Runestones can be gathered while you’re collecting Foundables and as you level up the various sections in your registry. Runestones are located in Treasure Trunks, which are earned by returning Foundables. Each Runestone you receive will correlate to an area of expertise, or as the game calls it, a Family. 

However, just because you hand over a low level Runestone doesn’t mean you won’t face a difficult enemy here or there. If you are playing solo, it is safe to assume that whatever level Runestone you put in is going to reflect the types of enemies you fight. However, if you’re playing with others, the water becomes a bit muggy since the more players you add, the more difficult the Fortress will be, because they will also be adding Runestones into the mix.

In addition to all of this, as you continue to move through the Fortress, the enemies are going to get stronger and stronger. The different floors are referred to as ‘Chambers’ in the game, and the rule of thumb is that the higher the Chamber, the harder the enemy. If you plan to fight through a lot of Chambers, you’re going to want to bring a couple of players with you.

If you decide that a Fortress is too difficult for you after putting in a Runestone, you can leave the lobby before the 30 second time runs out and your Runestone will be returned to you. However, once that 30 second timer is out, your Runestone is gone for good. 

Floor Stats

One thing that is important to note is that while you can be in a Fortress with up to four other players, all battles will take place solo. This means that each player will fight their own battles, even though they are working as a team. While teammates can help the fighter by using spells when they are not in combat, it is ultimately up to each player to defeat their individual opponent. Different Professions are stronger and weaker against different types of enemies, so being smart about who fights which enemy is important (more on this later).

There is a total of 20 Fortress Chambers in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, each having its own player levels and base ratings. Additionally, each Chamber will have a limited number of times allotted to players, meaning they must pass the Chamber before the time runs out. If you run out of time, then you forfeit the Fortress. 

Below is a list of all the Chamber levels, time limits, minimal player level, and base ratings:

• Chamber 1 – Time: 300 seconds – Player Level: 1 – Base Rating: 0
• Chamber 2 – Time: 300 seconds – Player Level: 1 – Base Rating: 170
• Chamber 3 – Time: 300 seconds – Player Level: 2 – Base Rating: 340
• Chamber 4 – Time: 360 seconds – Player Level: 2 – Base Rating: 510
• Chamber 5 – Time: 360 seconds – Player Level: 3 – Base Rating: 680
• Chamber 6 – Time: 360 seconds – Player Level: 3 – Base Rating: 850
• Chamber 7 – Time: 420 seconds – Player Level: 4 – Base Rating: 1020
• Chamber 8 – Time: 420 seconds – Player Level: 4 – Base Rating: 1190
• Chamber 9 – Time: 420 seconds – Player Level: 5 – Base Rating: 1360
• Chamber 10 – Time: 480 seconds – Player Level: 5 – Base Rating: 1530
• Chamber 11 – Time: 480 seconds – Player Level: 6 – Base Rating: 1700
• Chamber 12 – Time: 480 seconds – Player Level: 6 – Base Rating: 1870
• Chamber 13 – Time: 540 seconds – Player Level: 7 – Base Rating: 2040
• Chamber 14 – Time: 540 seconds – Player Level: 7 – Base Rating: 2210
• Chamber 15 – Time: 540 seconds – Player Level: 8 – Base Rating: 2380
• Chamber 16 – Time: 600 seconds – Player Level: 8 – Base Rating: 2250
• Chamber 17 – Time: 600 seconds – Player Level: 9 – Base Rating: 2720
• Chamber 18 – Time: 600 seconds – Player Level: 9 – Base Rating: 2890
• Chamber 19 – Time: 600 seconds – Player Level: 10 – Base Rating: 3060
• Chamber 20 – Time: 600 seconds – Player Level: 10 – Base Rating: 3230

As you can see, towards the beginning a Fortress won’t be too tough. However, as you go on, you’re going to want to have some help from other players.

Strategic Spells

While you’re fighting, you’ll need to keep your health bar in mind, as running out of health will result in a loss. So, be mindful of how much health you have as you continue through the Chambers. To help out, players will be able to cast different types of spells based on their Profession, which can weaken an enemy or heal a player. If you haven’t unlocked Strategic Spells yet, then you’ll need to continue to increase your expertise in your Profession. 

There are three different types of Professions in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite which are going to determine what kind of Strategic Spells you can cast. Below is a list of the different Profession classes and a short description of each.

• Auror – Aurors deal extra damage against Dark Forces and take extra damage from Beasts.
• Magizoologist – Magizoologists deal extra damage against Beasts and take extra damage from Curiosities.
• Professor – Professors deal extra damage against Curiosities and take extra damage from Dark Forces.

If you plan to go far into a Fortress, you’re likely going to want to have a nice variety of Professions on your team. While all of them are important, the Magizoologist Profession will offer a significant advantage during Fortress battles. They are able to heal your teammates during battle as long as they are ‘sitting out’ of the fight. 

There are tons of different Strategic Spell casting strategies in Wizards Unite. There isn’t really a right or wrong way to go about it. It will likely come down to personal preference and the resources you have available to you. Just make sure you and your team are thinking things through and you’ll likely be okay!

Enemy Types

There are four main types of enemies that will appear in a Fortress – Dark Forces, Curiosities, Beasts, and Neutral. Each of these enemy types are weak to certain Professions and will deal increased damage to other Professions. 

Below is a list of the four main enemy types along with their strengths and weaknesses:

• Dark Forces – Deal increased damage to Professors; Take increased damage from Aurors
• Curiosities – Deal increased damage to Magizoologists; Take increased damage from Professors
• Beasts – Deal increased damage to Aurors; Take increased damage from Magizoologists
• Neutral – Deal and take neutral damage to all Professions

You’ll want to pay attention to what type of enemy you’re facing, so that you will know who in your group is the best matchup for each fight. For example, a Professor shouldn’t fight a Dark Force enemy, because they are capable of dealing increased damage to players of that Profession. In the same light, an Auror should fight a Beast when possible, because they can deal increased damage to that enemy type.

Along with the four main enemy types, there are six different ‘levels’ that and enemy could be. For example, the first few Chambers will probably have Common enemies while the final few will likely have Fierce enemies. 

Below is a list of all of the different Enemy levels that will appear in a Fortress:

• Common – Normal enemy
• Formidable – Increased Defense and Proficiency Power
• Elite – Increased stats for some or all active enemies
• Imposing – Increased Proficiency Power, Deficiency Defense, Defense, and Defense Breach
• Dangerous – Strongly increased Proficiency Power, Deficiency Defense, Defense, and Defense Breach
• Fierce – Extremely increased Proficiency Power, Deficiency Defense, Defense, and Defense Breach

Hopefully you found this useful and are ready to go out and explore your surroundings. We’ll have some more Wizard’s Unite content for you over the coming weeks, but let us know if you have any burning questions you’d like answered sooner rather than later!

I’m technically not here as you read this, so this week’s updates is short and sweet again – sorry about that. I’ve been set on catching up on some overdue reviews this week, which is why so many have dropped this week. Not as many planned for next week but there’s still interesting games on the horizon worth exploring.

Next week it’s going to be a mixture of additional reviews, plus extra passes at Auto Chess and Harry Potter as those are still proving popular.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now

Santorini Board Game (iOS & Android) – Full Review Coming Soon!

Despite its light-hearted aesthetic, Santorini offers a wonderfully pure form of strategic play where your moves are few, but the tactical depth is near endless. 2 -4 players are given workers to move around a grid-based board, where the only things you can do is move, and build. Your goal is to firstly build a tower up to three levels, and then get one of your workers on top of that tower. The thing is, you only get to do one move/build action per turn with one worker. Plus, you can ‘cap’ towers to stop your opponent getting to the top (and they can do the same to you).

It’s an excellent abstract strategy game that should fit really well on mobile. The Santorini app, by Roxley, features challenging AI, pass-and-play and online multiplayer, as well as tutorials, challenges and other goodies. If you own the physical game, it can also be used as a companion app and features the optional ‘God’ powers that spice up what is an otherwise simple game. We can’t wait to do the full review!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Ft8_N6XUA?controls=0]

Updates

There’s actually quite a few updates worth highlight this week, so this section needs must be a bit breezier than usual.

• Legends of Andor (Review) has received a small update that improves the UI and adds an ‘undo’ button, amongst other things.
• Carrier Battles for Guadalcanal (Review) is one of the few decent iOS wargames our there right now, and it’s just received a new content drop. This update reworks all of the scenarios, looks at Fog of War and makes a lot of changes to the air game.
• Mini Metro (Review) is another favourite of ours, and its latest update adds a new city, as well as smoothing out some kinks with our areas of the game.
• Knights of the Card Table (Review) – this deck-building/roguelike now has a new challenge mode where each dungeon follows its own unique set of rules, allowing you to experiment with equipment load-outs.
• Codito’s version of Le Havre has just received an update, despite the company closing down a few years ago. The Big Hamlet expansion is now available as an IAP, and there was also a free update adding some additional gameplay options.

There’s also been an update to the official Steam Link app, and of course Star Traders: Frontiers has received yet another content drop. Phew!

Sales

Not much to really shout out about this week, although Egypt: Old Kingdom is on sale for the first time since it launched, at nearly half price.

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

On paper, Graveyard Keeper sounds like a fun concept. It’s a management/simulation game of a medieval graveyard, with a sense of humor perfectly encapsulated in its wacky braying-donkey app icon. (I choose to believe this is intended to make fun of the endless screaming-angry-man icons found on Clash of Clans-clones.) Unfortunately, Graveyard Keeper will probably not win many new players to the genre thanks to its confusing tone and fixture on arcane busywork.

The first question for a mobile adaptation is: how are the controls? In menus, you get to tap and scroll through interface elements directly, but in the game world you use basic on-screen buttons and a static d-stick instead of swipe-anywhere controls. The d-stick is better than many, especially as it features an animated bounce back when released that visually reminds you to replace your thumb in the center.

It’s fiddly, though, and perhaps a little too sensitive, and I often found myself stuck on scenery or walking around objects I just wanted to approach. It seems to me a system where movement were locked to a grid might work better. There also seem to be a few too many buttons. The ‘work’ and ‘select’ actions could be combined into one control, since work is always held down for several seconds and select is always merely tapped. With a swipe for the rarely-used attack command, the devs could reduce the on-screen controls to a mere menu button.

Unlike similar management games like Stardew Valley, Graveyard Keeper doesn’t have daily tasks to give rhythm to march of time. Certain events, like meeting important characters that only happen on particular days, are about as far as it goes. Compounding this problem, the game uses a weird alchemical-symbol system to track its six-day week, making it impossible to hold in your mind when things need to get done. Is the bishop free on male-symbol day or on sun-day?

Instead, Graveyard Keeper‘s tasks are long multi-step processes that inevitably require a lot of time grinding for experience or materials and building one of seemingly dozens of crafting stations. I played for days and only buried one body, occupied as I was with making every part of every tool out of logs, rocks, and raw iron. Then there are tech trees for gardening, preaching, and writing books among others, three different kinds of skill points, and “faith” and “science” are resources in themselves. There’s a certain zen to it at times, but at other times it feels like a lot of busywork. That said, there’s a great deal of freedom and an awful lot to do, so if planning out long multi-stage tasks is your jam, you’ll love it.

Tonally, the game is strange. It wants to be both goofy and morbid and it works sometimes, especially when the game uses its medieval setting to satirize modern life. The funniest part to me was the unending bureaucracy of stamps and permissions required to get anything done in this supposedly-medieval town. A good joke, but also one that’s frustrating to deal with from a gameplay perspective. I can’t sell this bit of meat I took from a cadaver unless I bribe a thief for the right stamp? Are we just going to gloss over the cannibalism aspect of this situation first? Part of the problem is that NPCs don’t have strongly-defined personalities beyond one-note jokes. (The skull is a drunk. The donkey is a communist.)

There’s clearly a bit of Monty Python and the Holy Grail influence here, but the Pythons had the good sense to satirize the ignorance and bloodlust of a witch trial but then cut away before the actual execution. Not so in Graveyard Keeper, where your protagonist watches a burning without comment and is then tasked with putting up flyers for the next one. It’s darkness for its own sake, and rather off-putting.

Graveyard Keeper is a full-featured, PC-quality indie game, which is enough of a rarity on mobile to make it worth a glance. Fans of crafting will probably find a lot to like in Graveyard Keeper‘s incredibly baroque skills tree and endless tasks. It would be a good game for zoning out and listening to podcasts on a long plane trip. Players who are not on board the crafting bandwagon should probably try something like Stardew Valley.

What happens when you take a popular board game and strip away the multiplayer elements for a lore-rich experience? You get something like Talisman: Origins, which is Nomad Games’ latest take on the challenging tabletop adventure Talisman.

This new expedition into the Talisman board game universe has been tailored for solitaire and has been specifically designed to offer a similar experience for anyone who may not have the friends or interest in playing with others. And while it’s a great way to offer a crash course in Talisman history, it’s a bit bizarre to take away the multiplayer elements of a board game where it’s so ingrained in the DNA. While it contains several solid features that make for an entertaining affair, it all feels a bit directionless in the end.

The game is based off the Revised 4th Edition ruleset, and you can choose from 12 unique characters across your journey as you explore a vast expanse of lore. The 12 Talisman characters that you can take on for each campaign include the new Great Wizard character, which is exclusive to Talisman: Origins. He’s pretty cool, but with that in mind, if you prefer, you can also take on the role of the villain instead. It’s up to you. There are 7 total books with around 5 quests in them apiece to complete. Each quest is broken down into 5 to 7 challenges that you can take on once the original quest has been completed.

Essentially, these are mini campaigns that each recall a period of narrative throughout Talisman‘s history. Ever wonder how the legendary Crown of Command was summoned into being? You’ve got the chance to learn all about that (as well as the intriguing Lord of Darkness as well) as you power through each campaign book.

On the left side of the screen, you have several pieces of helpful information about your character: Strength, Life, Craft, Fate, and Gold as well as your Objects, Followers, Trophies, and Other cards he happens to have. You can also find your character’s alignment here, which tends to stay at Neutral if you commit fairly Neutral acts. This can change over the course of the game to Good or Evil as well.

The board itself, which can be a bit difficult to discern, is split into three different regions. Typically you’ll begin your journey in the Outer Region, which you can move in either direction around the board. Then you have the Middle Region and Inner Region, which will come into play as you roll the dice, make moves, and get further into your game.

To move, you roll the dice via quick tap on the right side of the screen. After you determine the amount of spaces you’ll move, you can tap on a space to move there immediately. The game will highlight spaces on the board that you can move to, which takes away some of the fun of tapping around and exploring for yourself.

If you’re not sure what will happen if you decide to go there, the game will help you out with a quick explanation at the bottom of the screen that helps to further explain. And if you don’t like your roll, you can always use something called a Fate Point to try it again, but you’re stuck with the consequences with the second try if you end up not liking that one, either. Luckily, you can earn Fate Points back at other areas on the board if you end up needing more later on.

Combat is interesting enough, but it plays out with random dice rolls in the background – and because it’s essentially AI working to take out your character, you never feel as if you’re particularly in any peril or have a reason to try your best to devastate the enemy. But in the end, you’re not really strategizing, even though you’re continually drawing cards to make a great hand and trying your best to overtake the AI. You’re just playing against a computer and hoping the game of RNG you keep playing turns up in your favor.

Even with the handholding of the game’s first helpful tutorial and subsequent help windows, I still found some of the rules a bit obtuse – and, dare I say it? – not all that fun. Beyond that, while I followed the rules to a T and ended up learning quite a bit more than I already knew about Talisman along the way, it simply isn’t as exciting without other players involved. I did appreciate the attempts at bringing additional bits and bobs of lore into the mobile sphere and the thought that went into putting together a solo version of the popular game, though.

When you have no opponents to play against, suddenly the stakes are nonexistent. You’re playing against yourself, and while it’s intriguing to see the game’s lore play out in the background, there isn’t much going on here to truly hold your attention. I frequently found myself zoning out through a few “decisive” battles, feeling well and completely exhausted  after finishing up some of the campaigns that felt like a little too much like work to be entertaining.

That’s where the issues with Talisman: Origins lie. Mechanically, it’s not a terrible game. It isn’t a low-quality title by any means. It doesn’t feature free-to-play trappings or ads. All told, there’s around 40+ hours of story content and quests to play through, with around 100 challenges you can complete throughout the narrative. It’s just boring, and it desperately needs the spice that’s added by playing with others, or at the very least an exciting AI. As it is, it’s a lot like eating plain old piping hot oatmeal when you wake up on a winter’s day. It’s hearty and it’ll warm you up, but it lacks the panache that adding fruit or cinnamon would bring.

If you’re intrigued by the Talisman board game universe and want to get on board, Talisman: Origins isn’t the worst way to jump in, but if you’re looking for a more engaging tour through the series, you might want to actually try a game with other people first.

There is no shortage of card-based games on iOS (or Android). From straight up trading card games, to games that use the randomness of card drawing in some aspect of its design, there’s just something universally satisfying about drawing from a deck and taking your chances. In many ways, Void Tyrant isn’t that much different than many of its contemporaries. But like the Uncharted series on PlayStation consoles, Void Tyrant is more concerned with perfecting well-worn design features than innovating them completely. 

A mysterious chaos pyramid has appeared at the edge of the solar system. It’s locked, its keys scattered across disparate planets, each granting both power and madness to their inhabitants. You must gather the keys, enter the deadly structure, and put an end to whatever is causing the malevolence. It’s a story that is both familiar, but resonant enough to climb onboard with quickly.

The “you” in this game is a character that gets randomly rolled at the start of each run. They are a mix of various races, classes, and passive attributes that make each character hold a specific sort of uniqueness each time. Sometimes, these variables can change some interactions with characters or environments you’ll encounter in your run. If you draw a race that can see in the dark, then wandering off of the beaten path into a spooky cave won’t be ominous for you.

The act of traversing these worlds in search of chaos keys is standard first person RPG fare. Every step takes you into a new encounter, which could be a monster, trap, or treasure. Every once in a while, you’ll have the option to turn left or right, but rarely do these paths branch farther than a single screen.

When you do stumble across a monster, that’s when the signature blackjack-style combat goes down. You and your enemy have a deck of 24 cards, each with a number of 1-6. While drawing, your goal is to get as close to 12 as possible without going over. The side who is closest wins, and gets an amount of attacks against their enemy equal to the difference between both numbers. Pretty simple stuff.

The many ways this basic concept gets modified is where combat really shines. Each combatant has another hand of cards full of spells and abilities. These either take effect when you win a round, or immediately. They can alter the count of your draw, add extra attacks if you win, put status ailments on your enemy, etc. Using all of these flairs strategically is when Void Tyrant feels most like an RPG. Analyzing your draw total, how many cards you’ve left to pull, and where a useful ability might fit into that equation is a rewarding exercise. The sort of risk taking aspect of playing around the draw is rewarding as well.

That said, combat can also feel arduous. Sometimes, you’ll find yourself in minutes long stalemates with enemies. Making the “right” decisions can put you in a holding pattern for what feels like an endless amount of turns. Especially against bosses, you could spend just as much time sticking and moving around the enemy as it did to get all the way to them.

That and the randomness of the game can truly feel unfair at times. More often than not, enemies that are supposed to be tough seem to always draw favorably, and you always seem to come up short. This isn’t to say that the numbers are being actively fudged, though. It’s more to draw a parallel to Void Tyrant’s casino counterpart. Just like you may feel like you’re caught in a bad card patch at a 21 table, you can feel that same bad energy against a big, icy, armored beetle.

Another pretty demoralizing thing can be playing the free to play version of this game. It’s heavily ad supported, which means almost everything will involve watching an ad to take part of. Getting bonuses from spirits – little npcs that grant you bonus currency, card packs, and extra lives – involves watching an ad first. Journeys on planets can be impeded every few steps by ads. It’s truly an annoying experience.

More than that, there are parts of the game that suddenly began to appear after I upgraded to the premium version. Side paths that used to just be a single treasure chest or monster encounter suddenly became doorways to whole new mini dungeons. I can’t confirm whether I passed a particular in-game threshold to open these up, or if it was a premium exclusive feature.

Many of the variants for your hero character is locked behind lots of grinding. Certain quests have to be completed before unlocking new classes or races. These quests can consist of killing a certain number of creatures or finding a number of a specific item. Many of these quests can only be done on specific planets, and can’t be done in one run. Also, you can’t just replay a specific planet without either cancelling your run prematurely, or finishing it to the end. You’ll play as a human knight for a large bulk of your early experience, which feels like a very narrow view of what this game has to offer.

If you can stick with it (and are willing to drop the approximately $5/£6 for the premium version) then Void Tyrant may very well be your next favorite iOS RPG. It’s clever, if not ground-breaking, take on the blackjack combat trope, as well as fun utilization of rogue-like mechanics, makes Tyrant a unique experience on the platform. It bogs itself down with the pacing of its free to play ads and the natural ebb and flow of card-based randomness. It also hides a big swath of its customizability behind arduous grinding. But if you have time to grind, Void Tyrant is worth the investment.

This is a slightly short and sweet entry this week because I’m out and above for work reasons, but still a few things to catch you guys up on. We’ll be cooling it a bit with Harry Potter content unless some news pops up and I’ve got nothing better to do, although I plan to look more into the Auto Chess stuff as it seems more our speed.

We’ve got more reviews coming as well, so don’t worry about that – most new, a few we missed from last month, and then looking at trying to keep things dynamic with more features etc… I’d especially be interested in what you thought about the Brave Exvius guide we ran. I’ve always wondered if there was room for content that’s on trying to ride the ‘free’ part of Free-to-play for as long as possible, making the most of what free resources one can get. I know plenty of people are turned off by the grind-mechanics themselves, but plenty do enjoy having something to whittle away idle time and I’m hoping this helps with that somewhat.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now

LEGO Tower (iOS & Android)

We reported on this a week or two ago, but the LEGO themed Tiny Tower spin-off is finally here. If you played the original game (or Tiny Death Star) you’ll know what to expect, but for anyone not in the know this is a free-to-play experience where you need to build and manage a tower complex. LEGO figurines will come to work and live in your tower depending on what you build, and you can keep going as high as you can.

Standard Free-to-play warning applies with premium currencies and timers, although Tiny Tower never had a reputation for being that bad with its monetisation. Still, this isn’t going to sway anyone who’s definitely anti-F2P, but it might be a nice distraction for anyone else looking for something to idle some time away without much thought. Plus, LEGO!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTwEBcE4y_Q?controls=0]

Chess Rush (iOS & Android)

Tencent is a Chinese company you may have heard off because they’re kinda buying stakes in, like, everyone right now. I think they own a share of Paradox Interactive now? Perhaps I’m mis-remembering that, but they definitely own an interest in Riot Games, makers of League of Legends. Recently, they’ve done two things: The first is to partner with Drodo Games and Dragonest to help publish Auto Chess: Origin in China, the second is to just go ahead and launch their own similar game, Chess Rush.

I tried to fire it up for a spin but it couldn’t get it get past the ‘checking for update’ screen. It also asked for access to my microphone, to which I was like ‘hell no’. It’s mean’t to be a more fast-paced take on the genre though, with quicker matches lasting no more than ten minutes. I’ve always thought this was something that mobile-facing auto-battlers should try to deal with, as 30-40 minute matches that you can’t leave are problematic for a game that can be played on the go. If I can get it to work I’ll report back and most likely update our master list of Auto Chess games.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpuMoxTITd8?controls=0]

Sales

There’s still a fair few sales going on at the moment since it’s ‘the season’, and a few more interesting ones have popped up that you may be interested in:

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

By Josh Brown 04 Jul 2019

By Andrew Smith 04 Jul 2019

By Joe Robinson 03 Jul 2019

When the crew of Apollo 13 informed Houston that they had a problem it required considerable ingenuity under extreme pressure to get them home safely. When the crew of the Iktomi are hit by disaster, the situation that they find themselves in is substantially worse. They are still ten weeks away from their destination, and not only has their ship been seriously damaged but their pantry has been completely destroyed. The crew not only face the prospect of no biscuits with their cuppa but the even grimmer possibility of having to chow down on their dearly departed comrades. Cannibalism ftw?

Tharsis is a disaster management game that immediately brings to mind classic roguelike, FTL. The big difference here is that the action takes a more leisurely turn-based approach rather than demanding real-time decision-making. Tharsis also has a narrower range of less demanding crisis points, which makes for a much more approachable game but still a very tough one.

Each turn represents a week aboard the failing Iktomi, in which the crew have to repair various system failures or suffer the consequences. These consequences include a faulty life support system damaging the crews’ health or a severe fire destroying the ship’s hull and bringing an abrupt end to your mission. Tharsis begins with two of the six crewmembers taking you through a brief tutorial, before disaster strikes and they meet an untimely demise. Look on the bright side; they can always be stored away in the fridge for later, yum.

The remaining four astronauts must use their action dice, alongside their unique skills to traverse the ship, moving from module to module. First, select an astronaut and then use the side on view of the ship to deploy them to a module, be careful though because passing through damaged areas will reduce your astronaut’s health. On reaching a location, the crewmember will first need to roll their action dice. Much like Yahtzee, you can set aside favourable rolls and then re-roll the rest. However, each crisis will have additional hazards that are triggered by particular rolls. These extra problems include preventing re-rolls, causing injury, or sending dice into the void. This results in many a tense situation. For example, when you send a guy with low health into a module where an unlucky roll causes injury, they may well end up being added to the evening’s menu.

Each crisis will have a damage rating, which is lowered by allocating dice. Reduce the damage to zero and disaster is averted – for a time, at least. What elevates Tharsis from being just a Yahtzee clone is that much like Castles of Burgundy your dice are not limited to a single use. Throwing low numbers, although not much use for repairing damage, can still be put to good use. Research allows you to build up a sequence of dice that can be spent on a one-off bonus. Dice with a value of five or six can be used to trigger a character’s unique ability, this means that the Doctor can, for instance, restore one health point to everyone that is in the same module. Once a module is fully repaired you will be able to make use of its special ability. The greenhouse is a very useful module since it allows a pair of matching dice to be converted into food.

When all of your characters have taken a turn and used their dice then the negative effects of any remaining disasters are resolved. Between turns, characters must forfeit action dice, but if you have any spare food then a quick meal will restore an additional three dice, up to a maximum of five. If you have no food available then the non-vegans in your crew can indulge in a bit of cannibalism. Eating a dead crewmember restores two dice, but, understandably, isn’t that great for the character’s mental health. Also, between turns, you will be able to choose one of the side projects that your crew have been working on. These have both a positive and negative effect and the less stressed the crewmembers are then the more useful their project will be. An insane character will go off on their own and work on their own project, which will invariably have selfish bonuses and detrimental effects for the rest of the crew.

Presentation is excellent, with moody sound and a graphical style that pays tribute to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s 1970’s sci-fi shows UFO and Space: 1999. After each day there is an atmospheric cut scene that recounts a neat time-looping storyline. Adding to the budget sci-fi feel is the fun technobabble – no one wants a leak in their Photovoltaic Thermal Control System. The animated crew close-ups are also nicely done; as their stress levels escalate, they become increasing twitchy and agitated. The interface is smooth and responsive, with all relevant information just a single tap away, although once a dice has been allocated you cannot switch its position, which feels a little harsh.

There are a couple of other features that can aid your mission. Assist points can be acquired and used to negate hazards, whilst dice can be put into a holding area rather than being allocated immediately. You also have a forecast of the disasters that will assail you one week ahead, although you will probably be way too busy handling the current situation to pay too much attention.  The main storyline can be tackled on three different skill levels, but even the easy level can be brutal at times. There are an additional ten extra missions that can help if you are struggling, as they reveal some vital strategic advice. The final challenge is to unlock new crewmembers by reaching various targets, like eating a set number of human-based meals.

The main criticism levelled at Tharsis is that the dice rolling makes it appear very random and just too frustrating to formulate an effective strategy. However, I found that the game allowed just enough choice so that although at times it can be exasperating it still manages to remain entertaining. The key is to prioritise the disasters and have a backup plan so that your dice can be put to good use even when the rolls are not what you want to see. It is brutal; any disasters that you do not deal with are carried over making things even more hectic and desperate, and, yes, one bad roll can ruin your entire game.  However, at the same time, if you are cagey enough you shouldn’t often find yourself in a position whereby you are relying on a single roll to save your skin.

Accusations of an excessive reliance on luck could be partly down to the fact that whilst many games hide their luck factor away under the bonnet Tharis delights in rubbing your nose in it. There is a real sense of theatre as the dice teeter and totter across the screen, promising a certain six only to topple over at the very last second.  It’s a cliché but Tharsis is a real Marmite game, you either roll with the blows or say blow to the rolls and play something else instead. I found that even when I turned off the game in frustration the addictive gameplay and dark undertones soon had me eager to try again.