Category: Game Releases

By Joe Robinson 31 Oct 2018

What is ELOH? An acronym? Is it the god of the Hebrews? Is it HOLE backwards? In a world where words no longer have stable meanings, perhaps it is simply the best (and most Googleable) name for a chilled-out puzzle game with an elegant musical twist.

Essentially, what we have here is the classic light-and-mirrors puzzle, but instead of light, you have bouncing balls and instead of mirrors you have blocks in the shape of animal heads. That sounds strange, but the aesthetic really works, especially coupled with the sound design. ELOH has a jungle theme with animal noises and drumbeats, plus a smooth, flat, totemic animation style that will look familiar if you’ve played any mobile puzzle game of the last five years.

At the most basic level, you’re moving blocks into different set positions to bounce balls around the field from set sources into set holes. Tapping the speaker will start the stream flowing, and as the balls successfully land in the cup, a pedestal will rise from the bottom carrying your prize: the button to continue to the next level.

As the puzzles get more difficult, you get more options and tricks to work with. Some blocks can only move from one end of a track to the other and need to be carefully positioned by impeding their movement with other blocks. Others change the color of the balls, making them only able to exit the arena through the matching-colored hole. Gates allow one color of ball through but reflect the others back in another direction. While each is introduced individually, the different abilities each block brings build upon each other in natural and intuitive ways to gradually increase the difficulty and complexity of the puzzles. Each puzzle uses the building blocks in a slightly new way, keeping the game challenging but progressive.

It takes some experimentation to solve each puzzle. Some of the easier ones may be unexpectedly brute-forced, since there’s a relatively limited number of states the game board can be set to. A more complicated game would give you more freedom in setting up the board, but we’re dealing with a nice relaxing mobile puzzler here. It’s fun to start shooting balls around at first, then deduce some of the limitations you are working with, and finally work each piece of the puzzle into its proper place. It’s not too mind-twisting, but you do get nice aha moments every few puzzles. 

None of the puzzles should take longer than a few minutes to bounce your way through, but there’s over eighty of them, so you’re looking at a few good hours of gameplay for your minimal upfront investment (No ads or IAP to be found). Since the design of the puzzles is so straightforward, it’s a little disappointing there’s no option to create and share your own designs: with infinite user-made levels to try, this would really be a must-buy for puzzle fans.

There’s a musical element to the game, but the rhythmically-challenged can have no fear. The balls that fly around the level pop out of their trumpet to the beat. Striking each block produces a different percussive sound, and forms complex polyrhythms as a series of balls clang pop and bump off of each surface. Combined with the relaxing ambient animal sounds, the overall effect is soothing, yet also culminates in a very satisfying groove by the time you finish each puzzle. That said, there’s no absolute need to play with headphones if you don’t want to.

What really makes the game a pleasure to play is the amazing attention to detail. For instance, the gradual but insistent movement of the prize pedestal as you solve a puzzle feels very satisfying in a way a simple “you won” would not. Partial solutions will only raise the pedestal partway, encouraging you to try again. Also, each block seems to have its own personality. They sleep at the beginning of the puzzle, but as you bounce balls off of them, their faces pop and contort delightfully. Enigmatic splash pages introduce each set of puzzles and the new blocks that will join the line-up.

It’s not revolutionary, but ELOH is a good puzzle game that develops its central ideas well and puts them in a very attractive package.

Stardew Valley, the Herculean effort from sole designer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, is massively popular across every platform it’s been ported to – and that’s practically everything, including PS Vita and Nintendo Switch. Now you can cross iOS (with Android coming soon) off the list at long last, with the long-awaited mobile version of the indie farming sim/role-playing game finally out on the market. It’s available now for just about anyone who wants to carve out some time to try the accessible yet challenging sim game, and its mobile iteration is its most ambitious yet. It succeeds at making farming and everything that goes with it a fun and intriguing adventure for just about everyone, too, albeit with a few small missteps that come with the mobile territory.

The game invites you to take on the mammoth responsibility of caring for your late grandfather’s farm, which is a sizable plot of land that lays in disrepair. It’s your job to build up your plot of land to its former glory while getting on with the other citizens of Pelican Town, where the game all goes down. This includes growing crops, raising livestock, and performing a variety of important activities that all take place in day-to-day farming. Much like the very similar Harvest Moon series, you’ve got to take care of everything on your own, whether that means clearing your farming area of bushes and rocks to make space for crops, watering them, harvesting them, and collecting supplies to keep things running smoothly.

Planting crops and harvesting them means you’ll turn a profit, of course, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Crafting, raising livestock, and interacting with the NPCs around you play large roles in the game as well. There’s always something new to do, whether you’re getting to know the abundance of NPCs out in the world, learning to fish and selling off your hard-fought spoils, or heading into the mines to become a seasoned member of the Adventurer’s Guild. There really feels as though there’s no end to what you can accomplish, no matter if you’re just starting out or heading back in for round two, three, or four – no shame!

But despite all of these things being available for you at any given time, there’s no real push to try and make you concentrate on one thing out of it all. You can explore as you wish, at your own leisurely pace, whether you spend an entire day weeding your fledgling farmland or meet up with the locals before going to your in-game bed to advance time to the next day. If there’s a special someone you enjoy speaking to and getting to know, there’s even a chance you might marry them one day, which is a delight in and of itself.

There’s always something more to do around the corner, and the game reminds you of this at every turn. But it never forces you into completing objectives if you don’t want to. It continually introduces new optional quests to take on as it gently pushes you to dig deeper into the systems it’s already lavished you with. It’s difficult to believe all this content is the work of one man, as it’s polished and in fine form, and all here laid out for you to enjoy once more, even if you’ve clocked an ungodly number of hours on another platform.

Mechanically, Stardew Valley‘s iOS version is just as sound as ever. It’s the same fantastic, content-rich game you’ve likely played on just about every other platform. Unfortunately, the mobile version makes a few sacrifices to make it accessible for players on the go. You can tap on the screen to make your character travel to a certain point and tap and drag. It works well enough, but it can be frustrating when navigating tight quarters such as your farmland, which is lined with rocks and other obstacles at the beginning of the game.

What’s more, your tool line-up is set on the left side of the screen in the vertical position, which makes tapping or dragging your character to travel in that direction a pain when you’re forever accidentally hitting a tool instead of heading to the next screen. This is an issue those who play on other platforms won’t run into and isn’t a huge problem, but it’s massively frustrating sometime when you keep having to switch from tool to tool instead of moving to the next screen. Combat controls don’t get any better, but it’s serviceable. Again, these are minor problems in the grand scheme of things (such as the whole of Stardew Valley being available here on mobile), but it’s also enough to drive one to hope for MFi controller support in the future.

Additionally, there’s no multiplayer option available, though it’s not exactly the version I’d recommend playing with others on – it’s still something players would like to see eventually, though, myself included.

Stardew Valley on iOS is another excellent version of the popular farming title, and while it has its own platform-related peculiarities, it’s still very much the same fantastic product, with everything you love about the other versions packed in here. It’s a great and affordable way to experience the full game if you haven’t already, and while you might get a touch annoyed with its mobile-centric control scheme, it’ll still suck you in immediately for the long haul – better settle in.

Welcome to the final installment of The Weekender. Yes, this is the very last edition and for those who have checked in weekly, and swung by for Out Now before that, thanks much for your interest and support! I’m going out with a bang, by which I mean a full slate of great new games and sales to check out. Let’s get to it. 

Out Now

STARDEW VALLEY (IOS UNIVERSAL)

Legendary Steam game Stardew Valley has made, what has to be, one of the bigger leaps to mobile this year. It’s a farming-simulation game where you step into the shoes of a disgruntled office worker who leaves their job in favor of managing their deceased grandfather’s farm in Stardew Valley. The farm has fallen into disrepair and your job is all about prioritizing the tasks necessary to bring it back to flourishing.

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There’s a ton to do, both on the farm and in terms of the town’s social scene, and the game is a big sandbox where you really can do whatever you desire. Stardew Valley does a great job of setting up that short/medium/long term goal cycle so that you’re always after the next thing and time flies while playing. 

DARKEST DUNGEON: THE COLOR OF MADNESS (IPAD)

Gothic-styled roguelike Darkest Dungeon is a compelling, party-based, combat-centric game with a focus on the toll that adventuring in Lovecraftian dungeons has on the adventurers. It’s layered, entertaining, and more than a little frustrating. A new expansion, The Color of Madness, was just released for iPad and adds a new region called the Farmstead.

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Along with it comes a new enemy faction (The Miller and his workmen), three new bosses, new trinkets, new quirks your hirelings can become afflicted with, four new districts for your hamlet, and a new Endless Quest mode where you must face unending waves of enemies. As if things weren’t hard enough already! All this can be yours for a $5 in-app-purchase. 

LOVE LETTER (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID)

Love Letter is a game of bluffing and strategy where up to four players vie to get a letter to a princess shut in a high tower. It’s one of the most entertaining tabletop card games to play with a group, preferably over adult beverages. It’s also now a digital game on both mobile and Steam.

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I understand that everything is making its way to digital these days, and that’s all for the good, but so much of Love Letter is about reading the table that I can’t imagine it’ll be quite the same. Regardless, it’s available now and a great game. 

ELEMENT – RTS (IOS UNIVERSAL)

If you’re a fan of real-time strategy games but don’t like getting snowed in by complex details or committing to hours to get a game in Element – RTS by Flightless Games is for you. With civilization’s home solar system increasingly unfit for life a battle for the resources necessary to travel beyond is on. You travel across the system looking to secure control of each planet’s primary element.

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You have competition each step of the way of course and… well, that’s what your attack and defense stations and missiles are for of course. Gameplay is straightforward and tactically compelling. You need a strong strategy and to maintain a good mix of resource generation, element mining, defense, and attack capabilities. Element – RTS is well worth a look for fans of the real-time gaming genre. 

EUCLIDEAN SKIES (IOS UNIVERSAL) (REVIEW)

Three-dimensional puzzle-combat gem Euclidean Lands got a well-deserved five-star review when it came out in 2017. This week the game has a successor, Euclidean Skies, which maintains the same great turn-based gameplay, spatial problem-solving, and interesting architecture. Your goal is help the protagonist proceed through level after level by twisting and turning the setting to create a path.

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Obstacles and hazards appear and become progressively difficult as the game moves through its 40 levels. There’s no requirement to solve a level in a particular number of turns, though there are achievements for those who enjoy seeking the most efficient path. If you enjoyed Euclidean Lands, or like 3D puzzle games in general, Euclidean Skies is an easy buy.  

FIDEL DUNGEON RESCUE (IOS UNIVERSAL)

Fidel Dungeon Rescue is a clever pick-your-path puzzle/dungeon crawler freshly released on iOS after about a year on Steam. You lead Fidel, our puppy protagonist, through grid-based levels where you must squash bugs and monsters for XP, restore your health by grabbing med kits, grab gold and other loot, and earn enough XP to unlock the exit. You drag a path across the screen but can’t cross over where you’ve already been.

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There’s a brilliant undo feature where you can just retrace your steps to try again. Fidel is challenging and a great deal of fun for those that like to ponder the best way to proceed. 

SIRALIM 3 (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID)

Another mobile conversion, Siralim 3 is a dungeon-crawling light-RPG that focuses on taming and breeding over 700 different creatures to fight alongside you. There’s also a crafting system that makes use of the loot you find while adventuring. Siralim 3 boasts a ton of end-game content, an asynchronous player-versus-player mode, and cross-platform play and support.

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Unfortunately, the game also makes use of an awkward, giant, on-screen D-pad and virtual A and B buttons right there on your nice touchscreen display. This turned me off immediately, but, if you’re less picky about controls the game does sound promising.

Sales

DARKEST DUNGEON (IPAD): $.99

Tied to release of The Color of Madness expansion on iPad, the Darkest Dungeon base game is on sale for just a buck.  You can’t beat this price, so if you have any interest but haven’t gotten around to it, now’s a great time.

SPACE GRUNTS (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID): $1.99/$2.49

If you want to feel like you’re playing an action game—complete with camera-shaking explosions—within the safe confines of turn-based tactics Space Grunts is for you. It’s a must-own for any roguelike fan and is currently half price.

SIR QUESTIONNAIRE (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID): $1.99/.99

The latest game from the maker of Space Grunts, Sir Questionnaire, is an entertaining roguelike with a lot to explore. It’s on sale for the first time ever.

REBUILD 3: GANGS OF DEADSVILLE (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID): $1.99

Rebuild 3 might be the best colony management and zombie survival game on mobile. You recruit, manage, and level up a team of survivors who must to do all the things needed to survive: grow food, scavenge supplies, kill zombies, and construct shelter. It’s normally $5.99 and is currently three bucks off. Get it.

THE GAME – PLAY … AS LONG AS YOU CAN! (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID): $1.99

Tabletop card game The Game’s digital version is a one-player affair and is a lot of fun. It’s worth picking up for fans of solo card games.

ASMODEE DIGITAL SALE: $1.99

In celebration of the SPIEL in Essen gaming convention a whole slew of Asmodee Digital board games are on sale for two bucks on both iOS and Android, making it a great time to expand your collection.

D&D LORDS OF WATERDEEP (IOS UNIVERSAL AND ANDROID): $3.99

Dungeons & Dragons-based board game D&D Lords of Waterdeep is available for a solid discount on both the App and Google Play stores. You play as a masked Lord of the city and must out wrangle your opponents to recruit adventurers to complete quests and thus increase your political power.