Invisible Gamer News

From the dudes at North Star Games (who are possibly, like, high, dude) comes a new card game, dude.  It's called Dude.  Dude!  You say dude a lot, dude, and you try to say it the same way someone else says it, dude, so that you get more points.  Dude! There's also an expansion, called 'More Dude,' dude, but it's just not the same, dude.  For More Dude, you say dude the way a robot or an alien would say it or something, dude.  It's just not the same.  Which is probably why they called it More Dude, instead of Dude.  Dude. If you have more than six dudes and dudettes, you can also add 'One More Dude.'  For when you need more dudes, dude. Anyway, Dude and all the other dude accouterments are sold exclusively at Target.  Weird, but hey.  What's a dude to do?  So... dude.  Check it out!

Have you heard of Scythe ?  It's a post-apocalyptic survival resource managing game, where the apocalypse in question was the Great War.  Set in  alternate reality 1920's Eastern Europe, you manage one of up to five factions, gather resources, gather workers, build mechs. What?  What else would you do? Anyway, this pretty cool little Steampunk game launched on Kickstarter, was successful, and now has a video game on Steam .  Full circle!  It's currently in Early Access, but the computer version is being published by Asmodee Digital .  I think we can trust them.  The video game will be demo'ing at Gen Con, and you can also play the board game.  It will be available for PC and Mac (cool!) and you can find out more about it here .

Soulworker is an anime action brawler, created by Lion Games and published by GameForge.  Set in a post-apocalyptic purgatory, you play one of (currently) four young schoolchildren who fell from the real world into the world of Soulworker.  The tutorial gives you the setting, which varies slightly for each character, and then moves you to the first hub area.  From there, you begin questing so you can get gear so you can do harder quests for more gear and to progress the story, using energy every time you enter a quest area.  The combat is a lot of fun, but if you're unwilling to pay - the current in-game economy is beyond ridiculous, and the premium currency is wildly overpriced - the game gets very grindy. The characters are the different classes, and the character designs are all very charming, even if they go a bit far on the 'females are to be looked at' side.  There's Haru, a broadsword wielding pre-med student who is apparently allergic to things coveri...

Welcome to Copero!  A lovely resort planet of the Chiss Ascendancy, with a dark secret.  This storyline for this flashpoint was written by Timothy Zahn, author of the Thrawn novels.  This is probably the closest SWTOR has come to being considered canon for years. Aristocra Saganu disapproves of your Jedi ways. Featuring the return of the influential and impeccably voiced Aristocra Saganu, from the Agent storyline, Copero is an exciting run through a beautiful world. omg god rays! Copero also brings back another Agent companion, Ensign Raina Temple - for better or for worse, depending on how your Agent felt about her.  I did my first playthrough of Copero as a Chiss Jedi, and for the first time in a long time, that made a huge difference in the story.  There are lines specifically for Chiss, and for Jedi, and for Chiss Jedi.  It is amazing. This place is prettier than Makeb, and that's saying something. Copero continues the dark storyline...

Who hasn't woke up one day dreaming of living through the French Revolution?  What, you haven't?  Well, whatever.  At least some people have!  Like the fine people at Joy Manfacturing Co., who are working on creating a game about this very scenario: Ambition: A Minuet in Power .  Play the part of Yvette, a young woman who takes an active part in the French Revolution - she's not just window dressing.  She's playing the court circles, making friends, spying on people, setting people up... just like high school, only with more guillotines.  Yvette is supposed to be searching for her lost love, but let's face it: we're all going to get this game to see how many people we can send to the scaffolds.  Tip: rename your victims after your high school bullies!  Instant catharsis. Joy Manufacturing Co. is a small team of creators and designers based in San Francisco, CA, and they make unique, creative, and interesting games.  Their Kickstarter ...

A Hand in the Darkness by Ertal Games is a BL Otome.  For those of you who were going to open a new window to look that up, let me save you a click: it's a visual romance novel but with boys kissing boys.  The game is available on Steam and from the developer's itch.io site.  The developer (a solo project, props and respect) writes in both English and Spanish, and while you might expect my major complaint to be about the translation quality, it's not. The game features three different love interests to pursue (and of course, get Steam achievements).  There's Damian, the rich rake who is unexpectedly mature; Rick, the smart one whose path I haven't finished yet; and Monty.  My problem with the game - which I enjoyed in all other respects - is Monty.  The stalker.  The controlling boyfriend who has no redeeming properties and causes a bizarre switch in the main character's behavior that I found both baffling and unpleasant.  Never have I rushed t...

So, someone who has no idea that I am some sort of Internet blog-journalist-gamer-reviewer (I like to mix genres, okay) gave me a free key for the Early Access of a new game from Epic Games, Fortnite .  It's a... game where you gather materials, build forts, and then defend them from zombies.  You also attach weather balloons to vans, build possibly alien technology to combat zombies, and power things with blue goo.  And I thought I liked to mix genres....  Anyway, the game is fun, and does not take itself particularly seriously.  Except in the excellence of the mechanics. Building is fluid and simple, the harvesting mechanic is fun, the heroes and survivors all look different and interesting, and shooting/stabbing/burning/launching zombies is just as much fun as you think it will be.  The only thing I do not like is the minimap, which can be very confusing especially when searching for mission items in a party.  It's possible I am just directionally...

The Secret World is an awesome game with a great setting and a fantastic story.  Seriously, it has some of the best NPCs and villains of any game, let alone any MMO.  Recently, they underwent Yet Another Change and rebooted as Secret World Legends , a free to play shared world action RPG with modernized combat and streamlined story.  I cannot let their flubs with the billing system get a pass, but there is already way too much about that on the official Reddit so I won't go into much detail aside from saying, yes, I was one of the people who got utterly screwed by HiPay and as someone who has worked in financial services back when I had a job, I can say that their screwups are completely inexcusable and it is only happening because Funcom was being cheap.  Or their CEO is dating the CEO of HiPay.  One or the other.  Aside from that, Secret World Legends is pretty awesome and I hope they follow through on their upcoming plans . I am a competitively casual ...

I'm sure you know this already if you play Star Wars: The Old Republic , but the new Manaan stronghold came out today.  Located on the water planet of Manaan, the house can be expanded 4 times and features a stronghold hook (hint: target it from the upstairs) and a glass floor so you can watch the Firaxa swim by your house (about every ten minutes or so). The new stronghold brings the total maximum of houses you can own to 6, but I'm still not sure if the Conquest bonus has been raised as well.  Pricing for the new stronghold: Stronghold unlock: 2,500 CC or 2,500,000 Credits Room 1 – Interior Expansion: 1,400 CC or 2,000,000 Credits Room 2 – Rooftop Garden: 800 CC or 975,000 Credits Room 3 – Deepwater Sanctuary (South): 1,150 CC or 1,450,000 Credits Room 4 – Deepwater Sanctuary (North): 1,150 CC or 1,450,000 Credits I have not purchased the house just yet (trying to decide if I want to use cartel coins or credits), but when I do, expect a picture post showing off...

Checker Book Publishing Group released a demo video of the upcoming re-release of the first ever superhero role-playing game, Superhero 2044.  This is a remake of the original system from 1974, a game not as well known as D&D but still paved the way for other superhero RPGs such as Villains and Vigilantes, Champions, and of course, DC Heroes.  And that led to superhero video games that didn't suck. Like City of Heroes/Villains and Batman: Arkham Asylum. While the Checker BPG page does seem to heavily feature large boobed women, the game supports actual diversity.  It will come with hundreds of premade characters, from every race, gender, creed, and color, and they are all integrated into the game like normal people. The Kickstarter will be launched on August 16, 2017.  Superhero 2044 will be both an RPG and a card game, with an expected release sometime in 2018.

Star Realms Frontiers Kickstarter has launched!  This is an expansion set for Star Realms, a  Deckbuilding/Trading Card game by the genuinely nice people from White Wizard Games  which I demo'ed at Gen Con last year.  Did I say expansion?  This is a set of NINE expansions, all new for this Kickstarter.  I'm going to copy and paste from the Kickstarter page now: Frontiers is a deckbuilding game for 1-4 players, that is both a standalone game and fully compatible with Star Realms Deckbuilding Game and all of its expansions! Stellar Allies is a 12-card Kickstarter exclusive multi-faction expansion pack! The Alignment, The Alliance, The Coalition, The Pact, The Union, and The Unity are 17-card Command Decks that allow you to play as a legendary commander in the Star Realms universe! The Lost Fleet is a Kickstarter exclusive* Command Deck! I'm not going to go into a full overview of how to play the game, except to say that you should bring a snack w...