Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! The Geekly writers have another month of video games and board games to discuss, but we’d like to hear about the games you’ve been playing, too. Whatcha been playing, Geekly Gang?

Kyra’s Games

Kyra’s Video Games

I haven’t played many new video games this past month, but I have gotten into a decade-old mobile game, Clicker Heroes. Yes, this is a hella old mobile game, but it’s new to me. The monsters remind me of the monsters from My Singing Monsters. I’m guessing that’s on purpose. Oh! I may have to redownload My Singing Monsters. Clicker Heroes is a standard idle game. The idea of the game playing itself while you’re gone isn’t new (it’s at least a ten-year-old concept at this point), but Clicker Heroes does a good job of executing the gameplay. I wonder if I can level up my heroes enough to break the game.

Just because I haven’t played many “new” video games doesn’t mean that haven’t been replaying games. Terra Nil and Dorfromantik have dominated my video game hours this past month. I’m writing reviews for both of these cozy games. These reviews should be posted in September. That let’s you in on how far into the future these reviews are. Terra Nil is an anti-city builder (you’re trying to reclaim the earth for wildlife), while Dorfromantik is tile tile-laying video game, where you’re building a pastoral landscape. Both are chill games. I love playing them for the vibes.

Kyra’s Board Games

My gaming group has played even more Flip 7 over the past several weeks. Flip 7 is one of those games we play as a warm-up or as a quick change of pace game. Essentially, Flip 7 is a large group game of Black Jack with specialty cards. The game’s easy to pick up, scales really well, and is a great way to bring in people who aren’t already board game enthusiasts. My Monday gaming group meets at the public library, so we get a lot of random people who walk up to the table. Flip 7 works as an introductory game. It combines just enough new elements with a classic card game.

Prior to joining my gaming group, I hadn’t played many Set Enterprises card games. But we’ve been playing Quiddler, which is a quick and fun word-building game, and Karma, where players try to empty their hands, but they have three cards face-down that they don’t know what they are until they’re played. I’m a bigger fan of Quiddler than Karma, but I appreciate what Karma’s trying to do. The face-down cards cause enough chaos that they even the playing field of a standard card-shedding game. Still, there’s a little too much luck involved (for my tastes) with the Set Enterprises card games I’ve played. But I do really like Quiddler. It’s short enough that I don’t mind the heightened aspect of luck.

I could talk about a handful of other board games, but I’m certain Season and Skye may mention them in their write-ups. I won’t swoop in with any of their entries. Speaking of which, let’s see which games Season and Skye have played over the last month.

Skye’s Games

Skye’s Board Games

I’ve heard good things about Cretaceous Rails for a while–mainly from Kyra and Season–but I haven’t played it until now. I had fun. Cretaceous Rails is a simple board game about creating a dinosaur tourist resort by time-traveling to the past. While I didn’t do so well my first time, I rarely do, I still enjoyed Cretaceous Rails enough to want to play again. Cretaceous Rails is one of those games that has several interesting elements that can only be properly explored across multiple playthroughs. I intend to “git gud.” Also, it’s trains and dinosaurs. Together at last! What’s not to love?

Skye’s Video Games

Over the past month, I’ve migrated back to mobile games. Meow Tower is one of the phone games I’ve discovered. In Meow Tower, you’re a human making an apartment building for cats. That’s pretty much it. You get to know each of the cats individually; you design each of their rooms to their liking. You progress through Meow Tower by solving puzzles, specifically Nonogram puzzles. If you’re unfamiliar, Nonograms are spatial puzzles that force you to uncover hidden images given the available clues. If you like brainteasers and cute cats, Meow Tower is a great leisure game.

Last Stronghold is another phone game. I know, I lost a good amount of gamer-cred this past month. Last Stronghold is a basic zombie survival game. What appeals to me about Last Stronghold is its focus on building up your base, exploring the world around you, saving other survivors, and shooting zombies in the face. I just described every zombie game in existence. Dang it. My favorite thing about Last Stronghold is its art style. Call me petty, but that’s pretty much it. With it being an offline phone game, Last Stronghold also has a significant element of leisure to it, which allows you to go at your own pace. Last Stronghold is by far the most benign zombie apocalypse I’ve ever seen.

Season’s Games

season’s board games

Wingspan is technically a board game, but I’ve played the Steam variant. I’m still counting it since I have physical copies of Wyrmspan and Finspan. It’s like the same thing. The interface on Wingspan is easy to follow. Players can tab between different zones, and the game will remind them in which order to take actions. It’s definitely easier to learn how to play Wingspan through the Steam version since there’s a tutorial. My only nitpick with this version is that players must remember which birds are holding eggs whenever they need to spend eggs. Players can click on the zone where said bird is, but there isn’t a separate interface.

season’s video games

I completely forgot a Persona 5 gacha game was getting released on June 26th. I got an ad for it on YouTube the other day and was like, “Oh. Yeah. I forgot that was a thing.” I’ve gotten a decent way through the story so far, and it’s definitely made me nostalgic for the original Persona 5. The combat hasn’t changed, except that it can be sped up, and they’ve included auto-battles. Some other minor differences include synergy between characters instead of confidants, and, as far as I know, there isn’t a finite amount of time to complete the story.

Persona 5 The Phantom X has players progress the story similarly to the original Persona 5. You must complete the first Palace and learn mechanics. Story-wise, it’s better than other gacha games. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Persona game, even if it’s a free-to-play gacha game. I’m also digging the character designs. Unlike most gacha games, there are an even number of men and women characters, and they’re adequately dressed. I’m not a fan of boobs in my face. Just saying.

Side note: I pulled for Joker and got him on my first ten pulls. I’m a huge Joker simp lol.

Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here again. Those are all the games our writers have played over the past month. Feel free to share the games you’re playing. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.