Author: Kyra

Kyle Kyra (they/them) writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They live in a sleepy Nebraska town. Yes, corn lives outside their back door. They hold a BFA in creative writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and their work has appeared in Menacing Hedge, Spank the Carp, Danse Macabre, The Door is a Jar, The Collidescope, and other journals and anthologies.

Whatcha Reading, Geekly: August 2026

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Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and today, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading over the past month, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started by sharing what I’ve been reading this past month.

Dungeon Crawler Carl Book Cover

Kyra’s Fiction

I’ve been catching up with various novels I started but never finished. Dungeon Crawler Carl is one of those novels. Yep! I may need to lower the number of novels I begin at once. I should’ve read Dungeon Crawler Carl straight through. Like The House in the Cerulean Sea, I picked up Dungeon Crawler Carl’s sequel, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. Dungeon Crawler Carl is dumb fun. I can see why it has a massive following. Sometimes, you just want to laugh. I love Princess Donut. She’s a talking Persian cat who can fire off Gandalf-level magic missiles. The dungeon’s bosses are puns in the best possible way. I belly laughed during Carl and Donut’s fight with The Juicer, a roided out lizard man. “I’m proud of you, bro,” he said. “You fought through the pain.”

Dungeon Crawler Carl reminded me that writing and reading can be fun. Does it have a larger message to share? Probably not. I’m sure some readers will find some meaning in the text, but that doesn’t matter. This is a fun book, and I hope, a fun series, because I intend to read the next novel in the series. It also doesn’t hurt that Princess Donut is a tortoise shell Persian. My cat, Cinder, was the exact same breed and coloring. And if Cinder had magical powers and could talk, she’d most likely sound like Princess Donut. Donut is my queen.

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com Book Cover

I said that this past month featured numerous finished novels that I started earlier, and I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com continues that trend. This one didn’t stick the landing. I loved the earlier three-quarters of the novel, but quickly remembered why I put down the book: the sex scenes. I still marvel at how well Lemming writes sex scenes. I don’t know if I could pull off scenes like hers. And I had fun with these scenes during the earlier portions of I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com, but the scenes came out of nowhere, detracting from the action Lemming had set up. The book didn’t have “too many” sex scenes. But I couldn’t suspend disbelief with a sex scene occurring during the middle of a dinosaur chase scene. What?

And of course, I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com included a large sex scene after the events unfolded, but by this point, I grew tired of the scenes. Again, these scenes are well written. I just wanted to see what would happen next on the planet.

Speaking of a story not sticking the landing, I finally read Scott Snyder’s Batman: The Court of Owls Saga. Snyder is notorious for writing an amazing first three-quarters of a story, and then the story falls apart. I enjoyed most of Batman: The Court of Owls Saga. This graphic novel features a lot of interesting storytelling methods. At one point, artist Greg Capullo turns the panels ninety degrees, not once, not even twice. This simulated Batman’s disorientation. I won’t say any more than that and risk spoiling the story, but this was highly effective. And Snyder’s writing up to this point was solid.

And then an M Night Shyamalan twist occurs at the three-quarter point of Batman: The Court of Owls Saga. I groaned. Out loud. Ugh! The worst part was that I could see the twist coming. Still, I enjoyed most of this graphic novel. The Court of Owls is a great addition to Batman’s rogues’ gallery. So much was working at the beginning of the graphic novel. I loved the opening. The ending doesn’t ruin the entire graphic. I’d still recommend Batman: The Court of Owls Saga.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight has an interesting premise. It sets Batman’s story in the turn-of-the-century United States. Weird. I wanted to like Batman: Gotham by Gaslight more than I did. The art is fantastic. Mike Mignola lends his Hellboy style to Batman. What’s not to love? But again, the stories (there are two short stories in this collection) left me wanting. The Jack the Ripper story was odd and clunky. The second story was slightly better. The Master of the Future is a bombastic take on Ra’s al Ghul. The two aren’t a perfect one-to-one, but they share enough similarities that I wondered if The Master of the Future was one of Ra’s’s children. He has more children than Talia. As far as I know, The Master of the Future doesn’t have a connection with Ra’s.

Despite the Jack the Ripper cringe of the first story and the goofy Ra’s wannabe in the second story, I can see why Batman: Gotham by Gaslight was a huge Elseworlds (alternate universe) hit. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight predates DC Comics’ concept of Elseworlds. This is one of the comics that started alternate reality versions of DC Comics characters. Without this graphic novel, we may not have the excellent line of Absolute DC Comics.

That’s what I’ve been reading over the past month. Season and Skye are taking this month off for watcha reading, so feel free to share what you’ve been reading over the past month. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News: August 9, 2026; New Releases

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Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. We’re still taking a break from headlines, but we have plenty of new releases for board games and video games. Let’s get to the games.

Medici Traders Launches on KickStarter

Like the classic Medici Board Game, Traders is a tile game that takes you to 15th century Florence, Italy. Players acquire the most valuable goods and optimally pack them on their ships. They simultaneously draw goods tiles, adding up to 3 tiles to their tray, which they then move to the center of the table.

After all players have added their trays to the center, the first player selects one of the trays, adding florins (coins) to the tray, as they wish, to help solidify their claim to those goods. Future players may either take a tray from the center (again placing florins to the tray to help solidify their claim) OR surpassing the number of florins on a tray that another player has already claimed, and taking that tray. The original player gets their florins back. Play continues around the table in this way until all players have claimed a tray.

Florins used to claim trays are turned into the bank and players load the goods from their claimed tray onto their ship. Ships in Traders have multiple levels – one for each day (turn) and an upper deck that can hold special goods with upper deck railings.

The above steps are repeated until all players have filled all 7 spaces on the current day’s ship level.

At the end of each day, players score. First, players score based on who has the highest points of goods on the current day’s level of their ship. Then, players score for each type of good anywhere on their ship. Players with the most of each type of good score the most points for that good.

At the end of three days, the player with the most florins wins.

Thank you, APE Games, for the description. I played the heck out of the Medici app. Yes! Medici may be another game I prefer more as an app. And I’ll also throw in app board games because it saves on physical space. Regardless of how you play Medici, the game is excellent. The subject matter may not appeal to everyone. In Medici, you’re trying to manage your resources, selling them at their highest value. Medici Traders looks to streamline a lot of what Medici does and shrink down the game’s runtime. This was the biggest reason why I played Medici as an app. I didn’t think my game group had the patience for a multiple hour game about resource management. But Medici Traders plays in less than forty-five minutes. The upkeep from round to round appears minimal. I may have to pick up a physical copy of a game in the Medici line.

And since Medici Traders is part of the Medici line, designer Reiner Knizia returns. Knizia has a way of making a resource management game with auctions and trading fun. Medici Traders offers several pledge options, ranging from $34 to $139. If you’re interested in Medici Traders, check out its KickStarter page.

Mykerinos Releases on GameFound

1899. For more than a century, the European public has been fascinated by Egyptology and the discoveries of Denon, Champollion, Petrie and others. Seeking adventure and glory, teams of archaeologists search the sands of Egypt for hidden treasures.

Mykerinos. Embody archaeologists seeking relics from ancient Egypt for powerful benefactors. Will you be convincing at the museum’s final exhibition?

Thank you, Looping Games, for the description. Looping Games has been around for just over a decade, and they have reproduced some fantastic games. Mykerinos is the latest decades-old game to receive a facelift from Looping Games. The production value looks amazing. I like Mykerinos’s theme. The tagline goes hard. “Excavate the past. Control the present. Win the final exhibition.” Sounds simple enough, but like many Looping Games (publisher of the 1900 series), Mykerinos provides plenty of strategic depth. If you’re interested in Mykerinos, check out its GameFound page.

Marvel: TOKON Fighting Souls Releases

Assemble your team of legendary Marvel characters in the ultimate 4v4 tag team fighter.

If Marvel vs Capcom wasn’t enough, PlayStation is giving us a Marvel fighting game with a twenty-character roster in Marvel: TOKON Fighting Souls. I’m certain more Marvel characters will be released in the coming months. Twenty characters isn’t a huge roster for a 4v4 tag team fighting game. Each player will control four different characters, so forty percent of all the characters will be included in any one match. Yikes!

Marvel: TOKON Fighting Souls has plans for four future characters with its DLC. We’ll have to see if these characters will be free downloads. The graphics look amazing. Developer Arc System Works has a history with fighting games, so they have the talent and experience to translate Marvel characters into a fighting game. The relatively small roster also gives me hope that each character will play differently from the rest. I’ve got this one on my radar. Marvel: TOKON Fighting Souls is available on PC and PlayStation 5.

Big Walk Releases

Hang out and get lost with close friends in a big world. Big Walk is a cooperative online walker-talker from the creators of Untitled Goose Game.

I enjoyed playing Untitled Goose Game. I’m not good at it, but I had fun playing it. House House has done it again with Big Walk. Big Walk follows the footsteps of highly cooperative games like Meccha Chameleon, Among Us, and Peak. You and your three friends are the only living beings in the world of Big Walk. The four of you are on the titular “big walk” across this uninhabited planet. You must work together to solve puzzles and earn plenty of nubs. Big Walk is part of a growing category of video games that promote friendship. You and your pals must communicate well, and while the stakes aren’t as high as other games, Big Walk can be very rewarding. Big Walk is available on PC and Nintendo Switch 2. Honk, honk!

That’s all the new releases for board games and video games that we have for you this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

X-Men ’97 “The Dead Man’s Hand” Review

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle back again with another review/reaction of an X-Men ’97 episode. If you’re looking for last week’s episode “Strange Land, Savage Heart,” here’s a link to our review/reaction to that episode. Today, we’ll be discussing X-Men ’97 season two’s penultimate episode, “The Dead Man’s Hand.” Things begin to click into place as X-Men ’97 season two reaches its finale. I’ll kick off this post by sharing my thoughts on X-Men ’97 “The Dead Man’s Hand.”

Kyra’s Take

I’m torn with this week’s episode of X-Men ’97. “The Dead Man’s Hand” does everything you would want a penultimate episode for a season to do. It wraps up just enough threads to keep viewers interested. It brings the disparate groups of X-Men and other entities together for what should be a fantastic final confrontation. And it even manages to bring back a fan favorite. Not to mention that Nightcrawler gets to show off his moves in “The Dead Man’s Hand.” The scene where Nightcrawler got to work made me jump from my chair. Bamf! But I’m confused by the big bad’s motivation and scheme.

This review/reaction will have spoilers. Consider yourself warned. Apocalypse brought Gambit back to life and as a result, became a desiccated corpse. While it looks like Apocalypse wanted Gambit as his new personification of Death (one of his horsemen), the transformation backfired. I still hold out hope that X-Men ’97 plans to introduce The Huntsman or Weapon XII, but the events in “The Dead Man’s Hand” show Apocalypse behind this plot. Did he intend for Gambit to absorb his consciousness? Unclear. Apocalypse’s feud with Candra (External) fell a little flat. Sure, the seeds of this conflict go back to episode four from this season (“Rise of Apocalypse: Part II”), but I would’ve liked more lead up to this moment. Perhaps a quick nod to what happened earlier this season.

Despite what appears to be a half-baked plan by Apocalypse (for now), “The Dead Man’s Hand” has plenty of stand up and cheer moments. The Nightcrawler fight I mentioned before is one. Holy poop! Any scene where Rogue and Gambit try to reconnect manages to pull at the heartstrings. Cable playing his parents to get close to Gambit so he can kill Apocalypse inside Remy’s body was cold, on-brand for Cable, and twists the knife, reminding Cyclops that he wasn’t there for his son’s coming of age. The Summers family has a messed up history, and I’m here for it. I even liked the hinted at team up of X-Force and X-Factor. Half of X-Force defected to the X-Men (Jubilee and Sunspot), and the prospect of Cable, Psylocke, and Archangel working with X-Factor is juicy.

X-Men stories have always featured characters hopping from one faction to the next. This doesn’t bother me. In fact, I like it when X-Men stories present two compelling sides to the same argument. I don’t know where X-Men ’97 intends to take its season two finale. Typically, I’d say this was a good thing. But I’m less confident with Apocalypse’s goal, and Gambit’s return lacked a little something. I think that something was knowing what Apocalypse planned to do with Remy’s body. Did Apocalypse’s plan backfire? Does he intend to skinwalk in others’ skin for the rest of his existence? That would track with what we saw in “Days of Past Future” (the first episode of this season). A disembodied Apocalypse planned to insert himself within Cable.

“The Dead Man’s Hand” is one of those episodes that needs context. We’ll have to wait for next week’s episode to find that context. Those are my thoughts on X-Men ’97 “The Dead Man’s Hand.” Let’s check in with Season.

Season’s Take

I’m ecstatic that Gambit made his return, but the execution felt lackluster. I’m not sure what I was expecting outside of Apocalypse resurrecting Gambit to control him, but I didn’t think he would inhabit Gambit’s body. While that tracks for Apocalypse, I was hoping he wouldn’t be the big bad of season two. It would’ve been so cool if Marvel threw in a twist villain. External made an appearance, but I thought she would play more of a role. She basically went poof.

I loved the moments between Gambit and Rogue. They did an amazing job of portraying Rogue’s conflicted feelings. It was animated beautifully. I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope season two has an amazing ending.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

SpiderManBrandNewDayReview

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review

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Happy Saturday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with the first of two reviews/reactions today. Our writers watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day last weekend, and we have some thoughts to share. I’ll kick things off with my thoughts on Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Kyra’s Take

I enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The trailers promised a character-driven Spider-Man story, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day delivers on this promise. Peter’s story continues where Spider-Man: No Way Home concluded. He has yet to reach out to his friends, Ned and MJ, and his journey toward self-acceptance mirrors the storyline of Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s “villain.” Before we go any further, I must give a spoiler warning to anyone who hasn’t seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Consider yourself warned.

Jean Grey–yes, The X-Men’s Jean Grey–is Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s villain, sort of. Her mutant powers have awakened, and she’s on the look for her sister, Sarah. Jean’s mother abandoned her and her sister because of who they were; a stark contrast to Spider-Man’s Aunt May embracing her nephew/son after he gained his powers. This is relevant to the story. Trust me. After all, Jean’s a telepath.

During Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Spider-Man’s powers are growing and “mutating.” Again, Jean Grey’s powers awakening and amplifying echo Spider-Man’s changes. Narratively, this is a great choice. Peter Parker followed Tony Stark/Iron Man’s lead. At one point of his career, Peter submitted himself to government monitoring and regulation; this was the whole point of Captain America: Civil War and the Sokovia Accords. Peter continues to work with the government. Jean Grey fights against government regulation and monitoring as most X-Men would do. If the MCU were to include or introduce the X-Men in a Spider-Man film, the way Spider-Man: Brand New Day does it is near flawless. But I’m not a huge fan of a Spider-Man film introducing the X-Men.

There has never been a Spider-Man MCU film where Spider-Man was the only superhero in the film. Repeat: No Spider-Man MCU film has been a solo Spider-Man movie. Spider-Man: Homecoming had Iron Man as Spidey’s father figure (one extra superhero). Spider-Man: Far From Home featured an Iron Man cameo and Nick Fury working behind the scenes (two extra superheroes). Spider-Man: No Way Home had two other versions of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange (three extra superheroes). Spider-Man: Brand New Day has appearances from Jean Grey, The Punisher, The Hulk, and Black Widow (four extra superheroes). What’s next for Spider-Man 5? Five extra superheroes. It may as well be an Avengers film. Kind of like Captain America: Civil War.

Don’t get me wrong, most–if not all–of these guest-staring superheroes had a purpose in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Jean Grey begins as the antagonist, only to be vindicated as a scared young woman makes for a good volta (turn) with Damage Control becoming the “real villain.” This is great. It shatters Peter’s worldview that he’s held since he was introduced into the MCU (ten years ago). The Punisher works as comic relief and at the end, he reminds Peter that extreme measures aren’t always needed. The Punisher is also the man Peter fears he’ll become if he keeps himself closed. Great stuff. The Hulk shows a path Peter’s mutation could take; Peter even calls his continued mutation a “monster” like The Hulk. The Hulk is the monster Spider-Man doesn’t want to become. Bruce gives Peter the idea of inhibiting his mutation and this gives Peter the means to subdue Jean. And Black Widow is just fun. She doesn’t steal a lot of screen time. But that’s four extra superheroes. Four!

We’ll probably never get a Spider-Man solo film in the MCU. That isn’t the worst thing in the world. The MCU is an interconnected universe. Fortunately, viewers didn’t need to do any “homework” before Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sure, you could watch the recent Punisher Special on Disney+, but it isn’t “required” viewing to understand this movie’s plot. As long as you vaguely know who Yelena (Black Widow) and Bruce (The Hulk) Banner are, you don’t need to watch or rewatch any of their previous movies or shows. All of this is great. The MCU has learned to eliminate–or at least reduce–audience “homework,” and the confluence of superheroes Spider-Man: Brand New Day used worked for the movie’s character-driven story. But I miss the days of the MCU’s solo superhero movies or even the Spider-Man films with fewer guest superheroes.

Off-topic, but I’ve heard some people describe Jean Grey’s actions in this film as “evil.” I don’t believe that is the case, but I may be too quick to forgive Jean’s actions. She does kill people for her family. At least two Damage Control goons passed away during Jean’s assault on the organization’s headquarters. She may have been responsible for more. In the comics, Jean Grey is a more morally gray–or grey–character than most might think. Sink’s performance is great for a young Jean Grey with a mean streak. But I can see why people would call Jean’s actions in Spider-Man: Brand New Day evil. I view her actions as destructive. I also served in the military during three wars. I have a much larger body count than Jean when it comes to killing for my family. So, I’m biased.

My final thought is on Damage Control itself, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s use of Bill Metzger. In the comics, William Metzger was an anti-mutant leader. His was an organization similar to the mutant hate-group Friends of Humanity. As soon as I heard the name Metzger, I knew he was a villain, and it all but confirmed Jean Grey, instead of any number of Spider-Man villains with mind control or possession (as Black Widow put it) powers as this film’s antagonist. Going into this film, I thought Mister Negative or Carrion would’ve been better served as the movie’s villain. Heck, Carrion’s abilities closely match what Jean does during the film (a pseudo-possession), and Mister Negative was the main villain in the comic story titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day. So, I guess I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t see another great Spidey villain take centerstage. Spider-Man has one of the greatest rogues galleries in comics.

Heck. Spider-Man has the second best rogues galleries in comics, second only to Batman. So, Spider-Man: Brand New Day plays like a Batman movie with none of Batman’s rogues present. Odd. It worked, but I don’t want this as a steady diet with Spider-Man movies.

Ultimately, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a great popcorn flick. I’ll probably watch it once or twice after it lands on Disney+. If the MCU had to introduce the X-Men in a Spider-Man film, this is almost perfect. I just wished the MCU didn’t choose to introduce the X-Men in this film. Despite the X-Men’s inclusion, Spider-Man: Brand New Day kept its trailers’ promise of a Spider-Man character-driven film. It’s a fun movie. Those are my thoughts on Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Let’s see what Season thinks.

Season’s Take

I was a bit surprised to see Jean Grey as an anti-hero in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sadie Sink did an amazing job as Jean Grey. The character was very believable. The plot of Spider-Man: Brand New Day was well-written and can work as a stand alone movie. There were enough flashbacks to the previous Spider-Man movies that the audience could understand what happened without having to watch the other installments. The flashbacks were a bit too overdone; they could have cut down the runtime without some of them.

Before I watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I didn’t know who William Metzger was. What made me suspicious of him initially was how he spoke to the Hand. He spoke Japanese (without subtitles), and didn’t use an ounce of polite speech while introducing Spider-Man as an ally of the Hand. He referred to the Hand as “omae (oh-ma-eh)” or “you all.” “Omae” is either a familiar way of speaking to someone, but is considered to be very rude. He also referred to himself as “ore (oh-ray)” or “I.” This is normally an arrogant way to refer to oneself. He also didn’t use “desu” or “masu” at the end of his sentences, which is also either rude or familiar. I’m not sure how many Japanese speakers watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but this instance stood out to me.

I wish we could have seen some underused members of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, so I was a bit disappointed when that didn’t happen. It looks like we’ll be seeing Venom in the future fifth Spider-Man movie. Here’s hoping it’ll blow Spider-Man 3 out of the water.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. I left the Metzger Japanese speech to Season; She spent a year and a half in Japan. I remember looking at Season when the scene occurred. I don’t speak Japanese, but I could tell something was off with Metzger’s speech. Anyway, thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Game Design Brain Dump: August 7, 2026

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another board game design brain dump. This month’s game design dump will mostly be a status update with a tip of the hat to a new productivity tool: a dry-erase calendar. I know. I know. Dry-erase calendars are old news, old tech, but it worked wonders.

New Calendar

The calendar proved necessary because I had become trapped with the idea that everything for Geekly, this blog, was easier and faster than anything else I could do for my career (both board game design and writing). The calendar has spots for weekly items, and I do use these for quite a few things, like my weekly menu (I cook for my household) and other events that occur on specific days of the week (like game design meetups and write-ins, both great resources for game designers and writers).

But the “To Do” section has given me the most focus. I write down the six to seven most important tasks and mark the two quickest/easiest tasks to accomplish first. This keeps me on task. Geekly projects don’t always top the list for quickest or easiest tasks, and I find myself finishing most projects. I do have one item listed for a specific day because that day will be the best time to attempt the project. Overall, this new calendar has streamlined my creative process. I’ve mentioned this in various posts (specifically my Autism Representation Deep Dive series), but I’m neurodivergent. The calendar limits my number of choices. So often, I’ll become paralyzed and continue with what I was working on before, which, for a time, was nothing but Geekly content. This visual reminds me of other goals and gives me a handful of options.

I’ve gushed about my new calendar for long enough. Let’s get to the game updates for this month.

Monster Chef 01 Board Game Logo

Monster Chef works as a hand management game. I’ve playtested it numerous times over the past month. The new butcher knife ability works well. I noticed the decks running out of cards far quicker than before, and added back in one extra copy of the Groceries cards for each monster. I’ve seen multiple playthroughs where gamers complained that they didn’t see enough of the Grocery card abilities. This solves both potential issues.

Monster Chef also plays at a tight thirty minutes or so. I’m happy with that approximate play time. Now, all I need to do is playtest Monster Chef at various designer meetups and conventions. Nuke-Con (in Omaha, Nebraska) won’t occur until early October. I’ll definitely have a playtest or two or three of Monster Chef planned for that convention. I’ll keep you posted if I attend any other public events before Nuke-Con.

After codifying the game’s ruleset, one of the goals I have set for myself is finishing Monster Chef’s rulebook. Oh, yeah. I see some blind playtests in the near future.

I knew Rustbucket Riots would prove more difficult to complete. It is. But I’ve made plenty of progress. Rustbucket Riots works as a bag building game. Yay! Two major issues cropped up: minions added to player bags is brutal, and gamers felt weaker than they did when the game was strictly dice-rolling (with the lock a result mechanism). Both problems were easily fixed. I lowered the number of minions added by boss robots each turn. Done. That was easy. Making the players feel more powerful was a little difficult to pinpoint, but I’m tackling the issue in two ways. First, increase the number of tokens players grab from their bags each turn. This was easy enough. But drawing fewer tokens was only part of the problem.

When players could reroll dice (dice rolling mechanism), Rustbucket Riots players had more control over their results. Do you really need to roll a Jump result? Reroll any dice that don’t show Jump until you lock in every result. Pulling from a bag is a little trickier. The tokens you pull are the tokens you pull. So, I added a mechanism that allows players to trade in any two tokens for a token of their choice. You’ll need to pull more tokens from your bag, but as I mentioned, players will be pulling more tokens from their bags.

I’m excited by the direction Rustbucket Riots is taking. Now comes the long road of balancing the mechanisms so most games conclude with a tight outcome. Fingers crossed.

That’s all I have for this month’s game design brain dump. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Whatcha Playing, Geekly: August 2026

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Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Today, our writers share what they’ve been playing over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been playing this month, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get this post started with what I’ve been playing over the past month.

Kyra’s Video Games

Die in the Dungeon is a dice version of Slay the Spire. Die in the Dungeon is a roguelite where players choose a path in a branching dungeon. Instead of building a deck, you’ll build a dice pool. The computer rolls your dice for you–so that’s a tactical goodness you’ll miss with Die in the Dungeon–and die placement on a 9-space grid shaped like a diamond can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Because it uses dice, Die in the Dungeon feels like it has fewer parts than Slay the Spire. I may be wrong. But dice can only do so much, and each die type is color-coded. Red attack. Blue block. Green heal. Purple dice give bonuses. There are more die types (that have various actions), but usually, if a die has a similar hue to the base dice, the die will be a variant of one of those three basic die types. For example, pink dice are typically splash attacks (attack all enemies). I’m just getting started with Die in the Dungeon, but I can see this one as a good candidate for a Quirky Video Game Review sometime next year.

If you like Slay the Spire, you should give Die in the Dungeon a try. A free demo does exist on Steam. You can try before you buy. I can see Die in the Dungeon getting its own tabletop game adaptation. I really like rolling dice, and while you can reroll dice in Die in the Dungeon, it doesn’t hit the same as clicking a button to roll the dice at the beginning of combat. Sure, Die in the Dungeon saves time by autorolling your dice before each round of battle. But I want to roll dice.

I’ve been keeping up with Apex Legends. The new legend, Axle, is fun. Per usual (for skirmisher legends like Axle), she was released in an overpowered state, and Apex Legends has since nerfed her in line with the rest of the roster. With the launch of the E-District map last season, Apex Legends feels like it’s gained some positive momentum. I wouldn’t mind Respawn alternating new legend, new map, new weapon, and new game mode each season (which spans three months), but it’s Respawn, this is a not-so-sudden influx of new content. While some live-service video games flood their games with an abundance of content (ahem, Fortnite), Apex Legends drags its feet. Longtime fans of the game don’t ask for much. They just want consistent new content.

Apex Legends releases a new legend and map every year and a half. I stopped playing the game for three years, and the weapon pool remains the same. Sure, the game has made tweaks like making the RE-45 an energy pistol, and it added akimbo for the Mozambique and P-2020, but Apex Legends has not had a new weapon since the Bocek. The Bocek was released during the pandemic. The pandemic. That feels like a lifetime ago. I’ll admit. New weapons affect Apex Legends’ gameplay the most. Every character can pick up any of the weapons, so you need to get the balance right. But Apex Legends also hasn’t released a new way to play the game since Gun Run in 2022. The game is still fun. Stale but fun.

Vantage Board Game Logo

Kyra’s Board Games

I’ve been playing a bit of solo Vantage. The game plays well as a solo experience, but more players make the game interesting. Like so many board games, the optimal player count rests somewhere in the middle of the lowest and highest player counts. Solo is too lonely. Six players would slow Vantage to a crawl. Three to four players is the happy place.

I may offer to GM Vantage at a future board game convention. If you’re in the Omaha area during Nuke-Con (first weekend in October), stop by and say hi. And if you want to explore a strange and exciting alien planet, we can launch a round of Vantage. I love the game’s system. Vantage’s combination of storybooks and cards makes each session an adventure.

Monster Chef 01 Board Game Logo

Typically, I don’t mention my games that I’m playtesting, but I will for this month’s post. Monster Chef works as a hand management game. Omitting the card drafting helped. The new ability (Cleaver) allows players to zip through the decks more effectively. Maintaining the same hand helps players plan their next turn. I do wonder if Monster Chef plays better at three players and above. I’ve played plenty of two-player Monster Chef, and it doesn’t have the same pizzazz. It’s still good. But I prefer Monster Chef at 3-5 players. At any player count, Monster Chef doesn’t overstay its welcome. I may have found the right pacing.

Switching Rustbucket Riots from a dice rolling game to a bag building game threw off the game’s balance. At first, I also struggled with the players feeling less powerful. That won’t do. So, I made some crazy rebalancing for the game. Adding minions to player bags is brutal. Players can bust and don’t get what they want. That’s a double whammy. I’m keeping that dynamic–for now–and trying to add fewer minions to the bags each turn. We’ll see where this leads. I love Rustbucket Riots’ bag building. This mechanism allows for quicker onboarding for gamers. Most of an initial teach would be explaining what happens when players roll, lock, place, and spend dice. Now, you grab tokens, place, and spend. Rustbucket Riots is far more streamlined. Now, I just need to finish rebalancing the game.

That’s all I have for this past month. Let’s see what Season and Skye have been playing.

Season’s Video Games

I’ve also been playing Apex Legends recently. I haven’t played in years, so it feels fresher to me than it does for someone who’s played consistently. Normally, I don’t care for FPS games, but Apex Legends is the one exception for me. Seriously, I can’t aim to save my life. I can’t even utilize V.A.T.S well in the Fallout franchise. That’s how bad I am. I like Apex Legends because of the squad element, ping system, and interesting characters.

I’ve been playing Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time for a couple of weeks, and I’ve been having a blast. It’s an adventure, farming simulator, dungeon crawler, has MMO elements for multiplayer, and has Animal Crossing aspects to it. It has so much content that I AP’ed trying to figure out where to start. So far, I’m 71% finished with the main story, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a lot of fun, and it encourages players to play the game how they’d like.

Skye’s Video Game

I laser-focused on Stardew Valley for weeks. Stardew Valley is a game that’s been in my PlayStation library for years now, but I remembered after coming out of my surgery that I never technically “finished” it. I hadn’t completed all the community center bundles, I hadn’t unlocked all the house upgrades, I hadn’t obtained every variety of livestock, I hadn’t finished the museum collection, and I certainly hadn’t been to every location. After these few weeks, I’ve made it nearly to summer of year 3 and have spent an obscene amount of time managing my farm, building relationships, and desperately trying to renovate the community center. All I have left to do is donate a Fiddlehead Fern and a Pufferfish and it’ll be done, but it’s been more difficult than I expected. Eventually I’ll have the community center back to its former glory. Just you wait.

Hey, hey, Kyra Kyle here again. Those are the games our writers have been playing over the past month. Let us know what you’ve been playing in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.