Happy Saturday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another reaction/review of a Daredevil: Born Again episode. This one may be more of a reaction than previous installments in this series. I only had time to watch “Gloves Off” once (getting ready for this weekend’s convention and sprucing up my board games for the Great Plains Gaming Festival’s gaming library has taken a lot of my time this week). As a result, I didn’t give “Gloves Off” my usual two or three viewings before posting a reaction/review. But I don’t think “Gloves Off” needed a second viewing. It was pretty straightforward, and that may be for the best.
I’m sensing a trend with Daredevil: Born Again. The show uses Bullseye as a catalyst for major change: Foggy’s death at the beginning of season one and Dex shooting Matt at the end of season one. We’ll get the spoiler part out of the way real quick. And just in case you have yet to watch “Gloves Off,” consider this a spoiler warning. Bullseye kills Kingpin’s wife, Vanessa, at the end of the episode. Again, Daredevil: Born Again choreographed this development before it happened. And again, I think this was the right move. “Gloves Off” may have other players sprinkled throughout its runtime, but the bulk of this episode focuses on the main cast. Another great development that I don’t think will continue in future episodes. Getting back to Venessa, her meeting with New York’s governor served as a farewell and foreshadowing.
As soon as Governor Marge McCaffrey said, “I can’t put my faith in Mayor Wilson Fisk…but I can put my faith in Mayor and Mrs. Fisk,” she signed Venessa’s death certificate. I knew immediately Venessa would perish. Daredevil: Born Again needed the tension an unleashed Kingpin would provide, and we saw Kingpin’s rage throughout “Gloves Off’s” runtime. The episode literally ends with Wilson Fisk boxing and killing (?) his opponent. Kingpin looked every part the role of someone who could challenge Daredevil to a physical confrontation. And Bullseye also gets portrayed as a competent killer. Most scenes with Bullseye are fun.
Daredevil: Born Again “Gloves Off” has plenty of dynamite scenes. The Bullseye scene at the beginning, where he takes down an entire squad of AVTF (Anti-Vigilante Task Force) members, was epic. I love it when Bullseye gets to cut loose. After watching this, I did question how Fisk could recruit so many people to the AVTF. Bullseye has been systematically killing off AVTF like they’re nameless Stormtroopers. I can’t imagine too many people wanting to sign up for AVTF duty when the survival rate is so low.
But moving on, Bullseye’s current storyline mirrors The Punisher’s from the original Netflix Daredevil. Bullseye is taking an extreme view, going further than Daredevil would ever consider, and the two (Daredevil and Bullseye) share a debate while they fight. Honestly, I think Daredevil: Born Again did a better job of integrating this debate (of killing versus non-lethal means of subduing enemies) in an action sequence than the original Daredevil. If I remember correctly, the bulk of The Punisher and Daredevil’s debate in Netflix’s Daredevil took place with Daredevil tied to a chimney. I much prefer Daredevil: Born Again’s presentation of this debate. At least, so far.
“Gloves Off” did a great job of tying up some loose ends, like the Northern Star’s first mate. It further develops Angela del Toro (soon to be White Tiger) as a member of the resistance, and Daredevil as the resistance’s symbol. “Gloves Off” does a fantastic job of setting up the idea of Kingpin without his wife, showing him to be a formidable foe (from a physical standpoint), and ending with what should be the catalyst for Fisk embracing the Kingpin moniker again. Daredevil: Born Again even did a good job of showing Wilson Fisk’s disdain for New York, calling him Mayor Kingpin through BB’s underground videos. “Gloves Off” is a great example of a standalone Daredevil: Born Again episode.
I do wonder if Daredevil: Born Again intends to continue using Bullseye as a narrative crutch. The show may be training viewers to perceive Daredevil: Born Again episodes that include Bullseye as more consequential. And Bullseye gets injured at the end of “Gloves Off.” We may not see him again until closer to Daredevil: Born Again’s season finale. You can’t see it, but I’m stroking my chin. Hmm. Bullseye may return closer to Daredevil: Born Again’s season finale. Coincidence?
But what do you think about Daredevil: Born Again “Gloves Off?” Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Today, our writers share what they’ve been reading over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been reading. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started with sharing what I’ve been reading over the past month.
Kyra’s Nonfiction
Shocker! I play roleplaying games, and I tend to serve as a game master. Recently, I’ve been leveling up my game mastering. No. Not exactly leveling up my game mastering. The two books I read this month, both written by Jonah and Tristan Fishel, allow game masters to offload some of their responsibilities and cause players to become active participants in tabletop roleplaying games. I love the ideas presented in both of these books. The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying flips the usual tabletop roleplaying game (like Dungeons & Dragons) script. Instead of player characters reacting to plotlines the game master presents, player characters co-write what happens during play.
Typically, players wait for non-player characters (usually the big bad villain) to do something, and their heroes react. With The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying, the players set out for specific goals (for their characters), and the game master then builds scenarios from the players’ goals. This offloads some of the game master’s duties. You don’t need to come up with world-shaking events alone. The players are sharing that responsibility. This grounds player characters in the world the game master has built. And it keeps players engaged.
But Jonah and Tristan Fishel weren’t done. They’ve recently added a companion book to this series, The Game Master’s Handbook of Collaborative Campaign Design. I haven’t had a chance to finish this volume yet, but from what I’ve seen, it expands on The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying by extending many of the concepts into campaign-length games. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of twists and turns with The Game Master’s Handbook of Collaborative Campaign Design. The Fishels have done a great job of shaking up the roleplaying status quo. If interested in ordering the second book, here’s a link to purchase The Game Master’s Handbook of Collaborative Campaign Design.
And I’m still reading through The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures. This book is loaded with fantasy/magical creatures from various points of origin. I’ve enjoyed my time with it. But I don’t know if the writers or publisher expected someone to read it from front cover to back cover. I will finish The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures.
Shakes fist at the sky.
Kyra’s Fiction
I just started reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, like a day ago, reading almost half of the novel in one sitting. That’s saying a lot for me. While I read a lot, I don’t read particularly fast. I agree with the dust cover. The House in the Cerulean Sea does feel like a warm queer hug. If you’re looking for a replacement for the Harry Potter franchise, The House in the Cerulean Sea is a great choice. Too bad it’s a standalone novel. I haven’t yet finished the novel–I just started reading it–but I can already tell I’ll want more time with Linus, Arthur, and the six kids on Marysas Island. TJ Klune’s writing oozes charm. He makes it look effortless to create likeable characters readers will care about deeply. With the world charging headlong into countless conflicts, it’s nice to read a book that offers hope. Sometimes, you just need a hug.
That’s all I have for this month. Let’s check in with Season.
Season’s Fiction
Hey, Geekly Gang! I know what you’re thinking. I’m totally doing a Whatcha Reading this time around. I have a huge reading list I need to get through and I just hit up Barnes & Noble for more books to add to the list. This month’s title is the first volume of The Husky & His White Cat Shizun by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. Trigger warning: There are mentions of suicide and sexual encounters. Reader discretion is advised.
The Husky & His White Cat Shizun is a light novel series. If you’re unfamiliar with light novels, they’re chapter books with manga pictures scattered throughout. They tend to be YA novels, but genres can vary. The Husky & His White Cat Shizun is an xianxia novel, which is a genre of Chinese fantasy that incorporates a lot of Chinese mythology. It also falls under BL (Boys’ Love).
The Husky & His White Cat Shizun follows Mo Ran (previously known as Taxian-jun) after he takes his own life by poisoning himself. Taxian-jun was a tyrant who took countless lives and committed atrocities that are briefly mentioned in the beginning of the story, but get revealed bit by bit as the story progresses. Mo Ran wakes up in the bed of Rong Jiu (a male sex worker), during a time before he became a tyrant. He gets angry with Rong Jiu, steals his valuables, and cuts his face. Mo Ran mentions he wants to redeem himself and live a less destructive life. So, you know, he’s off to an amazing start.
Mo Ran runs into his “shizun” (mentor) Chu Wanning, who strikes fear and hatred into Mo Ran. Chu Wanning is the only person who doesn’t coddle Mo Ran, and Mo Ran killed Chu Wanning in his previous life. Mo Ran is determined to kill Chu Wanning again. So far, all he’s managed to do is irritate the snot out of his mentor. I haven’t gotten too far into The Husky & His White Cat Shizun, but I’m enjoying the Chinese mythology aspect of it. The footnotes are hilarious since there are many Mandarin words that have double entendres. If you’re interested in Chinese mythology but don’t know where to start, The Husky & His White Cat Shizun is a digestible jumping-off point.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. What have you been reading, Geekly Gang? Let us know in the comments.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle again. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. I’m continuing to write far in advance. Who knows if Lanterns is still releasing new episodes? I’m writing so far in advance that Lanterns’ schedule hasn’t yet been released. Even though we don’t know Lanterns’ schedule, let alone which stories the show pulls from, that doesn’t prevent us from discussing Guy Gardner starter stories.
Guy Gardner has a crazy history in the DC Comics universe. Gardner may be the one Lantern who’s represented more shades of the emotional spectrum than any other Lantern. Gardner’s varied past means we’ll have plenty of single-issue comics and longer storylines from multiple eras of comic book history. Guy Gardner’s past is not for the faint of heart. Buckle up.
Single Issues
“Earth’s Other Green Lantern!” (Green Lantern Vol 2 #59; written by John Broome/art by Gil Kane; March 1968)
Hal Jordan was one of several people Abin Sur’s ring could’ve bestowed its power. The power ring chose Hal because he was geographically the closest to Abin Sur. In “Earth’s Other Green Lantern!” Hal Jordan uses a machine named the Memory Machine to watch one of these alternate worlds. In this world, a man named Guy Gardner became Earth’s Green Lantern.
We gain some insight into why Guy Gardner is typically angry. A few issues later, Guy suffered a head trauma that led to a drastic change in demeanor fans saw after he woke up. In his prime, Guy’s a friendly teacher and occasionally worked as a prison counselor. This story shows how much the Green Lanterns and the Guardians torpedoed Guy’s life. They stole his future to make him a backup for one of the Lantern Corps’ least reliable members.
“4” (Green Lantern Vol 2 #195; written by Steve Englehart/art by Joe Staton; December 1985)
The events of Crisis on Infinite Earths made John Stewart disposed, fighting alongside the Monitor across the universe. Guy Gardner is selected as John’s replacement on Earth. During this event, in “4,” Guy is selected to join the Guardians’ newer, smaller Green Lantern Corps. “4” elevates Guy to official Green Lantern status, bringing the number of official Sector 2814 (which includes Earth) Green Lanterns up to three.
“Red Badge of Rage” (Green Lantern Corps Vol 2 #43; written by Peter Tomasi/art by Patrick Gleason; February 2010)
At least one issue of the massive Blackest Night crossover made each of the Green Lantern starter story lists. Long-dead superheroes sprang from their graves, powered by Black Lantern rings. Heroes from every color in DC’s emotional spectrum united to push back the dead. “Red Badge of Rage” was the first time Guy dabbled with another color in the emotional spectrum. He became pure rage.
After Kyle Rayner fell to the Black Lanterns, Guy tapped into his anger. Instead of expressing grief, Guy’s bravado transformed his sadness into rage, making him a potent Red Lantern. Guy punched his way through dozens of Black Lanterns, smashing them into bits, and then he vomited energy-blood over the rest. Guy became a one-man army. He finished the Black Lantern Corps, teasing Guy’s tenure with the Red Lantern Corps.
“Blood Debts” (Red Lanterns: Futures End Vol 1 #1; written by Charles Soule/art by Jim Calafiore; November 2014)
“Blood Debts” does a great job of showing Guy Gardner’s heroic journey. Red Lanterns gives Guy a new purpose as Earth’s primary Red Lantern, but Red Lanterns: Futures End shows a far future Guy who turned his rage into a Blue Lantern for Hope. Guy kept a huge secret from his ally, Bleez. As the pair dispatch the last Red Lantern from the universe, Bleez asks how Guy’s blue ring can be so powerful, as blue rings need proximity to green rings to create constructs. Guy reveals a string of rings around his neck. He had mastered the entire emotional spectrum.
“High Noon” (Hal Jordan and theGreen Lantern Corps Vol 1 #16; written by Robert Venditti/art by Rafa Sandoval; May 2017)
“High Noon” is a window into an odd era of Green Lantern history. After Hal Jordan seemingly sacrificed himself to stop Sinestro, the Sinestro Corps fell under the leadership of Sinestro’s daughter, Soranik Natu. Soranik took the Sinestro Corps in a different direction. She turned away from fear and proposed a Sinestro Corps alliance with the Green Lanterns. Many people on both sides weren’t happy with the alliance, especially Guy Gardner.
Guy Gardner challenges the massive alien Yellow Lantern Arkillo to a fistfight with no power rings. Guy holds his own, and after the fight, Arkillo and Guy become the closest allies between the two Corps of Lanterns.
Storylines
“Justice League International” (Justice League Vol 1 #1-6) written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis; art by Kevin Maguire; 1987)
Whenever I think of Guy Gardner, I think of the iconic punch Batman gives Guy in the kisser. Justice League Vol 1 #5 holds that iconic scene (turned meme).
Guy isn’t always a great teammate, which makes him the perfect addition for the Justice League International (subsequent series after the Justice League mini-series), led by Maxwell Lord and sometimes Batman. Justice League International showcases how annoying and powerful Guy Gardner can be. Batman’s iconic punch earned a smile from Martian Manhunter and cheers from Blue Beetle and Black Canary, but what folks tend to forget is how wildly Guy’s mood swung after getting punched.
Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner borrows the most from the Guy Gardner we see in Justice League International. The team (The Justice Gang in Superman) is even funded by Maxwell Lord. I’d love to see a live-action version of this iconic moment.
“Guy Gardner Reborn” (Guy Gardner Reborn Vol 1 #1-3) written by Gerard Jones; art by Joe Staton; June 1992)
Guy Gardner Reborn occurs immediately after Hal Jordan fought Guy for his ring. Guy contemplates his choice to honorably resolve his dispute with Hal for two days before he decides to escape toward Qward and steal Sinestro’s yellow ring. The resulting space opera shows how mean Guy Gardner can get. Add in the Main Man (Lobo), and Guy Gardner Reborn becomes a buddy-cop story fueled by mutual disrespect and vengeance. Guy Gardner Reborn heralded one of Guy Gardner’s best eras.
“Guy Gardner: Year One” (Guy Gardner Vol 1 #11-14; written by Chuck Dixon; art by Joe Staton; 1993)
Through the power of an odd suction-cup creature named the Xanoglpyh, Guy Gardner is forced to relive his traumatic past. Guy always had a deep-seated need for approval. This same need drove him to find a yellow power ring. Ringless Green Lanterns treat Guy like a brute. By the end of this arc, the other Lanterns offer to help Guy retrieve his yellow ring, despite knowing Guy shouldn’t have the ring. The short-lived series gives a lot of Guy Gardner’s heroic past some much-needed context.
“Guy Gardner: Warrior” (Guy Gardner: Warrior #17-44; written by Chuck Dixon and Beau Smith/art by Mitch Byrd, Brad Gorby, Phil Jimenez, Howard Porter, Mike Parobeck, Jackson Guice, J.H. Williams III, Rick Mays, Dan Jurgens, Joyce Chin, Mike Wieringo, Marc Campos, Tom Grindberg, Aaron Lopresti, and Joe Staton; February 1994-July 1996)
Who needs a power ring? Everyone’s least favorite Green Lantern goes through another space odyssey in the wild ride that is Guy Gardner: Warrior. Guy used a yellow Qwardian power ring until Hal Jordan became Parallax and destroyed it. Ordinarily, this would mean Guy Gardner wouldn’t have powers. But Guy Gardner: Warrior reveals Guy’s Vuldarian heritage. His new alien powers allow him to construct weapons and armor from his body, no power ring required.
Guy turns into his wackiest best self with powers similar to but distinctly different from the Lanterns. During this series, Guy battles a clone of himself, goes to hell, and learns his importance to the War of Light.
Those are the Guy Gardner Green Lantern stories that made our list. We covered Hal Jordan and John Stewart starter stories the past two months. Are there any Guy Gardner Green Lantern stories you would add to this list? Let us know in the comments, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. We have a slate of new releases, both board games and video games. We’ll get to them soon enough, but first, we’ll discuss our headlines from the previous week. And Disney’s interest in buying Epic Games (Fortnite’s publisher) tops those headlines, so let’s discuss a possible Disney acquisition of Epic Games.
Disney Keen on Buying Epic Games
The news may have dropped originally on April 1st, but this was no April Fool’s Joke. The Mouse House is interested in acquiring Fortnite publisher Epic Games. This leak’s proximity to last week’s story of Epic Games laying off over 1,000 employees is more than a coincidence. Currently, Epic Games isn’t operating from a source of strength. Disney may have found the perfect time to strike.
The claim of Disney being interested in purchasing Epic Games comes from veteran tech reporter Alex Heath, via The Town podcast. Disney has already heavily invested in Epic Games, and Fortnite more specifically. The battle royale giant has already sported crossovers with numerous Disney properties: Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and Disney animated characters. Fortnite has even included a Disney-specific mode that offers fans the ability to play, watch, create, and shop.
“I know for a fact there are senior executives in Disney who want them to buy Epic and are just waiting for that moment,” Heath said, “and then there are others who think it’s a bad idea. If Epic ever sold, if it ever decided to call it quits on being an independent company, Disney would be the most natural home for it for a lot of reasons.”
If Epic Games were to sell to Disney, the House of Mouse would gain control of the Unreal Engine, which many video game companies use to develop their games. Disney doesn’t have a large footprint in the video game space. Acquiring Epic Games could go a long way toward Disney throwing its hat into the video game landscape. Disney did something similar with its streaming service offerings. Shortly after launching Disney+, they bought 20th Century Fox and its streaming giant Hulu. Disney does produce some games. Epic Games could give Disney the opening it may want to fully enter the world of video games.
Sadie Sink Signs 5-Film Deal for MCU Role
We’ve known Sadie Sink was set to star in a secret role for the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Speculation about who Sink would portray exploded in the coming days, weeks, and months. Geekly may have even mentioned who we’d like to see her play. Ahem. Firestar. Ahem. But news of Sink signing a 5-film deal to play an MCU character means she’ll most likely portray someone of importance. So, not Firestar. Some fans still believe Sink could be playing the MCU’s version of Gwen Stacy (Ghost-Spider), but rumors still suggest that Emma Myers (Wednesday) or Kiernan Shipka (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) are the most likely candidates to portray Gwen Stacy. The most likely major role Sink could portray is the X-Men’s Jean Grey.
Sure, Geekly discussed Sink playing Mayday Parker (Peter and Mary Jane’s daughter/Spider-Girl) in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but Mayday may not be a significant enough role for a 5-film deal. Five films? Yikes! Jean Grey is definitely a character whose actor would necessitate a 5-film deal. So, Marvel/Disney may have tipped their hat as to who Sink will play in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But who knows? Marvel/Disney hasn’t confirmed anything. We’ll have to wait.
Arcs: Beyond the Reach Launches on KickStarter
Arcs is a sharp, tactical space opera game set in a dark yet silly universe. Players represent officials from a distant, decaying and neglectful Empire who are now free to vie for dominance whether through battle, gathering scarce resources or diplomatic intrigue. Ready yourself for dramatic twists and turns as you launch into this galactic struggle.
A deck of cards in 4 suits with ranks from 1-7 (2-6 for fewer than 4 players) defines the action selection system. These cards are played in a trick-taking adjacent system to select actions, take the initiative and declare Ambitions. The 3 declared Ambitions are what will score in that deal. Timing is everything. Bad hands must be mitigated by careful card play and benefitting from other players’ card play.
Battles are resolved quickly, with the attacker choosing their level of risk. The defenders must be prepared with adequate defensive ships and cards in their tableau.
Thank you, Leder Games, for Arcs‘ description. Arcs has been on my short list of games to play for some time. It’s a space opera. Check. Factions have asymmetric powers. Double check. And Arcs has a storyline. What? Triple check. And each individual game last less time than a game of Twilight Imperium, but you get the 4X goodness you’d expect from a game of TI. Quadruple Check.
Leder Games consistently produces fabulous games: Root, Fort, Oath, and so many others. Arcs stands just outside the BGG (BoardGameGeek) Top 100. That’s no small feat. And I know several gamers who swear by this game. I wonder if one of them wouldn’t mind showing Arcs‘ ropes. Arcs: Beyond the Reach adds more campaign/story to the core game. This is my kind of expansion. If you’re more of a story-driven gamer, you may want to watch this campaign. This may be the best time to get into Arcs. Arcs: Beyond the Reach offers three pledge levels: $40, $90, and $250. If you’re interested in Arcs: Beyond the Reach, check out its KickStarter page.
Envy Born Games’ Tiny Game Series Two Launches on KickStarter
I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it again, I love the recent board game trend of packaging multiple smaller games to form a series of games. Button Shy Games may have started this trend with their wallet games, but keep them coming. This week marked the second series of Envy Born Games’ Tiny Games Series. Each of these games can fit inside a fanny pack. Who wears fanny packs? Envy Born Games is using the “fits inside a fanny pack” marketing. I don’t know who this is geared toward, but fanny pack does give us an idea of each game’s size. Three games comprise Envy Born Games’ Second Series of Tiny Games: Space Potato, Prowl, and Dragon Roost.
Dragon Roost is a cooperative Jenga. Players work together to build the perfect home for a set of baby dragons. Let’s see what the publisher Envy Born has to say about Dragon Roost.
Greetings, Townsfolk! Your cosy hamlet recently welcomed three new dragon hatchlings, but there’s not enough room for them in the watchtower where mother dragon has chosen to roost. Work together to manipulate the watchtower, to create safe spaces for the baby dragons and to settle the hatchlings in before mother dragon returns…
Working together, use tools to manipulate a tower of wooden pieces. Create enough space to safely balance 3 baby dragon miniatures before running out of tool actions. Finally, place the mother dragon on top of your tower to win. If any baby dragons fall, you lose (but don’t worry; we put up a net to catch them!). Test your skills over dozens of levels with new tower structures and challenge tokens.
Kyra Kyle here again. Thank you, Envy Born, for the description. Jenga has been played out. I like Dragon Roost’s twist on that core gameplay.
Prowl is a stripped-down, easy-to-learn area control game that adds an element of exploration. The game looks big for one that fits inside a fanny pack-sized box. Let’s hear what Envy Born has to say about Prowl.
Prowl is a compact area control game designed for 2 to 4 players, where each participant vies for dominance over territory with their tiger companion.
In this immersive game, players embody tigers navigating the wilderness, strategically exploring, hunting for sustenance, marking terrain, and initiating challenges to assert their dominance. As you navigate this dynamic landscape, you’ll need to safeguard your territory against rival tigers while seizing opportunities for expansion.
Beware, however, as rival tigers are always poised to challenge for coveted spots, ensuring constant engagement and tension. The survival of the fittest hinges on your ability to outmaneuver opponents and secure the most advantageous land.
Ultimately, victory is determined by accumulating points from controlling valuable territory, ensuring your tiger’s supremacy and survival in the unforgiving wilderness.
Kyra’s back. Back again. Thank you again, Envy Born. Prowl sounds intriguing, and I love how its theme varies wildly–pun intended–from Dragon Roost’s. But we have one final Envy Born game in this set.
Space Potato combines the good, old-fashioned worker placement mechanism and combines it with a resource management system. I like these two mechanisms. Let’s see what Envy Born has to say about Space Potato.
Space Potato is a small box worker placement game. You are stranded in space. Your spaceship was hit by an asteroid, shaped like a massive potato. Now, each of the corporations must mine critically needed resources from the asteroid to make repairs to their shared ship, while simultaneously collecting valuable resources for their companies.
On your turn you will place astronaut workers to take actions, mine the asteroid, or build essential components to repair the ship. Players will also manage their resources on their player boards and refine resources like Gold and Iridium into ingots to get points. Players will be rewarded with points for mining away chunks of the asteroid, refining materials, and repairing parts of the ship.
The player with the most points when the ship is finally repaired wins!
Hey, hey! I’m back, and count me in. It looks like the titular “space potato,” an asteroid, slowly disintegrates as you mine it for resources. Space Potato may be the most interesting of the three cool titles.
I like the idea of all three of these games. Envy Born Games offers pledges of $20 or $40 if you only want two of these titles, but for $49, you can claim all three. They even offer their previous series of Tiny Games in an All-In pledge ($90). If you’re interested in Envy Born Games’ second series of Tiny Games, check out its KickStarter page.
Garden Club Launches on KickStarter
Welcome to the Garden Club, where fruits, veggies, and flowers flourish into clever combinations. Match, grow, and out-bloom your friends in this lighthearted game of strategy and charm!
In Garden Club, players compete to grow the most vibrant and well-balanced garden in the neighborhood. Each tile you place will plant fruits, veggies, and flowers — all carefully arranged to create stunning patterns and score points.
On your turn, you’ll select and place a tile into the collective garden, connecting matching icons to form combos and fulfill unique objectives. Then, you’ll select one tile as a point multiplier for what’s in your garden. The challenge lies in planning your layout — every placement can unlock new scoring opportunities or block a path to a perfect harvest.
Thank you, Chris Couch Games, for the Garden Club description. This week’s crowdfunding games have charm, and Garden Club is no exception. Look at the cute artwork. Garden Club continues multiple different trends in board gaming. It’s a two-player only game. Sometimes, you just want a fantastic two-player experience. This is great for couples. I should know. I’ve spent plenty of game nights playing cute and clever two-player games. Garden Club looks like it fits into that mold. And the nature theme has caught fire.
Garden Club is perfect for a spring crowdfunding project. And Chris Couch Games has a great habit of packaging similar in theme smaller games with its larger titles. Petal looks like another adorable gardening-themed game for two players. And Chris Couch Games are on a roll. Last Christmas’s Holiday Hill/Jingle Bell Roll combination dominated the holiday season. They’re a board game company to watch. Don’t believe me? Jamey Stegmaier (founder of Stonemaier Games) sings Garden Club’s praises. If you’re interested in Garden Club, check out its KickStarter page.
Modern Classic Goa Receives an Update with the Latest GameFound Project
Goa, a strategy game of auctions and resource management, is set at the start of the 16th century: beautiful beaches, a mild climate, and one of the most important trading centers in the world. Competing companies deal in spices, send ships and colonists into the world, and invest money. Are you on top or at the bottom? It depends on how you invest your profits. Will you make your ships more efficient? Enhance your plantations? Recruit more colonists? Only a steady hand in business will help.
Each turn begins with an auction phase, where each player gets to auction one item (and the starting player two items). The first item being auctioned gives the right to go first the next turn (along with a card that gives an extra action). If you buy your own item, you pay it to the bank. If someone else buys the item you sell, they pay you. Items include plantations complete with crops, income tiles (income in money, ships, plantation refills each turn etc.), ships, settlers, and later on tiles that score points for certain achievements.
GameFound is the place for classic games getting a modern facelift. Goa is the latest in the trend, and I like it. So many classic board games get forgotten because they don’t look as nice as modern games. The original Goa didn’t look the best. This update gives it pizzazz. And you know Goa has stellar gameplay. It’s a classic for a reason. If you’re interested in Goa, check out its GameFound page.
Darwin’s Paradox! Releases
Darwin’s Paradox! is Paris-based developer ZDT Studio’s inaugural release. I wondered how long it would take for an octopus to receive the platformer game treatment. Those extra arms should allow for some interesting gameplay, and critics agree. Darwin’s Paradox! has gotten some solid reviews, especially for a fledgling video game developer like ZDT Studio.
And I like Darwin’s Paradox’s premise. Dive into the adventure with Darwin, an octopus as endearing as he is ingenious, torn from the ocean and trapped in a vast and mysterious industrial complex. Harness his unique talents and abilities to help him overcome the many dangers and traps in this captivating platformer and adventure game.
Darwin’s Paradox! bills itself as a 2.5D platformer. This leads to some interesting camera angles and shifts in perspective. At times, Darwin the octopus will navigate side-scrolling levels, but others, he traverses an almost 3-dimensional world. Gamers can take full advantage of Darwin’s abilities. His legs have suckers, and he can camouflage himself to avoid detection. Despite Darwin’s Paradox! being a platformer, I can see the game sporting some impressive stealth moments. Darwin’s Paradox! is available on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series S/X.
Clean Up Earth Releases
I like the premise of Clean Up Earth. Video games with a restoration theme have taken off over the past several years. I’ve played my share of these games. Geekly has covered Spilled! and Terra Nil this past year. Clean Up Earth gives me strong Slime Rancher vibes. Instead of using a vacuum gun on slimes (on an alien planet), you’re using a vacuum gun to clean up our planet. Clean Up Earth looks intriguing.
Clean Up Earth describes itself as a relaxing co-op restoration game where you vacuum waste, rebuild ecosystems, and watch nature return in real time. Play solo, with friends, or in online multiplayer sessions with up to 25 players. Community gameplay can help support real environmental initiatives with no extra spending required. I don’t know how this works. Clean Up Earth has my attention, but with mixed early reviews, I may wait until after a few patches. You can try out Clean Up Earth’s free demo and see if it’s something you’d enjoy before buying. Clean Up Earth is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X.
That’s all the Geek News we have for you this week. Which games have your interest? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here for a second round of a Daredevil: Born Again review/reaction. This post will focus on the second season’s third episode, “The Scales and the Sword.” It played out exactly how I thought it would. If you didn’t catch my thought on “Shoot the Moon,” here’s a link to the previous episode’s reaction. While some may say that an episode playing out exactly as someone believed it would is not a good thing, it works in the case of “The Scales and the Sword.” But this fact may have played a role in Daredevil: Born Again’s second and third episodes releasing the same day. They’re two halves of the same episode.
Seriously, I got the sense that Disney/Marvel ended up with an hour and a half to two-hour episode and decided to cut it into two, roughly forty-five-minute episodes. Angela dons White Tiger’s amulet and helps Daredevil escape his infiltration of Red Hook. We even get a trial scene with Duquesne (Swordsman) that goes as well as you’d expect. All of this I predicted. But again, I don’t think this is a bad thing. It proves that Daredevil: Born Again is building toward something. Many of the major plot points have yet to be revealed. And I’m certain we’ll get plenty of twists and turns before the second season’s climax.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again, Heather Glenn serves as a fantastic secondary antagonist to Daredevil. She has a haunting history in the comic books. I won’t spoil that here, but trust me, Daredevil: Born Again could’ve gone a lot darker with her storyline. It still could. I like how she navigates her trauma at the hands of Muse. It makes her sympathetic. She believes she’s doing the right thing. Her scenes around Duquesne trial are great. I loved the quick rundown we got with Heather and Buck at the ball. We may have even gotten a hint that Blake will become The Rose. Buck and Heather could be an interesting couple.
I don’t have much to say beyond what I did with the previous episode’s (“Shoot the Moon”) reaction. It was a joy to watch Daredevil use his powers during the Red Hook infiltration, and I was shocked by how satisfying it was to watch Duquesne fight alongside the Man Without Fear. “Shoot the Moon” could stand on its own as an episode. I don’t believe “The Scales and the Sword” could’ve done the same. Disney/Marvel made the right decision to release both episodes on the same day. If we had gotten “The Scales and the Sword” by itself next week, we might’ve felt a little shortchanged. I’m glad Daredevil: Born Again tied up its early loose ends with this episode, and I hope this frees up the next episode to deliver a few twists.
That’s all I have for my reaction to “The Scales and the Sword.” I did watch the episode twice like I did the previous one, but there isn’t as much to discuss. “The Scales and the Sword” serves as an enjoyable second half to the last episode. But those are my opinions. What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Saturday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Daredevil: Born Again reaction/review post. Daredevil: Born Again released two episodes this week, so we’ll have a reaction for the next episode, “The Scales & the Sword,” later today. I’m writing this reaction/review of “Shoot the Moon” after watching the episode twice. I like most of the developments in this episode, but Daredevil: Born Again also continues its penchant for adding more story threads and characters we need to follow. Before long, I may need a roadmap.
Angela del Toro, niece of Hector Ayala (White Tiger) and definitely the next White Tiger, is reintroduced in this episode. I don’t mind having another White Tiger this quickly. Several characters have donned the White Tiger mantle. I like the story centered around del Toro. It gives ICE in Minnesota vibes. Daredevil: Born Again, Season Two may not have shot these scenes as an homage to ICE in Minnesota, but one can see parallels. I’m down for it. My issue from last week stands. Daredevil: Born Again, Season Two has a massive cast. It does a lot of things great, but I don’t know where to focus. I don’t even know if the show knows to place its focus.
The massive cast was my rant from the previous episode. I don’t know if I mentioned enough of the previous episode’s strengths. I do like how Kirsten McDuffie gets roped into Angela’s superhero origin. McDuffie already fights the legal battles for vigilantes. She’s going to war for vigilantes in the courtroom. I can see her helping Angela as the new White Tiger outside the courtroom. This could mirror Foggy and Matt’s relationship way back in the original Netflix Daredevil. I’m all for that. And it’s confirmed. BB Urich is behind the Mayor Fisk smear campaign, and she’s the one dressing up as Kingpin. I think I called that last week. If I didn’t, I certainly thought BB was behind the Fisk mask. Honestly, the reveal wasn’t that big of a shock, so it’s best that it occurred so soon in the season. But the scene between BB and Deputy Mayor Daniel Blake was fantastic.
I liked Daniel Blake’s portrayal from last season. We lost him in the second season’s first episode, but “Shoot the Moon” highlights why Blake is a dynamic character. Michael Gandolfini shows unlimited range in this episode. He switches from affable to terrifying within the same scene. He’s so good in this role. I don’t care if he is or isn’t Wilson Fisk’s son, Richard Fisk, also known as the supervillain The Rose. There are so many great performances on the Wilson Fisk side of the aisle. Sheila Rivera stands on the precipice of learning who Mayor Kingpin is and watching her navigate which path to take is mesmerizing. Vanessa and Wilson Fisk share several heartfelt moments in “Shoot the Moon.” If they weren’t murderers, you’d swoon.
And “Shoot the Moon” brings back Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter into the fold. It’s fun watching Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye get to work. There are so many delicious layered plot threads introduced in Daredevil: Born Again so far. Bullseye takes down the anti-vigilante task force (AVTF). This obviously hurts Fisk’s AVTF and authority. But it doesn’t do Matt Murdock any favors, because Fisk can blame most of the deaths on Bullseye working alongside Daredevil. And I like how Fisk sends NYC citizens after Murdock because he’s a hero, while siccing his AVTF after Daredevil. The only thing I didn’t care for was Matt explaining what’s happening to Karen because whoever wrote the script didn’t trust the audience would pick up on Fisk playing both sides. This was Kingpin acting like Kingpin. There’s a reason we love the big guy. Vincent D’Onofrio is brilliant.
And that brings me back to Venessa and Wilson, and I’ll add Matt and Karen. I like the parallels between these two couples. There’s a reason why the Heather Glenn/Matt Murdock relationship felt like it would be short-lived. The two didn’t have chemistry. Matt Murdock and Karen Page’s relationship is the one that could rival Venessa and Wilson’s, and it’s great to see them together in Daredevil: Born Again. But I do like Heather Glenn as a secondary antagonist. The Vigilante Trials should play a huge role in Daredevil: Born Again’s Second Season. I’m watching these episodes one at a time, so I may contradict myself in the next post. In fact, I’m going to make some predictions before I watch the next episode, “The Scales & the Sword.”
Sword makes me wonder if the Swordsman will get involved. We may see Duquesne, but I think we’re more likely to see him in court, the aforementioned Vigilante Trials, because Scales and the Sword is also the symbol for justice. Red Hook was built up in this episode, so we’ll see Daredevil attempt to infiltrate the facility. And there’s an outside chance del Toro will don the White Tiger amulet. Most likely, she won’t wear an outfit…yet.
I may have focused a lot on the first episode’s shortcomings, but I do like Daredevil: Born Again’s, Second Season. There are a lot of interesting characters and plotlines. I just hope we get some satisfying payoffs. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang. Kyra Kyle here. Today, our writers share the games (both video games and board games) they’ve been playing over the past month. Feel free to add which games you’ve been playing this past month. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll kick off this post with the games I’ve been playing this past month.
Kyra’s Video Games
My first entry is the first of two Monster Hunter games. Woah! Monster Hunter Wilds follows in Monster Hunter World’s footsteps. Ironically, we covered the release of Monster Hunter Wilds a little over one year before I picked up a copy on the PlayStation 5. Monster Hunter Wilds gives the Monster Hunter World formula some much-needed updates. Mounts are a great addition; we saw them in Monster Hunter Rise. I like that one can harvest things on one’s mount, and the grapple comes in handy. The load times and the ability to ready up for a mission from almost anywhere are fantastic quality of life upgrades over Monster Hunter World. Objectively, Monster Hunter Wilds is the better game. But there are two things I wish Monster Hunter Wilds retained from Monster Hunter World: scale and research.
Simply put, Monster Hunter World feels larger than Monster Hunter Wilds. Having finished Monster Hunter Wilds’ main story, I found monsters segregated by size. This means monsters will fight each other for territory because they’ll be of similar size. This is a good thing. I don’t know how many times I waited for another monster to damage the monster I’m hunting, and then swoop in for the final blows. But I also liked how smaller monsters will run away from larger ones. This gave Monster Hunter World a sense of scale. A pukei-pukei high-tailing it from an anjanath made the anjanath feel bigger and more imposing. Sure, this made hunting a pukei-pukei more difficult, but I didn’t mind. It made World’s monster feel more alive. Without dissimilar-sized monsters in the same area, I lost sight of a monster’s size.
Sure, Monster Hunter Wilds has some massive monsters. I judged that from the environment. That boulder looks a lot smaller. That must be a massive monster. Still, I’d trade the occasional small monster getting away for a more cohesive biome.
And then, there’s research. I understand why Monster Hunter Wilds mostly got rid of research. It got tedious. Finding monster mucous in a biome and learning that a specific monster marked its territory with its mucous was awesome the first time I heard it. But it loses its luster after the hundredth time collecting mucous. Monster Hunter Wilds could’ve toned down the amount of research one needed to conduct. I liked the idea of my character as a field zoologist. Or would they be monstologists? Regardless of those two minor shortcomings, I enjoyed Monster Hunter Wilds.
The story wasn’t that good, but no one plays a Monster Hunter game for its story. Exploring the world is as fun as ever. I can’t wait to dive into the post-game and any new DLC. Bring it on!
You know how I just said, no one plays a Monster Hunter game for its story? The same can be said for Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. But I think I found where all Monster Hunter World’s research went. But Monster Hunter Stories may be the better title for monster research. Monster Hunter Stories 3 is the first game in the series I’ve played. From what I’ve heard from Season, Monster Hunter Stories 3 added quality of life updates just like Monster Hunter Wilds did to the mainline series. I’ll leave those points for Season; I’m sure she’ll talk about Monster Hunter Stories 3. But I’ve been enjoying Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. I love restoring biomes.
Yes. Monster Hunter Stories 3 features invasive monsters, disrupting the flow of each of the game’s biomes. Players are tasked with restoring each biome to its original balance. This includes researching monsters and learning their moves. Speed, Power, and Technique Attacks play out like a Rock-Paper-Scissors style of combat. Add this to an additional layer of elemental type (which also plays out like Rock-Paper-Scissors), and Monster Hunter Stories 3 prompts players to collect ’em all. You’ll need monsters with a Fire, Water, or Lightning (and others) element and each of the three attack types. This dual-layered game of Rock-Paper-Scissors adds plenty of complexity. And it’s fun collecting eggs and watching them hatch.
Most of the popular monsters in the Monster Hunter series make an appearance in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Heck, you begin the game with a Rathalos. The story overview (first paragraph in this write-up) mentions Twin Rathalos, and I’m certain the other Rathalos factors into Monster Hunter Stories 3’s storyline. Again, I couldn’t care less about the story. The voice acting is over-the-top. Characters sport the JRPG-styled mannerisms. And the ultimate attacks (for each of the monsters) play out like a summon spell in Final Fantasy VII, but at least you can skip the animation if it’s the one millionth time you’ve seen it. I like the shake-up the Monster Hunter Stories series gives the typical Monster Hunter gameplay formula.
Did I mention you can ride your monsters? Flying on my Rathalos rules. But so does riding my Tobi-Kadachi up wall faces. Yes! I haven’t yet found (or built) a monster I can reliably ride on while they swim, but I’m working on it, and when that happens, I’m certain that’ll be a blast.
Kyra’s Board Games
I’ve talked about Super Mega Lucky Boxin this series before, but I’ve played it with Skye at least twice this past month, so I had to mention Phil Walker-Harding’s take on Bingo. If you know how to play Bingo, you know more than half the rules to Super Mega Lucky Box. This board game is one of those perfect games to introduce to people who don’t play board games. And it’s fun. I could play Super Mega Lucky Box with Skye another twenty times this upcoming month. It’s that good.
I have been meaning to play Cascadia ever since it was first released in 2021. I never picked up a copy of Cascadia because I already owned Overboss, which has a similar pick-up a tile and token combo. But that’s where the similarities of the two games end. Cascadia offers varied but balanced play in every game. I didn’t catch all the ways one can score during the original rules explanation (I didn’t know that each collection of land types scored, and it wasn’t just the player who had the most of the largest type of each land), but my brain wouldn’t let me place a tile without a match. I ended up scoring way more points than I thought I would. And matching animals to the pattern they wanted made thematic sense. I was impressed.
Beth Sobel’s art elevates any nature-themed game. Her art has appeared in so many games of this type. Keep it coming. And Flatout Games has a knack for designing/developing easy-to-learn but difficult to master board games. They’re the company behind the Point Salad series of games, Ten, and Calico. I knew I would like Cascadia. I can’t believe it took me this long to play a round.
Bandido may be the oddest board game on this list. It certainly generated the most laughs. Gamers take on the role of prison guards. The titular Bandido has broken out of his cell, and it’s up to the players to work together to cut off the Bandido’s exit by strategically placing flashlight cards, dead ends, and loops for the tunnel. Bandido likes to sprawl, so gamers are encouraged to stand while they draw a card from the deck and add a card to one of the tunnel’s open ends.
You’re not allowed to show your teammates your cards, and there’s limited table talk. But that didn’t stop us from ribbing someone for making a suboptimal play. Bandido may not work for every game group. The subject matter could rub people the wrong way. The gameplay can be a little difficult to explain at first, but with the right group, Bandido is a blast.
Those are all the games I have for this month, and it looks like I’ll be flying solo this month. We’ll have to wait on Season’s take for the two Monster Hunter games. But hey, what games have you been playing this past month, Geekly Gang? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Monday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with a review/reaction to Daredevil: Born Again, Season Two’s premiere, “The Northern Star.” Daredevil: Born Again’s second season begins well, but one issue persists: the show feels off-balance. I’ll get to the good stuff soon (and there is a lot to like about “The Northern Star”), but I can see Daredevil: Born Again’s showrunners’ original vision of making seasons one and two of Daredevil: Born Again a single season. I don’t yet know if this show could’ve worked better with these first two seasons squeezed into a single season, but I’ve been on the record stating that Daredevil: Born Again Season One did a better job developing Kingpin’s side of the narrative, while shortchanging Daredevil’s. Yeah. This season, or at least during this season’s premiere, the roles reversed.
Daredevil: Born Again has a balancing issue. Both “seasons” could’ve benefited from evenly spreading the love for Daredevil and Kingpin’s story. Granted, “The Northern Star” is season two’s premiere, and I didn’t rewatch Daredevil: Born Again’s first season. But I shouldn’t have to rewatch a show’s previous season. Again, this is the first episode of the new season. All may be revealed in future episodes. But that’s also my point. We had to wait a full calendar year for Foggy Nelson’s death to find meaning. Sure, Karen Page left Hell’s Kitchen for most of last season, but the first season spent too much time trying to develop new characters. Matt Murdock seldom grieved the loss of his friend.
He does in “The Northern Star,” though. What a difference twelve real-world months can make. Matt’s story glossing over Foggy’s death may have sparked a lot of last season’s doubts. It wasn’t that the showrunners couldn’t kill Foggy. It was that no one seemed to care he died. I’m glad that we finally see Matt and Karen grieving the loss. And that makes me wonder what this story could’ve looked like where this episode part of the first season. We would’ve seen this catharsis sooner, and I wouldn’t be playing catch-up, trying to remember who everyone is, with Kingpin’s characters. Were there always this many characters? Yikes! I may have mentioned the volume of new characters in the previous season, but returning to Daredevil: Born Again after a year requires flashcards. Who are these people?
And we’re not done introducing more characters like Mr. Charles, Matthew Lillard’s character, who works for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. That’s a mouthful. Try saying that name three times fast. Mr. Charles is on Kingpin’s side of the narrative. We also get introduced to Ariana, who owns the Aegean Gardens, and aids in witness protection. Didn’t know that was a thing. That’s cool. BB Urich has more time to develop. I still don’t like the BB Report segments (the people on the street interviews with a shaky cam), but it’s clear, through a scene between Urich and Page, that she’s also the one behind the gorilla news stories defaming Mayor Fisk. This story angle has legs.
But that’s another minor issue. Many of these story angles have interesting ways they could go, but will Daredevil: Born Again season two have enough runtime to explore all of them? It’ll have to cut certain threads. I haven’t even mentioned Heather Glenn’s full heel turn. We got a whiff of Glenn (Murdock’s therapist girlfriend from last year) changing sides by the end of Daredevil: Born Again season one, but it was nice to see the show explore plenty of gray areas. Glenn may do the wrong things, but she believes she’s in the right. She suffers from PTSD after the attack by Muse. While I didn’t like how quickly Daredevil: Born Again dispatched Muse, I love how he continues to haunt the series.
And then there’s Murdock’s new law firm partner, Kirsten McDuffie (pictured above), who has an interesting interaction with one of Fisk’s lawyers, Benjamin Hochberg. And there’s also Cherry, the retired cop turned Murock’s personal investigator, who gets more to do in this episode. And Bullseye’s return gets teased. And the antivigilante task force continues its insane mission. And did I mention that the poignant Page-Urich scene is available because of a lead Page gets from Jessica Jones? Well, it is. And Krysten Ritter will return as Jessica Jones in Daredevil: Born Again season two. There’s a lot to unpack in “The Northern Star.” I watched this episode four or five times; that’s why this reaction got postponed from Saturday to Monday. I needed the weekend to digest.
Most of these are great developments. I’d love to see Ritter return as Jones. The Bullseye tease has me hyped. So many of these character developments are fun: McDuffie’s, Cherry’s, Page’s, the AVTF, most of Fisk’s entourage, and Glenn’s PTSD and struggling with remaining objective. I don’t know how Daredevil: Born Again season two plans to tie up some of these loose ends. Thankfully, Daredevil: Born Again will receive a third season; they’re already filming the third season. But I don’t want another Lost situation. For those who don’t know, the television show Lost presented numerous great ideas and seldom finished any of them.
Daredevil: Born Again should make good on many of its premises, but Matt did get shot (by Bullseye) at the end of last season, and we didn’t see the shot’s effects in the second season’s first episode. Something tells me we’ll get flashbacks and flash sideways and flash forwards to fill us in with Matt recovering from his gunshot. I’ll just leave this here: Lost used a lot of flashbacks and flash sideways and flash forwards, too. Uh oh. Let’s hope we don’t get too many flash somewheres.
That’s all I have for “The Northern Star.” Oddly enough, this episode could’ve used more guidance from something like a northern star. Daredevil: Born Again’s Season Two premiere was a solid beginning. I just hope the season can stick the landing. But what did you think? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. Sorry about missing last week’s news post. We have new releases for board games and video games, but before we get to those, we have a few headlines to discuss first. The news this week was rough, but not as rough as the recent PlayStation 5 price hike.
Sony Raises PS5 Prices Worldwide
This Friday, Sony announced that it will raise its prices on PlayStation 5 consoles on April 2, 2026. Despite the proximity to April 1st, this is not an April Fool’s Joke. In the United States, the standard PS5 will increase to $649.99, up by $100. The digital game-only edition will also increase by $100 to $599.99, while the PS5 Pro will see a $150 increase to $899.99. The company cited ongoing economic pressures for this price hike.
Note: If you’re in the market for a PlayStation 5, you may want to purchase one before April 2, 2026.
“We know that price changes impact our community,” Sony said in a statement, “and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide.” Ongoing economic pressures indeed. While Sony mentioned the rising cost of memory chips (thank you, AI slop factories), a couple of other factors could’ve assisted Sony in making this decision: shipping costs may increase because of the closure of a certain strait in the Middle East, and tariff wars continue to add additional costs to companies conducting international business.
And there’s the next headline for this week: Sony has laid off a lot of its workforce by shuttering first-party developers. The climate looks dire at PlayStation.
Sony Shuts Down Dark Outlaw Games and Downsizes Mobile Game Development
2026 hasn’t been kind to Sony or its first-party developers. This past week’s announcement of Sony shutting down Dark Outlaw Games marks the second major Sony has shut down this calendar year, and the year isn’t that old yet. Dark Outlaw Games, a studio founded barely a year ago, was founded by Call of Duty veteran Jason Blundell. The company didn’t even get a chance to produce one game. In fact, Dark Outlaw only had working title for a new project that was “still in the early stages” (according to ResetEra user J-Soul, who first broke the story), when Sony Interactive Entertainment decided to close the fresh “incubation studio.”
Sony has made other cuts, including its mobile development and developers who primarily worked on virtual reality titles. These cuts may be in conjunction with the “ongoing economic pressures” mentioned in the previous story, and/or they could signal a pivot by Sony to traditional single-player titles. I wouldn’t mind more titles like the upcoming Wolverine. Many of the developers Sony has recently shut down have worked on live-service projects, which makes sense after the failure that was 2024’s Concord.
The overcrowded online game market has slowed down, even for giants like Fortnite. And hey, we have some news about Fortnite, too. Fingers crossed that the employees affected by these layoffs find work. Sony has maintained its commitment to producing great first-party titles. Let’s hope we’ll see Sony’s vision soon.
Epic Games Lays Off Over 1,000 Employees
Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced it is laying off 1,000 staff due to a “downturn in engagement” in Fortnite. “Today we’re laying off over 1,000 Epic employees,” Sweeney told Epic Games employees. “I’m sorry we’re here again. The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded.” So much for Fortnite being an evergreen battle royale. But when in 2025 did Fortnite begin to see a sharp decline in sales? Epic Games controversially raised the price of the game’s lucrative V-Bucks in-game currency two weeks ago. This caused an outcry among gamers, but that only occurred two weeks ago. Should Fortnite have done something sooner?
Gamers have spent less money in recent months. That could contribute to Fortnite’s drop in sales, and the game has seen growth in the number of game modes it offers. Fortnite began as a player-versus-zombies game, until it added a battle royale component. The game has since added numerous game modes, several of which will get mothballed (like its Pysonix-made Rocket Racing mode). Fewer game modes, means fewer employees needed to maintain those game modes.
But Epic Games has known about Fortnite’s dip in sales for months (if not close to a full year), and it also controls the Unreal Engine. Surely, the company makes enough from that asset alone to finance 1,000 employees. Every game seems to use Unreal Engine 5. Epic does plan to unleash Unreal Engine 6 in the near future. But isn’t Unreal Engine 5 a few years old at this point?
Sweeney mentioned that the company has experienced a setback like this before when they moved from 2D to 3D with Unreal Engine 1 back in the Nineties. Honestly, I started singing the Bojack Horseman theme in my head when I wrote, Back in the Nineties, I was on a very famous TV… Nevermind. To his credit, Sweeney made it a point that “the layoffs aren’t related to AI,” he said, “to the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”
So does that mean Epic Games uses AI or not? The phrase “to the extent it improves productivity” is doing a lot of work in that statement. The illusion of increased productivity is what tempts employers to shift toward AI. Regardless of the company’s true reasons, Epic Games was believed to employ a little over 4,000 people, so this week’s layoffs impacted almost a quarter of the company.
Nintendo Suggests Cutting US Switch 2 Output
We’re just full of great news this week. Nintendo’s Switch 2 struggled in the United States during its first holiday period. The console’s sales numbers were down 35% in the United States when compared with its predecessor in 2017. As a result, Nintendo has lowered its US production for the quarter. According to sources, this decision is “driven by slower demand from consumers” over the holiday period, and not by wider economic factors affecting worldwide hardware production, like rising component prices. Thank you again, AI Slop Factories.
I can see why Nintendo’s Switch 2 would struggle this past year in the United States. It had few titles that sparked gamers’ imaginations. No new Zelda. No new Mario title. Not even a new Kirby title. The long-awaited Metroid Prime entry (in over a decade) bombed; Metroid Prime 4 was the lowest-rated game of the series. And Mario Kart World, the game that’s packaged with many Switch 2s, had stiff competition in the kart racing genre in 2025. Many critics and gamers believed Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was the better game. The kart racing debate could come down to choice, but that’s the point I’m making. Mario Kart has always been unequivocally the best kart racing game to release each year it had an entry until last year.
But the Switch 2 has had some superb titles. Mario Kart World is still a fabulous game, and an excellent Donkey Kong game was released last year. DK doesn’t pull the same numbers he used to, but a great title in his line of games is a good sign. I am stoked for the recently released Pokémon Pokopia, which is a joint effort by the creators of Dragon Quest Builders 2, one of my favorite newer game series. Pokémon Pokopia has renewed interest in the Switch 2, moving 2.2 million units in its first four days. Yay! And we have an upcoming Yoshi video game to tie into the upcoming Mario Galaxy movie, releasing this summer. I would’ve thought Nintendo would have planned a major Mario release as a movie tie-in, but Donald Glover is voicing Yoshi. Glover’s stardom could elevate Yoshi to icon status. Stay Yosh!
Even with Nintendo reducing its United States production for the Switch 2, this may be a blip in the console’s life cycle. So, when is the Legend of Zelda getting another entry, Nintendo?
Chicken Fried Dice Launches on KickStarter
Order up! Become Top Chef at a Food Truck Festival by serving up delicious dishes to hungry customers. You’ll be chuckin’ and pluckin’ dice in this frantic, puzzly roll ‘n write for 1-5 players! Upgrade your truck to out serve your competition featuring dry erase customer cards and dual layer food truck player boards.
Operate your own food truck serving up delicious dishes to hungry customers. Each food truck is represented by a double-layer board with different food stations that help you feed customers. Upgrade your truck with dry-erase tiles to out-serve the competition. Insert tiles onto your truck to change the way each station works and make your job easier.
Pluck ingredients from the market before the other chefs get a chance. It’s a race to grab the ingredients you need each round.
Based on the description (provided by the publisher), I had to check and see if Chicken Fried Dice was a real-time. It is. Each player owns a unique food truck with various meal offerings. Customers have food desires, and the quickest chef to claim the appropriate number and colored die can serve the customer first. I have never played Chicken Fried Dice, but I love the concept and the game’s punny name.
Chicken Fried Dice is the first of a couple roll-and-write games (like Yahtzee) this week. It’s been on my radar for a few months now, and I’m excited to see it released. This title scored big at the PAX Unplugged Convention a year or two ago. If you’re interested in Chicken Fried Dice’s fast-paced roll-and-write action, check out its KickStarter page.
Brass: Pittsburgh Launches on GameFound
From Roxley and Gavan Brown, co-designer of Brass: Birmingham, comes Brass: Pittsburgh, which allows you to re-experience the explosive late 19th-century industrial boom of America’s Gilded Age in its northeastern “Steel Belt” region (1865-1913). Players take on the role of a ruthless industrial titan in the age of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Frick as they build sprawling networks of railways, pipelines, steel mills, oil refineries, and more.
Built on Martin Wallace’s acclaimed Brass system, this standalone game introduces innovative new mechanisms and content, while maintaining the overall structure and strategic depth for which Brass has become known.
The description above comes from Brass: Pittsburgh’s publisher, Roxley. I’ve never played a game in the Brass board game series. Brass: Birmingham has dominated the BGG (BoardGameGeek) charts for years, and Brass: Pittsburgh is the latest game in the series. I have some familiarity with Pittsburgh, so the subject matter strikes a chord. But I’ve seen some Brass fans unhappy with this latest offering.
Above is a picture of a player’s tech tree in Brass: Pittsburgh’s. Yes. Games in the Brass series feature tech trees you can progress. You can see why I’ve been reluctant to play one of these games. But Brass fans have pushed back on Brass: Pittsburgh’s $125 price tag, and that doesn’t include shipping. And I’ll push back a little on those Brass fans by saying, Roxley does offer a Brass: Pittsburgh Essentials Edition. This stripped-down version of Brass: Pittsburgh will resemble the kind of copy you can pick up at retail for only $79, so I can see disgruntled Brass fans’ point. What’s the point in picking up the Brass: Pittsburgh Essentials Edition via GameFound if you can wait a few extra months and pick up the game at your local game store?
I’ve heard few people say negative things about Brass: Pittsburgh’s gameplay. By most accounts, it deserves the Brass name, and if the shift to the States, and specifically Pittsburgh, piques your interest and you want a stunning copy of the game, you could give Brass: Pittsburgh a shot. If you’re interested in Brass: Pittsburgh, check out its GameFound page.
Hyve Launches on KickStarter
Hyve puts you in control of a beehive. Each turn in, you roll dice equal to your population. These rolled dice represent your worker bees. Using these bees, you select actions you wish to perform. All of your remaining bees are then used to gather nectar, building you a very colorful Hyve. Struggle to stay alive against the constant threats of nature, and lead your colony from merely surviving to thriving.
Thank you for the description, Aerobellum Games. Roll and write–or in this case, roll-and-color–have had a moment in modern board gaming. These games scale well at large player counts, although the original Hyve release was strictly a one or two-player game. I love how most completed Hyve games look so colorful.
Aerobellum Games isn’t kidding about Hyve being a roll-and-color beehive simulator. The new KickStarter campaign aims to make Hyve a multiplayer experience. I wouldn’t mind having the option of pollinating extra player into this game. The new KickStarter even includes amber dice that look as if they’re made from honey. Ah. Gorgeous!
I don’t know why bee-themed games have become huge in the tabletop game space. Perhaps, they lend themselves to strategic planning and managing resources. We must have the pollen. There are too many pledge options for Hyve to discuss in this short write-up. I counted eight for typical customers (no retail store pledges) and at least a dozen add-ons. Yowza! Pledges do range from $38 to $149. And the add-ons range from $12-$15. Not a bad deal if you want more Hyve merch like colored pencils, playing cards, or a Hyve pin. If you’re interested in Hyve, check out its sweet as honey KickStarter page.
Galen’s Games Mint Tin Series 2 Launches on KickStarter
Bring on the mint tin games. Galen McCown, owner of Galen’s Games, is a four-time semifinalist in Game Crafter community contests, many of which included games that can fit inside a mint tin (like Altoids). Naturally, he publishes mini-board games that fit inside a mint tin. This year’s KickStarter campaign marks the second in Galen’s Games Mint Tin Series, and it includes four new games: Kickabout, Hard Drive, That’s An Order, and Mint Mechs. The four games in this series can be further broken down into two smaller bundles: Action and War.
Hard Drive is pictured above. Along with Kickabout, it belongs to the Action bundle. I like the variety in this bundle. Kickabout is a soccer-themed game, where players attempt to out-think their opponents, while Hard Drive plays more like a fast-paced Android: Netrunner. Gamers battle each other to be the first to hack a corporation. The War bundle has a couple of solid offerings as well. That’s An Order looks like a miniaturized Memoir ’44 in the best way. And who doesn’t love a good Mech battle?
Don’t worry if you missed the original mint tin games set. The KickStarter includes multiple options for gamers to pick up the previous series. Pledges range from $8-$230. The cheapest option is a print-and-play (gamers download and print their own game copies), while the most expensive option includes everything (Series 1 and 2, along with all their expansions). Galen’s Games Mint Tin Series offers a lot of games. You’re sure to find something that strikes your fancy. If you’re interested in Galen’s Games Mint Tins Series 2, check out its KickStarter page.
Crimson Desert Releases
Because we missed a week of Geek News, we’re a bit late with Crimson Desert. We’ll let publisher Pearl Abyss describe their game. Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure set on the continent of Pywel. Join Kliff on his journey to rebuild the Greymane faction and to save the land from a looming threat. From vast wilderness and cities to ruins and the mysterious Abyss, forge your path through battles and discovery.
Originally planned as a prequel to Black Desert and another MMORPG, Pearl Abyss soon found that Crimson Desert worked better as a single-player open-world RPG. Yes, please. The publisher has no further plans to make Crimson Desert a multiplayer experience. Thank you. And Crimson Desert’s setting, Pywel, is based on Sicily. I am so there, and I think, Mrs. Geekly is, too. The only issue I can see Mrs. Geekly having is the reported boss difficulty spike. Combat works fine until a boss enters the battlefield. Eek! Crimson Desert is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X.
Life is Strange: Reunion Releases
The saga of Max and Chloe, and the fate of Caledon, is yours to decide! Play as both Max and Chloe as an all-new story builds towards an epic climax. The fire will force Max and Chloe to make devastating decisions. Can they find a future together… Before everything burns?
We’re going back to Caledon. What? I loved the original Life is Strange. I even dabbled with the sequel that featured new characters, but I never played Double Exposure, the continuation of Max and Chloe’s story. After Life is Strange: Reunion’s release (the third game in the Max and Chloe’s trilogy), I may have some gaming to add to my growing TBP (to be played) pile. Unlike the original Life is Strange, Life is Strange: Reunion was released all at once, not in an episodic format. Okay. And you can play as Chloe. Yes! I added Life is Strange: Reunion to my wishlist. Max, Chloe, and I have some catching up to do. Life is Strange: Reunion is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Damon and Baby Releases
I know little about Damon and Baby and just discovered the game’s publisher, Arc System Works. This company has a knack for retro-style games. While most of their offerings use dated graphics (like the old Dodgeball video game from the 80s), Damon and Baby has updated cell-shaded graphics.
Damon and Baby‘s combat harkens back to Smash TV, the 80s video game where gamers play as contestants in a warfare game show, but Damon and Baby also features a large world to explore. From what I’ve gathered from reviews, Damon and Baby has some great ideas, but the execution doesn’t always land. This sounds like the perfect candidate to wishlist and wait for a sale. Or you can try out Damon and Baby’s free demo to see if it’s right for you. Damon and Baby is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
That’s all the Geek News we have for this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Today, our writers share what they’ve been listening to over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been listening to in the comments. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things rolling with what I’ve been listening to during the month of March.
Kyra’s Tunes
I’ve been listening to Childish Gambino’s “Lithonia” on repeat. The soulful voice. The vocal harmonies. The fusion between Gospel, Rock, and R&B. Ah! I love it. If you haven’t yet listened to “Lithonia” (named after an Atlanta suburb), do your ears a favor and give the Official Audio Video a play on YouTube. “Lithonia’s” Official Music Video is also great, but you don’t get the full song. I also recommend watching the Music Video after the Audio Video. And after watching “Lithonia’s” Music Video, you’ll learn why there are so many reaction videos to that music video. Yowza!
Bando Stone & the New World (the album in which “Lithonia” originates) is a return to form for Childish Gambino. Some of his more recent albums (Altavista) didn’t hit the same as Awaken, My Love!, which includes the amazing “Redbone.” Brando Stone & the New World shows Childish Gambino (soon to go by Donald Glover as a music artist) at the peak of his powers. And I love how this album serves to set up Glover’s upcoming movie of the same name, Brando Stone & the New World. I can’t wait to watch the film. Until then, I’ll listen to Brando Stone & the New World on repeat.
I’ve also been kicking it old school with Nirvana’s In Utero. This album deserves all the praise it receives. Sure, there are the singles “Heart-Shaped Box,” “All Apologies,” and “Pennyroyal Tea,” but the deep cuts set In Utero apart. It may be blasphemous, but I’d say In Utero is slightly better than Nevermind. “Serve the Servants” opens with a bang. The opening lyrics, “Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old” let the audience know this is a different Nirvana. “Serve the Servants” does a great job of melding autobiographical lyrics with working-class anthem ones. The track even sounds vaguely like surf rock.
“Serve the Servants” is an excellent opening track, but “Scentless Apprentice” marks the direction Nirvana may have taken had Cobain stuck around for a few more years. “Scentless Apprentice” was Nirvana’s biggest sonic departure on the album. Not bad for a track with an original name of “Chuck Chuck Fo Fuck.” The nickname is a reference to how the rhythm guitar line sounds.
Frances Bean Cobain (Kurt’s daughter) has cited “Dumb” as her favorite Nirvana song. According to Frances Bean, she sees “Dumb” as her father showing his vulnerability. And “Rape Me” was an attempt by Cobain to speak his mind against violence toward women. His previous work in Nevermind fell on deaf ears. Despite dropping all pretenses, “Rape Me” may be one of Cobain’s most misunderstood songs.
All of this and the singles folks know so well make In Utero a fantastic album.
I went from Nirvana to the other band that dominated the early Nineties, R.E.M.. Ironically, R.E.M. was struggling to finish their eighth studio album, Automatic for the People, so lead singer Michael Stipe, who suffered from writer’s block, reached out to Kurt Cobain. Cobain joked with Stipe that people thought Nirvana used too many yeahs in their songs. And Cobain did have a habit of finishing a line with a yeah. Cobain challenged Stipe to write a song with a lot of yeahs. Stipe accepted the challenge and wrote the classic, “Man on the Moon.”
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Andy Kaufman and the wrestling match Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Monopoly, Twenty-One, Checkers, and Chess Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah I’ll see you in heaven if you make the list Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
The number of “yeahs” in “Man on the Moon” dwarfed the ones Cobain sang with Nirvana, and it went on to become Automatic for the People’s second single. I would say something similar for Automatic for the People as I did with In Utero, that obviously the singles were fantastic, but the deep cuts elevate this album to iconic status. But half of Automatic for the People’s tracks would get released as singles. That’s a lot of singles: “Drive,” “Man on the Moon,” “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,” “Everybody Hurts,” “Nightswimming,” and “Find the River.” Yes. Any two or three of these singles could anchor an album. Automatic for the People had six. Woah!
Despite half of this album being released as singles, I still have at least a couple of deep cuts. “Try Not to Breathe” is haunting. Honestly, I thought it had been released as a single; it’s that good. “Sweetness Follows” is one of my favorite tracks on Automatic for the People. The strings on this track are arranged by none other than John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin’s bassist. Throw in the awesome instrumental and “Monty Got a Raw Deal,” and you get one of those few albums that don’t have a single skip track. You’ll want to listen to them all. I need to pick up Automatic for the People on vinyl.
I’ll finish my segment by including the other song I’ve had on repeat this past month, “Move Your Feet.” This infectious 2003 dance-punk song by Danish pop duo Junior Senior will get anyone off their feet. While I like “Move Your Feet’s” official music video (with its pixel art pictured above), I’ve watched/listened more to one of Junior Senior’s live performances of the song. I didn’t think the band could pull off a great live performance of a song like this. It sounded too produced. But Junior Senior proves they don’t need a silly little thing like autotune.
The full band adds an extra layer of authenticity. The backup singers make “Move Your Feet” come alive. And I’m talking about the “Oh Yeah” woman singer, providing a Disco-like melody leading into the chorus, and the “From Downtown” man singer, harmonizing with Junior on the chorus. The drummer is mesmerizing whenever he clashes the cymbals. This live version of “Move Your Feet” is near-perfect. I prefer it to the studio version. With everything happening in the world right now, sometimes you just need to “Move your feet and feel united.”
That’s all I have for what I’ve been listening to this past month. Let’s see what tunes Skye picks.
Skye’s Tunes
I have succumbed to the K-Pop Demon Hunters hype. I did this a long time ago; I listened to the soundtrack on repeat for the past month. What can I say? K-Pop Demon Hunters is a good movie with a fun soundtrack that’s perfect for dancing. Considering how much I love to dance, you can see why the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack would appeal to me. I’ll keep this entry brief since I know Season has previously discussed this soundtrack, but if y’all would like me to do a breakdown of K-Pop Demon Hunters’ story, themes, and characters, let me know in the comments.
Sometimes you need something to keep you going. “and the day goes on” has been providing me with sufficient energy over the past month. For those who’re unfamiliar, “and the day goes on” is a song uploaded to the YouTube channel Bill Wurtz, which is well-known for the viral video “history of the entire world, i guess.” There isn’t much rhyme or reason to Bill Wurtz’s content, yet they still manage to capture an uplifting tone and a hummable melody while making no sense at all in “and the day goes on.” If you need a little pick-me-up, “and the day goes on” is very good for that. However, I must warn you that it’s gonna be stuck in your head forever.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. Those are the tunes our writers have been listening to over the past month. Let us know what you’ve been listening to in the comments, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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