Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. We don’t have a headline for this week of Geek News; I’m still setting up JK Geekly’s Instagram presence. We’ll be on the Gram in August. Woot! Even though we don’t have a headline, we have plenty of new releases for board games and video games. Let’s get to the games.
Rosalie Launches on KickStarter
In Rosalie, players are aspiring rose breeders competing to build the most magnificent rose garden and earn renown as the finest nursery grower in town.
Each player begins with a small plot of land and a dream. Over the course of the game, players plant roses, crossbreed new varieties, cultivate their soil, and adorn their gardens with fountains and windmills. New and exotic roses are temperamental — neglect their care, and they will wither. To help tend the garden, players can recruit caretaker robots, powering them with electricity to keep their precious roses alive and thriving.
Workers are at the heart of the operation. When their hands are free, players direct them to carry out essential tasks: planting, breeding, tilling, and decorating. Every decision shapes the garden, gradually transforming a modest patch of earth into a source of pride.
Money is always available — the town is generous with its loans, and players can borrow freely whenever funds run short. But beware: at the end of each year, interest quietly accumulates. Debt begets debt, and what once felt like a lifeline can become a chain that strangles your ambitions. Managing finances wisely is just as important as cultivating beautiful roses.
Balance your budget, breed striking new varieties, and build the most captivating rose garden to claim victory.
Thank you, uchibacoya, for the description. Wow! Just wow! Rosalie: A Rosy Game of Gardening looks amazing. The image above showcases a player board. These boards are double-layered, and the one pictured depicts the character Nana. But Rosalie’s double-layered player boards have inserts. You can change Nana for another character, allowing for multiple character abilities and replayability. I like the recent trend in nature-themed board games. Rosalie looks like another solid title. It’s not for the faint of heart. As you can probably tell in the picture above, there’s a ton of strategic depth in this game, and uchibacoya is no stranger to garden-themed games. They have a history with their Garden Trilogy (Dinosaurs, Birds, and Fish). A game like Rosalie is in their wheelhouse. This game looks amazing.
uchibacoya is an up-and-coming board game publisher. While I have yet to play one of their highly regarded games, I have full confidence in uchibacoya delivering with a game like Rosalie. The game boasts several strategies and an intriguing action-selection mechanism. Pledges range from $88 to $169. If you’re interested in Rosalie: A Rosy Game of Gardening, check out its KickStarter page.
Shakeup Adventures Launches on KickStarter
What happens when party game designers make a dungeon-crawling RPG? You get all the adventure and none of the homework.
ENTER THE DUNGEON THAT DOESN’T STAY STILL
Gather a party of up to six heroes (or foolhardy friends) and dive into this ever-changing dungeon. With billions of possible map configurations, you’ll never explore the same dungeon twice.
Build your character abilities, analyze the map, and draw your unique path through monsters, curses, and spike pits, racing fellow adventurers to complete quests and conquer each floor.
Learn, set up, and begin play in under 10 minutes, but don’t be fooled: the possibilities and strategies will challenge even seasoned gamers.
Light enough to explore with the family, but deep enough to spend hours crawling with your gaming group… ready for adventure?
Thank you, Very Special Games, for the description. I almost dismissed Shakeup Adventures when I first saw it. I thought it was a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) peripheral. I was interested in a randomizer for a dungeon crawl (D&D and other TTRPGs I play and DM) and marked Shakeup Adventures for later, thinking I’d add it to my TTRPG repertoire. And then I saw that it was a standalone board game. What? Despite thinking Shakeup Adventures was a TTRPG add-on, and JK Geekly doesn’t typically cover TTRPGs because there are so many releases each week, I still wanted to cover this project. Since it’s a board game, I don’t have to justify covering this game. Yes!
Just yes! Shakeup Adventures takes little time to set up. I love the randomization. Shakeup Adventures claims its game sessions take thirty minutes to an hour. If so, I don’t know of too many dungeon crawlers that take so little time to learn the rules, set up, and play than Shakeup Adventures’ claim. You had me at variable dungeon floors, Shakeup Adventures. And the fact that players shake the castle (pictured above) to randomize the dungeon floors is insane. The toy factor is through the roof. Shakeup Adventures pledges range from $39 to $269. The entry level isn’t as high as I would’ve thought. If you’re interested in Shakeup Adventures, check out its KickStarter page.
Stag Launches on KickStarter
Stag follows the life cycle of beetles — a game of planning and resource management, culminating in a social deduction showdown where you can lose it all if you’re too greedy!
Players plan their actions using their action tiles, then resolve them simultaneously. The aim is to score the most points
by progressing your beetles through their life cycle, going up the trait track and fulfilling personal and universal objectives.
Each stage of the beetle life cycle is represented by the card mats and rings circles on the board (with the middle ring rotating each round). Once two or more beetles reach the final stage, a showdown is triggered! After 5 showdowns points are scored to determine the winner.
Thank you, Split Stone Games, for the description. We have a stacked release for board games this week. GenCon is right around the corner, so we’ll see even more great games launching on KickStarter and GameFound. Each of these projects should still be active when the largest board game convention of the year begins. I’m stoked for Stag. The circle above is a rondel whose layers rotate. That’s so cool. The tiles pictured at the bottom are on top of a player board. These tiles can be moved to cover or reveal the symbols (like the double circle and red teardrop). Wow! Just wow! I said it before, I could say it for each one of this week’s board game titles. Split Stone Games has outdone themselves. Stag’s production value is fantastic.
You don’t see it in the picture, but those player boards have spaces underneath where players can slip cards into place, giving them extra abilities. You may be able to trigger more than one. I’m unsure of that. Stag has an intriguing design. It’s the second game this week to use double-layered player boards in a new way. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Pledges range from $60 to $129. Well, there’s also an opulent edition set at over $1000. I can’t believe that pledge level has seven backers. Wow! If you’re interested in Stag, check out its KickStarter page.
Dinoblade Releases
Dinoblade is an intense action RPG set in a prehistoric world forever changed by a cataclysmic event. Step into the role of a young Spinosaurus, wielding a colossal Great Sword. Confront rival dinosaurs, some armed with weapons of their own, all in a desperate fight to prevent a looming extinction.
At first, I thought Dinoblade was a joke, but you’re playing as a sword-wielding dinosaur. Yes, please. Dinoblade has received good reviews, so somehow Team Spino made this mashup work. I’m certain Season wouldn’t mind playing a game with samurai dinos. Dinoblade sounds right up her alley. And at less than $20 on Steam, Dinoblade has an enticing price point. $20 sounds like a good price for sword, dino hijinx.
Gurei Releases
Gurei is an unforgiving game with precise combat. Fight challenging bosses in any order, acquire their unique powers, and succeed on your own terms.
Okay. I learned a new video game term this week: boss rush. Gurei gives me crazy Cuphead vibes (in terms of its gameplay), and that’s because it’s a boss rush game, which is the same game type as Cuphead. Gurei’s aesthetic is closer to Hollow Knight. Gurei is yet another video game title this week that has received good reviews. Publisher Astrolabe is a prolific studio. They’ve put in a lot of what they’ve learned from previous titles into Gurei. The game looks slick. Gurei is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 5.
Splatoon Raiders Releases on Nintendo Switch 2
Splatoon Raiders differs from other Splatoon titles. It features a single-player story. Gamers can choose between playing an Inkling or an Octoling. Accompanied by members of Deep Cut (introduced in Splatoon 3), players explore a region known as the Spirhalite Islands.
I’ve played very little of the Splatoon franchise, mostly because I didn’t have enough friends on the Nintendo network to play multiplayer games. Splatoon Raiders hits different. I’ve always liked the polish of Splatoon games, but I’ve been reluctant to pick up a copy because I didn’t think the games had much of a story mode. Splatoon Raiders changes that, and like most Splatoon titles, it’s received high marks. I may need to watch out for Splatoon Raiders.
Those are all the new releases for board games and video games for this past week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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