Tag: Video Games

Video Game History: inXile Entertainment

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Monday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with Geekly’s first-ever video game history post, where we discuss a video game company’s history. Today’s video game publisher/developer is the indie darling, inXile Entertainment. It took me a while to realize that inXile is pronounced “In Exile.” That phrase will factor into the game’s history, and wow, do founder Brian Fargo and inXile Entertainment have a long and bumpy history, complete with plenty of stellar games. Before we get to the formation of inXile, we must first talk about Brian Fargo’s first video game publishing company, Interplay.

Brian Fargo Pre-inXile Entertainment

Brian Fargo began developing video games while he was still in high school. Per a 2017 interview with Stay Awhile and Listen, Fargo’s first semi-widely distributed game (he had an earlier game that sold five copies) was Demon’s Forge. The title Demon’s Forge will return, but not until much later. A handful of years later, Brian Fargo would co-found Interplay Entertainment in 1983 with fellow developers Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman. Fargo was 20 years old at the time.

In 2022, inXile Entertainment released a 20th Anniversary Documentary. I will draw from this documentary often, but since it was released by inXile Entertainment, it glosses over some details, so I’ll be providing some context from other sources. If you have a chance, and hopefully after reading this post (wink), you should watch inXile Entertainment’s 20th Anniversary Documentary. It runs about 20 minutes. According to Fargo in the documentary, (he was so young), his vice president had to buy him beer if he wanted it. Fargo tries his best to hide a smirk. I, Kyra Kyle, have never participated in underage drinking. (Wink.)

Brian Fargo’s Time at Interplay

We won’t spend too much time on Interplay’s history — that could be its own video game history post — but we will need to cover Brian Fargo’s time with Interplay Entertainment, as it provides context for inXile Entertainment. Fargo hit the ground running with a trio of hits between 1985 and 1988. Fargo led the Interplay team with the original The Bard’s Tale (1985), Battle Chess (1988), and the RPG classic Wasteland (1988), which would later inspire the Fallout series.

When the Eighties transitioned into the Nineties, Fargo ceased to develop games directly with Interplay. The last game I could find Fargo co-developed for Interplay Productions was 1991’s Track Meet for the Game Boy. Instead of designing games, Fargo served as Interplay’s CEO. The business may have started small, but with Interplay amassing numerous intellectual properties like Dungeons & Dragons (leading to the Baldur’s Gate series), Wasteland undergoing a title change to Fallout (and thriving as Fallout), Earthworm Jim, and Alone in the Dark, the company became a major force in video games. At this time, Interplay was easily one of the best video game developers.

Fargo has a knack for spotting video game development talent. During the early 1990s, Fargo advised Silicon & Synapse. In exchange for 10% equity in the company, Fargo and Interplay contracted Silicon & Synapse to port games developed by Interplay into other consoles, which gave Silicon & Synapse the capital it needed to transition into making original games (and eventually becoming Blizzard Entertainment).

Despite a great track record and hits like 1997’s Fallout, 1998’s Fallout 2, and 1998’s Baldur’s Gate, Interplay experienced financial difficulties. To avoid bankruptcy, Interplay went public on the NASDAQ. According to a Bit Gamer article, Brian Fargo admitted that further losses (because of increased competition, an underwhelming sports division, and a lack of console titles) forced Interplay to look to a third party. That third party would be French software developer Titus Interactive S.A.. Per a Los Angeles Times article, Titus bought 6 million of Interplay shares for $25 million, giving Titus a controlling stake in Interplay. Fargo and Titus’s relationship was strained.

Fargo would claim (in a Gamespot interview) that he and Titus have a “very different ideology of management that was not compatible.” Fargo always loved video games, and Interplay grew into a huge company of over 500 people with offices all around the world. He had to deal with shareholders. He grew distant from his first love, video games. Fargo no longer got to make games; he didn’t want to be a CEO. Ripples of this pattern will emerge in the future.

So, Fargo stepped down as Interplay’s CEO. He was a CEO without a company for several months, when he’d attend an industry convention.

Founding inXile

Fargo recounts his experience at E3 in an interview found on RPG Codex: Right after Interplay, I was going to E3 in May. I needed a quick name to get a badge. I chose the “Workshop,” and as a joke, I gave my title “CEO in exile.” It got such a funny response that we figured there was something to it.

“InExile” was already taken, so “inXile” was chosen as the newly formed company’s name. Fargo’s experience with finding talent during his days at Interplay served him well as he recruited the best team for inXile. According to the YT inXile Documentary, Fargo called Matt Findley (New Orleans, Louisiana Chief) to join the newly minted inXile. Unlike what Interplay had become, inXile would work on only one game. (Vice President of People) Elene Campbell received a phone call from Fargo to go to lunch, and she quickly joined. Max Kaufman (inXile’s former art director) also joined.

My favorite anecdote during these early days of inXile came from Elene Campbell. Campbell said, “inXile Entertainment’s office had a great location. We were right across the beach. We would purchase a surfboard for an employee if they wanted to surf.” Sounds like you couldn’t beat inXile’s location.

The Bard’s Tale (October 26, 2004)

The one video game inXile Entertainment chose to develop first just happened to be its first hit. 2004’s The Bard’s Tale couldn’t continue the story of the original trilogy because Interplay/Electronic Arts still owned the copyright. 2004’s The Bard’s Tale was neither a remake nor a sequel. It had to be something different, and it certainly was. According to Findley (in the inXile Documentary), we wanted to make some sort of cliché-busting, fourth-wall-breaking game. Former art director Kaufman added, We wanted The Bard’s Tale to be irreverent, looking back at the tropes of RPGs and making fun of them.

Fargo noted the difficulty of including comedy in video games. Humor is a subjective thing, Fargo said, but typically, people rate your game on certain criteria: graphics, gameplay, sounds, (control) responsiveness. When you add humor, you’ve added another category for people to criticize you for. You could hit on all the other categories, but someone could think the jokes are not funny. It’s very tricky doing humor.

Adding humor to The Bard’s Tale was risky, but the risk paid off. The Bard’s Tale became a classic because of its sarcastic humor. While the classic Bard’s Tale trilogy used a first-person view, 2004’s The Bard’s Tale had a 3D environment with the player watching in third-person. The player controlled “The Bard,” who never received a name. Dialogue followed a “snarky” or “nice” option system. While the player wouldn’t know exactly what The Bard would say, the player can set the tone for how the game’s world perceives The Bard.

The first dialogue decision is with a barmaid in The Drunken Rat. Being nice to her gives the barmaid the impression The Bard is a gentleman, and she leaves him alone, while being snarky results in the barmaid spending the night with The Bard. The Bard’s Tale gets into some adult themes. Nudge-nudge. Wink-wink.

inXile always intended The Bard’s Tale to be a comedy, but Findley shares (in the Documentary) the moment The Bard’s Tale became a “silly” comedy was when Art Director Maxx Kaufman turned in a drawing of a Bug Bear. Findley told Kaufman the bug bear looked like a guy wearing a terrible Bug Bear costume.

Kaufman admitted he rushed the Bug Bear character concept. He was doing a character concept a day, maybe even two a day. When he made the Bug Bear, he was being serious with the character. His intent was not to make a funny character, but that’s what ended up happening.

I have to agree with Findley. One of The Bard’s Tale’s most enduring legacies must be its use of music within the game. One of The Bard’s Tale’s biggest innovations was the original music that they wrote that had lyrics, Findley said (in the documentary). The songs weren’t just a soundtrack; they were being performed by characters in the game. This cornerstone survived all the way up to Wasteland 3 and The Bard’s Tale IV. inXile loves using original music to tell a story.

I always liked “The Blood of the Lamb” song that plays when dealing with a crazed cult in Wasteland 3. So creepy. And I appreciate inXile’s use of original music to tell a story. It also doesn’t hurt to have stellar voice actors for a video game. Tony Jay narrates The Bard’s Tale, while Cary Elwes earned a nomination for Outstanding Character Performance — Male from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

With one hit under their belt, inXile looked poised for a long run of hits (much like Interplay a couple of decades prior), but inXile immediately hit a snag.

HEI$T

Heist (stylized as HEI$T) is a cancelled action-adventure video game developed by inXile for publisher Codemasters (known for the video game peripheral Game Genie). Set in 1969 San Francisco, Heist follows a group of criminals as they perform various thefts.

Heist features plenty of high-speed chases in what could’ve been an immersive open-world. In a Gamespy article, Lead Heist Designer Sean Patton, cites Need for Speed: Most Wanted and its virtual cops as one influence in the general flow of the getaway chase in Heist. The game sounded amazing. inXile sunk tens–if not hundreds–of thousands of dollars and countless design hours into making Heist the best they could, and then, Codemasters canceled the project.

“Heist is probably my favorite title I ever worked on that never made it to the end,” Findley said in the documentary. “We had an inspired concept of doing something that was supposed to feel like Quentin Tarantino. We had Bruce Campbell as the main character. Ed Asner, Rutger Hauer, Vinnie Jones, Christian Slater, and we had recorded the entire script from beginning to end before the project was shut down.”

Fargo added, “It (Heist) was the closest I’ve ever come to finishing a game–it was finished–and not coming out, but we just couldn’t. Unreal Engine, at the time, to do a true open world wasn’t working for us. Our publisher (Codemasters) really wanted a true open world, but we would have had to make it sort of modularized. Our publisher canceled it.”

There are conflicting reports as to why Heist was canceled. In an interview with Video Games 24-7 (VG247) about Wasteland 2, Fargo said, inXile had an agreement with Codemasters to create an open-world using Unreal Engine on the PS3–but the specs didn’t yet exist for the PS3. They (inXile) found a way to make Heist run great on PC and Xbox, but Codemasters wanted PS3. I gather that Heist worked on every system besides the PS3. Based on the wording, I’m unsure if Heist could’ve been an open-world on the other two systems (PC and Xbox) and needed to be a hub-world on PS3, or if Heist only worked as a hub-world on the other two systems and didn’t work at all on the PS3. Either way, Codemasters canceled Heist.

Heist was a massive blow. It certainly left a bad taste in Fargo’s mouth. He said in the documentary that he couldn’t wait to get back to making games he loves. He disliked making games other people wanted him to make. Well over a decade later, Heist still haunts inXile. They had created a great game in their minds, but their publisher wanted something different. And you don’t need to take my word for it. Heist gets a full segment dedicated to it in inXile’s 20th Anniversary Documentary. Fargo even lists various games, like Payday: Heist, that resemble what Heist attempted to do, but they didn’t have Bruce Campbell, Ed Asner, Rutger Hauer, and Christian Slater in their cast. Fargo insists Heist could’ve done well on the market.

Mobile and Web-Based Games

While one half of inXile developed games like The Bard’s Tale and Heist, the other half developed mobile and web-based games. This half of inXile yielded mixed results. In 2006, inXile acquired the rights to Line Rider, and later on, Fantastic Contraption. inXile ported these indie games to a wider market. They also created a series named Super Stacker. You can still play Super Stacker 2 for free as a web-based game.

Baby Pals Controversy

Fargo discusses inXile’s early days and why they chose to create two branches of the company. “We were trying to find a sustainable business model,” Fargo said (in the Documentary), “but the (video game) world was shifting underneath our feet. We just had to be plucky entrepreneurs and find something. We had the rights to Line Rider. Nintendogs had come out, and we said, let’s do cats (Purr Pals), and we sold three-quarters of a million copies. Dogs are done. What could we do next? People like babies.”

Enter Baby Pals. inXile had licensed the same sound library as the one Mattel was using for their upcoming dolls, so the company thought it was safe. But the next thing Fargo and company knew, inXile was in the news. If you listen carefully, one of the babies says, “Islam is the Light.”

During the documentary, Campbell says, “It was just a baby babbling. There were no hidden references, and it caused so much trouble.”

I like how Findley contextualized these small titles. “I have nothing but warm thoughts for Baby Pals, Purr Pals, Super Stacker, and Line Rider,” Findley said in the documentary. “All of those small and mobile titles we did during those periods…allowed us to do crazy things like Heist and the early stages of Hunted: Demon’s Forge.”

While I thought Findley had a slight smirk when he discussed inXile’s smaller titles during the 20th Anniversary Documentary, his inclusion of these smaller titles financing larger ones rings true.

Hunted: The Demon’s Forge

I promised the title of Fargo’s first semi-widely distributed game, Demon’s Forge, would return. With Heist in their rearview mirror, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge allowed inXile to return to their role-playing roots. But they added a cooperative gameplay twist. Hunted: The Demon’s Forge was an ambitious title. According to Findley in a Game Sauce article, Most co-op games are two guys with the same guns running through the world, so we really like the concept of teamwork…We’ve built these arenas with different heights and areas for players to really get out. They get to use their skills and still be able to help out their partners.

Based on Findley’s description, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge sounds something akin to an early hero shooter. The only other hero shooter available at this time would’ve been Team Fortress 2. But Hunted: Demon’s Forge only allowed couch cooperative play. With World of Warcraft going strong for seven years by 2011, and first-person shooters like Battlefield 3 (also released in 2011), and trying to capture the budding online cooperative wave, couch cooperative games were fading in popularity, and Hunted: Demon’s Forge underperformed.

Competition in the role-playing space was fierce during 2011. It didn’t help that many critics viewed Hunted: Demon’s Forge as a Gears of War clone. Hunted: Demon’s Forge may have fared better if it had been released in a different year. RPG juggernauts Mass Effect 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword were released the same year. Bethesda, Hunted: Demon’s Forge’s publisher, even released Skyrim that year. Yikes! Bethesda may not have given Hunted: Demon’s Forge much of a chance.

Choplifter HD

A little over seven months later, inXile released its 3D polygonal remake of the classic 1982 game Choplifter by Dan Gorlin. inXile even hired Gorlin as a design consultant for Choplifter HD. Despite Choplifter HD remaining true to the original, it was the second game in a row by inXile that received mixed reviews. Some critics appreciated how faithful the remake was to the original, while others criticized the game’s difficulty. Ryan Winterhalter of 1Up.com, compared Choplifter HD to that of a bullet hell shooter. I love Winterhalter’s title: Choplifter Appeals to Your Inner-Masochist. Yowza! That’s good copy.

For those keeping score, that’s a canceled game (Heist) that cost countless hours of development to make, a controversy (Baby Pals) that eventually led inXile to halt production on smaller games, and back-to-back near misses with Hunted: Demon’s Forge and Choplifter HD. inXile was at a crossroads.

A Comet Almost Hits the Earth

Fargo shared in the inXile Documentary, “I’ve had so many near-death events in this industry, where the comet almost hits the Earth. If Battle Chess wasn’t a hit…If Castles wasn’t a hit. I can go through ones where if that didn’t work, we’re out of business. Hunted didn’t work, so we had to scale back to a very small group of people.”

Up to this point, Brian Fargo had seen his share of misses and near-misses. inXile’s history began to mirror Interplay’s over a decade earlier. Interplay started as a focused team working on a couple of titles and then swelled to a company of 500 working on dozens of projects. Findley says (in the Documentary), “The years between The Bard’s Tale (2004) and Wasteland (2) was a roller coaster. We got smaller again, then we got bigger, and we got smaller. We went from being a focused team working on one title to 120 people working on four or five titles at once. We were all over the place.”

Interplay made itself a “public” company, entering NASDAQ. inXile would also go “public” but in a different manner. Only this version of “going public” involved inXile’s and Wasteland 2’s historic KickStarter campaign. Like Fargo said, “We threw it all in with our KickStarter and that changed everything.”

Wasteland 2’s KickStarter Campaign

“We were able to pitch the games we want to make,” Findley said (inXile Documentary), instead of pitching the game you know you can sell, which is a much more fun place to be.” This mindset changed everything for inXile. Heist and Hunted were financed by another company. Codemasters wanted a game in Heist inXile couldn’t deliver, while Bethesda released Hunted a few months before Skyrim. KickStarter showed inXile what their fans wanted to play.

For years, gamers asked for a follow-up to 1988’s Wasteland, but the rights to Wasteland proved tricky. Before inXile could begin work on Wasteland 2, they needed to obtain the rights to Wasteland from Electronic Arts. The original publisher, EA, had let the rights lapse. The last time Electronic Arts had worked on a project connected with Wasteland was Fountain of Dreams. “Originally, Interplay (and Brian Fargo) were supposed to be involved with Fountain of Dreams (1990), but EA took control of the project and produced it themselves,” said Fargo in a Wired interview. “By 2003, Electronic Arts dropped all claims that Fountain of Dreams had any connection to Wasteland.” This opened the legal door for Wasteland 2 to become a reality.

Wasteland 2 was a sequel to 1988’s Wasteland. To be fair, Wasteland 2 is a fusion of a sequel and an update to the original. The stories of both games share many similarities. Wasteland 2 is a joy to play. I highly recommend playing it. Wasteland 2 delivers on Fargo’s idea of a “hardcore role-playing game.” There is no one way to play through Wasteland 2. Your choices affect the world.

There are moments where it’s obvious how your choice will affect the world, especially the game’s first choice of saving Highpool (a community based around a local dam that provides water to the region) or the Ag Center (which grows genetically modified vegetables to feed the locals). You can’t respond to both distress signals. Other moments are more subtle in how your choices will affect the world.

But why KickStarter? inXile had never used a crowd-sourced platform before, in fact, Fargo had never heard of KickStarter. Fargo shares the moment he decided to Kickstart Wasteland 2 (in the inXile Documentary), “Tim Schaefer launches his KickStarter (Double Fine Adventures). The first day, it makes half a million dollars. I was like, this is it. I called Matt the next day, drop everything. This is what we’re gonna do. We went from what’s KickStarter? to launching within 30 days.”

Wasteland 2’s KickStarter did not end up beating Double Fine Adventures (per an inXile community post), but it was, at the time, the second-largest video game KickStarter campaign, closing in at just over $2.9 million. Add in PayPal donations of over $100,000, and Wasteland 2’s total funds equaled over $3 million.

To this day, Wasteland 2’s KickStarter campaign sports the third-highest total on KickStarter. I’ll admit, KickStarter is better known for board games than video games, but this fact may make Wasteland 2’s success on KickStarter all the more impressive. Wasteland 2’s success goes a long way to show how much the video game community appreciates inXile, and more specifically, Brian Fargo’s work.

Torment, The Mage’s Tale, and The Bard’s Tale IV

Torment: Tide of Numenara was released in 2017 after another successful KickStarter campaign. inXile learned plenty of lessons from their first crowdfunding campaign. Torment: Tides of Numenara was written by Monte Cook, who also wrote the rules to the tabletop role-playing game Numenara where Torment is set, but Torment: Tides of Numenara is also a spiritual successor of a former Interplay game, Planescape: Torment. Torment: Tides of Numenara received favorable reviews, continuing inXile’s hot streak. It also honors inXile’s past.

We won’t go into too much detail with the remaining titles in this segment. The Mage’s Tale was developed in parallel with The Bard’s Tale IV. The two projects share some assets. Both games received average or mixed reviews. Regardless of reviews, both games had ambition. While The Mage’s Tale brought the world of The Bard’s Tale to the new medium of virtual reality, The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep attempted to fuse elements of the original 1980s Bard’s Tale trilogy with the 2004 spin-off The Bard’s Tale.

After a shaky decade, inXile had found a sustainable business model. But nothing stays the same for long.

Joining Xbox

In November 2018, Microsoft Studios acquired inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment on the same day. Eurogamer made the announcement, stating, “The two independent studios who had fought against each other would now be under the Xbox umbrella. This announcement led to Fargo staying as head of inXile, because in March 2017 (also on Eurogamer), Fargo had announced his plans to retire from inXile following the release of Wasteland 3.

Fargo has said in the past that he doesn’t enjoy being a CEO. He may have wanted to leave on a high note (with Wasteland 3). Microsoft Studios’ absorption of inXile as a subsidiary allows Fargo to stick to his passion, developing video games. Microsoft’s near limitless resources mean that inXile won’t need to rely on crowdsourcing to make the games it wants to make.

Clockwork Revolution

This video game history post is one of the final pieces I wrote in preparation for my end-of-year novel writing/editing break, so I’m writing this post in 2025. Clockwork Revolution is slated for a 2026 release. Who knows? Clockwork Revolution may already be released by the time you’re reading this. I am stoked for this title. What I’ve seen looks amazing, and since Clockwork Revolution is categorized as an action-RPG, I’m anticipating it having gameplay similar to The Bard’s Tale (rather than Wasteland). Regardless, I have Clockwork Revolution wishlisted and will be playing it soon after it releases.

inXile and Brian Fargo had a crazy ride, filled with hits, misses, and near-misses. I’m glad Fargo and his team had those Wasteland 2 KickStarter moments. In the inXile Documentary, Fargo said, “They (fans) valued the work we’ve done before. It felt good. I can say that when we hit our funding goal, it was one of the highlights of my whole career.”

Thank you for reading. Let us know what other video game companies you want us to write a history for, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News CMON Games

Geekly News: January 25, 2026, CMON Games Breaks Silence

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! We have another week of Geek News to discuss. Rejoice! CMON (Cool Mini Or Not) Games broke its months-long (almost a year) silence and gave gamers a roadmap to when they intend to ship most–if not all–the board games they have yet to ship on Gamefound. We’ll have this and new video game and board game release on this week’s Geekly News.

CMON shares 2026 plans to deliver outstanding Kickstarters “no matter what.”

CMON suffered $7 million in 2025. The struggling board game company had at least a dozen outstanding crowdfunding projects prior to 2025. They’ve sold off properties like Cthulhu: Death May Die and Zombiecide, which also had crowdfunding projects that have yet to be fulfilled. Layoffs took place, and CMON froze production on newer board games while it focused on delivering on its promises.

Things weren’t looking good for a once-powerful board game company. For better or worse, CMON was the one who pioneered crowdfunding. This week, CMON provided updates on several, though not all, of its outstanding projects. Dune: Desert War will be packed and ready for pickup in the first quarter. By the third quarter, production will have begun on Masters of the Universe (hopefully we’ll see this project ship shortly after the movie releases). The fourth quarter features mold making and core box production for DCeased, DC Super Heroes United, and God of War: The Board Game. Other projects, like Massive Darkness, A Song of Ice and Fire Tactics, Super Fantasy Brawl Reborn, and The Dead Keep, have been pushed back to 2027.

CMON continues exploring further IP sales (like the ones for Cthulhu: Death May Die and Zombiecide) or licensing opportunities. It also plans to deliver in batches, so retail sales “help fund the manufacturing of remaining products in the line.” If you’re like me and you backed one or more of CMON’s outstanding crowdfunding projects, you’ll be happy to hear that CMON will not be asking existing backers for additional money. That’s music to my ears. I was worried about those pesky tariffs.

CMON asks fans for “patience as we work through fulfillment in a way that ensures completion rather than risking further setbacks. We will continue to share updates as milestones are reached and as plans become firm enough to communicate responsibly.” I’m good with better communication. I heard few DC Super Heroes United updates in almost nine months. Yikes! Communication like this week’s announcement is welcome.

Knave! Launches on KickStarter

Knave! combines elements Slap Jack with Rock-Paper-Scissors. Take up your guards in hand and set a rhythm with your opponent. Each guard beats only one type of guard, so keep an eye out for when you might be able to strike. Or if you’re fast enough, throw up a block before your opponent strikes. Knave! attempts to simulate the frantic and sudden nature of swordfighting.

Knave! marks publisher, Foggity Whims Press’s–great name by the way–first game. The artwork matches the theme, and at $11, Knave! may be worth a shot as a quick, small card game. If you’re interested in Knave!, check out its KickStarter page.

Beetle Battle Launches on Gamefound

Something must be in the air because Beetle Battle is our second Slap Jack-inspired card game. Only this time, Slap Jack combines with combos. What? Players chain beetle abilities, trying to connect colorful beetles, and unleash mischievous chain reactions. But beware of the Cockroach. If you see a Cockroach, you must squish.

While I like the streamlined nature of Knave!, Beetle Battle includes numerous game modes and could offer plenty of replayability. We don’t have information for Beetle Battle’s pledge levels, but that shouldn’t stop you from following Beetle Battle. If this game sounds interesting, check out Beetle Battle’s GameFound page.

Dicequest Launches on GameFound

Dicequest is a dice pool builder. You have my attention. I’ve loved the concept of a dice pool builder ever since Quarriors and its spiritual successor, Dice Masters. We know little about Dicequest’s gameplay. Fingers crossed for a playthrough soon. But the game’s page reads as follows, Gather Your Party, Level Up, and Choose Your Path. Dicequest states that one can play it solo, cooperatively, and competitively. It sounds like the game will have plenty of game modes.

I like the trend of neoprene playmats, and Dicequest features one. Yay! Again, I have my fingers crossed for a playthrough. Dicequest sounds like a game that’s in my wheelhouse. With each game session taking about 45 minutes, it doesn’t appear to outstay its welcome. Since Dicequest has yet to launch (as of writing this post), we have no details on its pledge levels. But if you’re like me and you’re interested in Dicequest, check out its GameFound page.

2XKO Releases

Alright, video game new releases heat up this week. We have a few interesting games. Our first is the free-to-play 2XKO from Riot Games. Yes. 2XKO is set within the League of Legends’ universe, but it takes the franchise in a new direction: a 2v2 tag-team fighting game.

As of writing this post, I have yet to play 2XKO, so my comments will be conjecture. But I’m getting strong Street Fighter meets Brawlhalla vibes with 2XKO. Brawlhalla (a Super Smash Bros clone of sorts) has a 2v2 fight mode. I always wondered what could happen if someone applied Street Fighter mechanisms and graphics to a game like Brawlhalla (or the maligned Multiversus). I may have to give 2XKO a chance. 2XKO is available on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.

Mio: Memories in Orbit puts gamers in the role of an agile robot named MIO that explores a forgotten ark spaceship named The Vessel. The Vessel’s AI caretakers, known as Pearls, have stopped working, and you must explore the vegetation and survive the machinery to revive The Vessel’s memories, preventing a shutdown.

Mio: Memories in Orbit features stunning art. Since it’s a Metroidvania-style video game, its gameplay reminds me of Hollow Knight. And developer Douze Dixièmes has indie game street cred. Mio: Memories in Orbit has my attention if only for its graphics. Those are some pretty pixels. It’s received generally favorable reviews and is available on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.

Escape from Ever After Releases

Our first two video games had stunning graphics, but Escape from Ever After looks adorable. Be prepared to dive into storybook worlds packed to the brim with colorful characters and locales. But beware of electrifying secrets. Escape from Ever After borrows from Lovecraftian horror and that piques my interest.

Escape from Ever After’s graphics remind me of Paper Mario and Cat Quest in the best possible way. Players can build and customize their party; every character has unique skills that can be equipped and upgraded. You even get to decorate your office as you climb the corporate ladder. But my favorite feature may just be Escape from Ever After’s big-band soundtrack. Not enough video games use big band music. Escape from Ever After is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Nested Lands Enters Early Access

We conclude this week’s new video game releases with yet another intriguing entry: Nested Lands. Holy cow! Nested Lands is an RPG, survival, village-building, and social management game in a medieval setting. I don’t know if Nested Lands leans more toward Ark Survival, The Elder Scrolls, a combination of several games in various genres, or does something different.

Gather (plague) survivors, build a settlement, craft, master your skills, survive, and endure alone or in online co-op. Yes! Nested Lands sounds like it may scratch several itches. And yes, I wishlisted it on Steam, and if I have time, I may play the demo. Nested Lands is available on PC (with GOG, Steam, and Epic Games).

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.

Geekly News: January 18, 2026, Spider-Man License Update

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. We have more video game and board game releases to discuss, but first, let’s discuss another angle of the MCU’s future. The Spider-Man license between Sony and Marvel/Disney may soon change.

Rumors of a New Spider-Man License Deal

Almost three decades have passed since Marvel Comics sold the movie rights to Spider-Man and other characters within Spider-Man’s universe (Venom, Carnage, Kraven, and others). Since the deal, Sony has done what it can to hold onto every character it can. The last couple of years we’ve seen Madame Web, Kraven, Morbius, and Venom: The Last Dance release to less than stellar responses. Let’s be real. Most of those movies stunk. I don’t blame any actor, director, or anyone else involved in those movies for their quality or for being involved in those movies. Some of them— like the Venom movies — made money, but audiences and critics didn’t rate them highly. But change could be in the air. According to trusted industry insider DanielRPK, Sony’s Spider-Man embargo may soon come to an end.

Why is Sony open to a new deal? We don’t know for certain. The aforementioned Venom: The Last Dance concluded the Spider-Man Villain movie franchise. Even if Sony chose to relaunch, reboot, or rework the franchise, Venom actor Tom Hardy has retired from the role, and Venom was the franchise’s biggest box office draw. Then, there’s the news that the Black Cat solo film has been cancelled, and the fact that Sony has begun cancelling films within the Spider-Man Villain movie franchise raises red flags.

According to Nerd Tower (via Twitter/X), Black Cat has been in production since at least 2021. Here’s what Nerd Tower recently shared: “There was a Black Cat movie in production, I saw storyboards and in a specific sequence, she was dressed as a goth at a costume party, cries in the bathroom, smears her makeup and makes the ‘mask,’ BAMMMM Black Cat ready for action. It was awful.”

True. That origin for Felicia Hardy/Black Cat sounds awful. But it’s not the worst storyline Sony’s Spider-Man Villain movie franchise has released. The less said about Madame Web, the better. Change must be on the horizon if Sony heard a movie pitch they didn’t like for Spider-Man or his villains. We don’t yet know what this means for the MCU’s Spider-Man or if a deal will happen with enough time for it to affect Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Negotiations between Sony and Marvel/Disney are ongoing and predate Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s development. There’s a chance we could see Venom, Carnage, Kraven, or the Sinister Six in the MCU.

But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Unless a deal occurred under the table, the best Spider-Man: Brand New Day could do is hint at the Spider-Man Villain movie franchise characters joining the MCU. But the next Spider-Man film could feature any number of these characters. I’d love to see a Sinister Six movie.

Mountain Goats: Legacy Launches on KickStarter

In Mountain Goats: Legacy, players battle each other for top spot on the mountain. Each turn, roll and combine dice to race up the mountain. Get to the top to score, but don’t get knocked off! If you roll the goat symbol, activate new abilities—powers that rotate every mission. As your story progresses, you’ll unlock even more powerful abilities and face tougher challenges. The mountain itself might even transform beneath your feet.

I’ve never played the original Mountain Goats, but I’ve heard great things. I’m unsure how Mountain Goats lends itself to a Legacy game, a game that can be played over multiple gaming sessions, and the game changes after each session, but I’m here for it. I saw the original Mountain Goats when it was first released at Origins and have been kicking myself for not trying it out during the convention. But I didn’t get much of a chance. Gamers flooded the tables where Mountain Goats was on display. Mountain Goats: Legacy is among the highly anticipated games for 2026 on most other board review sites. You can back Mountain Goats: Legacy for $39-88. There’s even an Enchanted Ivy, a dedicated solo variant of Mountain Goats for $19. If you’re interested in Mountain Goats: Legacy, check out its KickStarter page.

Small-Time Heroes Returns to GameFound

Small-Time Heroes is another title I haven’t had the chance to play yet. It’s received high marks on BoardGameGeek. In this cooperative deck builder, you’ll take on the role of one of the Small-Time Heroes and work together to defend the town. With each battle, you’ll build up your deck of cards, choosing from a variety of cards that represent your hero’s unique abilities. As your power builds, you will defeat waves of minions and end with a final boss battle. Defeat the boss before they defeat you!

I love publisher Solo Game of the Month’s mission. Produce high-quality and accessible solo board games each month. Small-Time Heroes continues this trend. The original Small-Time Heroes is available for $39, and so is its first major expansion. Small-Time Heroes’ GameFound page offers several other add-ons, too. If you’re interested in Small-Time Heroes, check out its GameFound page.

Boktor Launches on GameFound

Boktor is a cooperative adventure game for 1 to 6 players, blending dungeon-crawling, tactical combat, and character progression in a world where elemental chaos threatens to consume everything. Each game is a self-contained mission in which players take on the role of legendary heroes sent to explore a dynamically generated dungeon. Their goal: survive waves of enemies, gather powerful abilities, and confront the final Tyrant before the Vortex obliterates the land. I like Boktor’s idea of quick level-ups for your heroes. Too often, dungeon-crawlers like these take too long for the leveling to happen.

I’m getting Betrayal at House on the Hill vibes from Boktor’s map, and that’s a good thing. I always liked Betrayal’s exploration, and Boktor looks to include exploration. And the biggest issue with dungeon-crawling board games is the time it takes to learn and play them. Boktor boasts a 5-minute teaching of the rules and 60-minute game sessions. If that’s true, sign me up. We don’t know Boktor’s price point as of this write-up (it will release early next week), but if you’re interested in Boktor, check out its GameFound page.

What you can’t see… doesn’t exist. Cassette Boy is a puzzle action RPG where you control the game’s perspective to change the world you see. Rotate a 2D pixel-styled 3D world, using disappearing obstacles and newly appearing paths to uncover the mystery of the vanished moon. Honestly, I knew little about Cassette Boy before researching for this post, but the premise has me hooked.

Cassette Boy’s aesthetic channel slightly beefed up GameBoy graphics, but no one’s planning on playing this indie game for its graphics. Cassette Boy’s gameplay may be one of the better puzzle action RPG conceits since Katamari Damacy. It builds its story through gameplay, and that has me stoked. And for its listed price of less than $15 dollars, Cassette Boy may be worth a look. Cassette Boy is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon Releases

I sense a trend with the games (board games and video games) on this list. I’ve never played a game in the Trails series and have been meaning to for some time. If anyone knows where best to begin the series, let me know in the comments. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon is not only a continuation of the Trails series of video games, but it’s the direct sequel to 2022’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II. Okay. I may not begin Trails with this title, but look how pretty.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon looks like a game I’d enjoy. It features an updated combat system–from the rest of the Trails series. Mechs play a large role. Yes, please. And the previous games from this series within the larger Trails series have received favorable reviews. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

That’s all the geek news we have for you this week. If you’ve made it this far, you’re fantabulastical. We all know it. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly News: January 11, 2026, MCU X-Men Reboot Updates

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with the first Geekly News of the year. The year is still ramping up, so we only have a few new releases. We’ll get to the new board games and video games, but first, let’s check in with the MCU and the upcoming Mutant Saga. There’s a lot to discuss.

MCU Reveals Its Blueprint for The X-Men

We’ve been radio silent about the MCU for a while, not because the MCU had few updates, but because those updates didn’t feel large enough. Black Panther had a recasting rumor. We still don’t know for sure if Shuri (Letitia Wright) will remain as the Black Panther beyond Avengers: Doomsday. Heck, a new Black Panther could reveal themselves during the next Avengers film. Ryan Reynolds is working on a new Deadpool or Deadpool and Wolverine movie. Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine for at least the next Deadpool film and potentially a new Wolverine solo film. But the biggest MCU news may be Marvel’s direction for the X-Men.

According to trusted industry insider Daniel RPK, Marvel will release solo projects for the core X-Men members, leading up to an X-Men team movie. Marvel wants to avoid the errors they made during the Multiverse Saga. Going back to what made people care about the Avengers during the MCU Phase One is a step in the right direction. Unlike Avengers actors (who were in their forties and fifties), Marvel intends to cast younger actors in X-Men roles, even a younger Wolverine. Speaking of Wolverine, rumors suggest he won’t be included in the first X-Men film. That may be for the best.

We still don’t know how Marvel plans to introduce the upcoming X-Men characters. My guess is that we may see more Marvel Studios Special Presentations. Disney/Marvel will want to cash in on The X-Men as soon as they can, and some sources suggest the first MCU X-Men film will release a year or two after Avengers: Secret Wars. That doesn’t leave the studio too much time to introduce these characters. Several 1-hour specials could help.

And speaking of Marvel Studios Special Presentations, the Punisher Special will build off of the second season of Daredevil: Born Again and should also tie into Spider-Man: Brand New Day. This news, added with the rumors of upcoming X-Men character solo projects, makes it appear that the MCU may require viewers to–once again–do some small homework in preparation for upcoming movies and shows. I’m torn. I’ve liked the MCU’s recent trend of not requiring a lot of homework ahead of watching a movie or show. On the other hand, I’d love to see more Special Presentations. And there was a time when Marvel fans didn’t mind doing a little homework. Hopefully, the X-Men will find a good balance.

Yokai Forest Duel Launches on Gamefound

Bring on the games. Two to eight players face off in fast-paced tournaments or league-style matchups. Outsmart your rivals through clever strategy, deduction & bluffing with mind games as you fight for victory in intense best-of-three duels. Be careful though: investing too much time in your current match and your opponent might crush you before you even reach the finals.

Yokai Forest Duel’s concept reminds me of a character-driven version of Challengers!, and if that’s the case, Yokai Forest Duel will be loads of fun. Godot Games claims Yokai Forest Duel can be learned in under three minutes but offers plenty of strategic choices. Again, this reminds me of Challengers!. Yay! The artwork and game graphics differ, and so does the fact that players assume the role of a specific character. I don’t know how any of the characters work, but Yokai Forest Duel features eight different 80-card decks. Yokai Forest Duel’s pledges range from $27 to $74. If you’re interested in Yokai Forest Duel, check out its Gamefound page.

The Last in the Woods Launches on GameFound

Forget comfort. The Last in the Woods is about survival. You’ll have no safety net. As the game’s name suggests, you’re handed a few tools, and you compete against the other players to be the last in the woods. I’m unsure if The Last in the Woods includes direct player versus player combat. Typically, I don’t care for direct combat between players. But I love the idea of a competitive survival game, and if that involves a little PVP combat, I’m all for it.

Variable player powers (like the one for George, who only needs one stone to craft a knife, pictured above) should give The Last in the Woods a little spice. But this isn’t the only element The Last in the Woods uses to shake up the gameplay of each game. Random events and equipment allow for diverse strategies during each playthrough. As of writing this post, The Last in the Woods hasn’t listed their pledge rates. I can’t imagine the game costing more than $40. It could cost as little as $20. We’ll see. If you’re interested in The Last in the Woods, check out its GameFound page.

Code Violet Releases on PlayStation 5

During Code Violet, players uncover the secrets of the Aion colony, who use time travel technology to kidnap women in the past. These women are then used as surrogate mothers in an attempt to save humanity from destruction. I love this hook. Code Violet combines story elements of Children of Men and The Handmaid’s Tale with a time-travel twist. Excellent! Add in the fact that Code Violet is a third-person action-horror game and the spiritual successor to Dino Crisis, and Code Violet may be a PlayStation 5 title to place on your radar.

And that’s a great thing because Code Violet is our only new video game release for this week. I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned 2026 hasn’t yet fully launched. Plenty of great board games and video games are on the horizon. We just may need to wait another week or two. Or even a month or two.

That’s all the geek news we have for you this week. Which MCU project are you the most excited for? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Whatcha Playing, Geekly: January 2026

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Today, our writers share what they’ve been playing over the past month. We should have plenty of games to share because our Christmas haul of games was immense. I’ll start things off, but don’t be shy with sharing what you’ve been playing over the past month. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang.

Kyra’s Board Games

I heard of Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein, but never got around to playing it, and honestly, I forgot it existed. I love the theme. Abomination occurs twenty years after the events of Frankenstein. Players assume the role of scientists tasked by the creature to build them a partner. The game pulls few punches. It leans into its subject matter, seldom shying away from gore. Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein’s choice of Paris as its setting is perfect. I like how execution via the guillotine factors into the gameplay. Yes. Abomination is on the longer side (and some turns can feel repetitive after a handful of rounds), but I can see myself breaking out this game every four to six weeks.

Canvas is another game I knew about and was interested in, but never played, and forgot about it. Despite picking up a 3D printer this year (I may have to share pictures of some of my 3D prints), my Christmas haul of board games rocked. In short, Canvas is gorgeous. Just look at that cover. We may need to do a battle of beautiful board game covers this upcoming March for March Madness. Anyway. Canvas’s core mechanism revolves around adding transparent cards (with painting elements to them) to set backgrounds inside card sleeves. The game’s scoring feels familiar. And while the game’s core mechanism leans toward simplicity, Canvas stays engaging. This is one competitive game I don’t mind losing. I care more about making an awesome painting. And it doesn’t hurt that each completed piece earns a name. I’ll take “Whimsical Nightmare” for zero points, because it’s Whimsical Freaking Nightmare. Metal!

I didn’t know what to expect with Challengers!. Yet another game on my to-be-tried list that made it under the tree. Challengers! accommodates up to eight players. I don’t have a lot of games that do that–outside of party games–and I suppose Challengers! can be considered party game adjacent. Turns and rounds are quick. The game plays out like the classic card game War with plenty of fun twists. Players attempt to capture the flag from their opponents. The last player with the flag–or the last player standing in one of up to four arenas–earns a trophy for the round. The player with the most points after seven rounds wins. The name of Challengers!’s developer, 1 More Time Games, fits. I seldom play just one game of Challengers!. And I can see why Challengers! was a Spiel des Jahres finalist.

I knew little about Hex Effects. It’s a small card game one can find at Barnes & Noble, but Hex Effects surprised me. I love the tarot cards. Not enough games use this card size. They feel great in your hands. And I love the theme. In Hex Effects, players have accidentally hexed themselves and must cure themselves before any other player can do the same. I’ve only played Hex Effects with two or three players. I can only imagine how zany turns can get with more players. Hex Effects plays up to eight players. Another new eight-player game. But I can see Hex Effects dragging with more players. If someone gets close to curing their final Hex, I can see the remaining players ganging up on them. At two and three players (maybe even four) Hex Effects works. This is another game I’ve never only played once during a sitting.

Rolling Realms is the only board game I’m including on this list that I didn’t get at Christmas. But it is yet another game I forgot–only this time, I forgot I owned a copy. Not only is Rolling Realms a great series of roll-and-write mini games (think Yahtzee meets WarioWare), it’s a great marketing tool. Jamey Stegmaier seldom makes a bad board game, and each Rolling Realms mini game is a fun and simplistic roll-and-write variant of a previously published Stonemaier Game. Each turn, one player rolls two standard six-sided dice. Then, players simultaneously plug the numbers on the dice into two of the three mini games. Some game combinations are better (or easier to score) than others, but I love the challenge of getting the highest possible score. And Rolling Realms is a lightning-fast game. Any game with simultaneous play skews toward shorter run time.

I could go on about other board games, but I’ll let Season share which games she got for Christmas. Before I pass this post to Season, I’ll share the one notable video game I began playing again this past month.

Kyra’s Video Game

It has been almost two years since I last played Apex Legends. It’s official. I stink at the game. Despite some gripes with the updated battle pass system and a new in-game currency (both of these are money-grubbing tactics🙄), I enjoy Apex Legends’s core gameplay. Sure. I’ve experienced plenty of lag. Matchmaking is atrocious at times. And the Apex Legends community may have gotten more toxic in the past two years. I encountered plenty of people who were salty that not enough people play the game. Maybe, don’t be jerks.

Then, there’s Respawn itself. They punish people for leaving meaningless games (we’re not talking ranked games with the casual play of mix tape), even when other players cheat, and plenty of players cheat. I’m tempted to report people who pickoff others at respawn points (if you play long enough, you’ll know where people respawn). I don’t know how many times I die before I reload into a game because I have just enough latency for someone else to take advantage. This reminds me of a famous video game design quote: When given the chance, players will optimize the fun out of a game. This quote sums up Apex Legends.

But don’t report anyone who cheats. The devs are so brain dead that they’ll ban the person who reported a player, rather than the actual player who cheated. And still, Apex Legends’s mechanisms hold up years after its initial release. Oddly enough, few legends were new to me despite my nearly two-year hiatus. I have no idea what the meta is, but I’m having fun–whenever everything works correctly, and no, being the beneficiary of cheaters on my team isn’t fun either. I hop into a handful of mixed tape matches most days. I don’t know if I’m back for good. An Apex Legends lobby can be hell on Earth.

Oh. And delete Control from mixed tape. The other two game modes within mixed tape’s rotation (Team Deathmatch and Gun Run) have ten-minute time limits. Control has a thirty-minute time limit. Cue Sesame Street. One of these things is not like the other.

Now, I’m ready to hand over the post to Skye. Let’s see what games she’s been playing over the past month.

Skye’s Video Games

I hope y’all had a good Holiday Season. Mine resulted in quite a few new games for me to play, with Resident Evil 2 being among them. I’ve had a blast (literally and figuratively) running and gunning my way through the virus-riddled streets of Racoon City. Despite my masochistic tendencies to start all my games on the hardest difficulty setting, I somehow managed to make my way through Resident Evil 2. It was a hard-fought but satisfying battle. While Resident Evil 2 is supposed to be played multiple times from both protagonists’ perspectives, I decided to hold off for the time being. I have plenty of other games to get through anyway, such as the next game on my list.

Huh, I suppose it was a very game-sequel Christmas for me. Either way, both Resident Evil and Silent Hill are game franchises I’ve been meaning to play for a while. With Resident Evil, I decided that it’d be fine to skip the first one since it’s not very story-driven and more of a proof-of-concept for the series. In Silent Hill’s case, I wanted to start with the first one. I just couldn’t find a copy of it that was compatible with any of my consoles. Bummer. But Silent Hill 2 is just as good, if not even better than the original. I’ve been on edge every moment. Resident Evil 2 could be tense and thrilling, but Silent Hill 2 is legitimately creepy. There’s fog everywhere, no explanation for anything that’s going on, enemies on the prowl, and all you have is a stick for protection. Hold me.

Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. That’s all our writers have for the video games and board games we’ve played this past month. Let us know what you’ve been playing in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Free-to-Play Video Game Review: Clicker Heroes

Published on by KyraLeave a comment

Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! I haven’t done a free-to-play video game review in a handful of months and figured I’d give the treatment to a game I played a lot of this past summer, Clicker Heroes. Yes. Clicker Heroes has been out for over a decade, but it’s still available on multiple platforms: PC, mobile, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Clicker Heroes started as a Flash game, so this free-to-play video game has been around for some time. But just because a game is “free-to-play,” does that mean that it’s free-to-play friendly? Let’s subject Clicker Heroes to our review criteria.

Mechanisms

Mechanisms: 2/10

Clicker Heroes doesn’t cover new ground, so its mechanisms score suffers as a result. Don’t get me wrong, I like idle games. I played the heck out of AdVenture Capitalist. I did the same with Clicker Heroes. I sunk hundreds of hours into this game, but it doesn’t do anything more than click on heroes, like the game’s name suggests, allow you to upgrade the heroes, and then face the next goofy-looking boss monster.

I do like how you can choose to upgrade your heroes by factors of 1, 10, 25, and 100 levels each time. This makes leveling up lesser heroes like Cid, the Helpful Adventurer (your first Hero), a breeze. Goldfish and Bees will flash on the screen with button prompts, but this does little to shake up the stale gameplay.

Gameplay Loop

Above Image from GameDesigning.Org

Gameplay Loop: 2/10

I know I just said I sunk hundreds of hours into Clicker Heroes, but most of that time I spent AFK (away from keyboard), and that’s by design. Clicker Heroes is one of those games you log in once, maybe twice, a day, check on your heroes, and put the game back to sleep.

You’re encouraged to “ascend” your world, which erases much of your progress, and then you must climb back to where you just were. This is what keeps Clicker Heroes’ gameplay loop score from reaching even lower, because Clicker Heroes’ most engaging gameplay is at the beginning. Waiting for your power-ups to recharge or your characters to defeat enough monsters to upgrade your heroes becomes tedious.

After some time, you can use hero souls (from ascending) and purchase Ancients that can help you progress faster in the game, but once you reach Level 300, you’re given the choice to “transcend” your world. This is another layer of ascending that erases your gilded heroes (upgraded heroes through relics) and your Ancients. So, after “ascending,” you go all the way back to the game’s tedious beginnings.

But you do obtain “Outsiders,” which are supposed to be stronger Ancients, but it takes a long time to accrue enough ancient souls, what you get for “transcending,” before you begin to see a tangible difference. Plenty of websites offer ideas on how to speed this process, but I don’t imagine too many players will sink enough time into learning Clicker Heroes’ math to take full advantage. Clicker Heroes becomes a slog.

Respecting Time: 1/10

Clicker Heroes is an idle game, so it’s supposed to be more of a time waster, and it does indeed do that. I can forget Clicker Heroes exists for several days and return to my heroes. But Clicker Heroes makes upgrading your world so difficult that it goads gamers into either spending hours of research to get the perfect set-up or spending money to make the hurting stop. Is the drop of juice you get worth the tens of billions of squeezes? I don’t think so.

True Cost: 3/10

While Clicker Heroes offers skins for auto-clickers (Why would anyone want that?, but okay), it gains most of its money through the purchase of rubies. Fortunately, players can earn rubies by sending mercenaries on missions, opening relics, and clicking on goldfish. But I still struggled with how to grade Clicker Heroes’ “True Cost” or its “free-to-play friendliness,” because I can see players getting caught in a trap. Heck, I got baited into that same trap: reviving mercenaries.

Every once in a while, one of your mercenaries may perish while on a mission. You can spend rubies to revive a mercenary, but there’s some math (I haven’t done the research) where the mercenary’s level and/or the amount of time they have remaining for a mission dictates the number of rubies you’ll need to revive them. In my experience, reviving mercenaries takes a mountain of rubies. Players have little chance of having enough rubies to revive advanced mercenaries, like the “Demigod +13 level” mercenary pictured above with the low, low revival price of almost 5000 rubies. Looks like time to open another credit card and buy 5000 rubies for about $400.

With one exception, outside of reviving mercenaries, I see little use for spending rubies. That one exception is a one-time damage boost for your Heroes. This costs somewhere between 50-100 rubies, and once you buy it, you’ll have it for the duration of the game. 100 rubies or less is a steal.

But the remaining ruby purchases involve buying gilded Heroes, which will reset after you ascend, some version of speeding up Clicker Heroes’ glacial pace, or buying an auto-clicker. Eh. I almost gave Clicker Heroes an average score for “True Cost.” Reviving mercenaries aside, few of the other ruby purchases can be avoided.

User Interface: 2/10

Clicker Heroes doesn’t have that many menus and submenus, but what is there is confusing and difficult to navigate. I’ve played the game for months and still get turned around, not knowing where I can find certain information. I can’t imagine a noob looking at the screen above and being able to tell what does what. And several buttons have multiple functions, so it’s easy to misclick.

Graphics: 3/10

While simplistic, Clicker Heroes’ graphics are pleasant. I’m grading this one on a little bit of a curve, because Clicker Heroes is over ten years old. But the game hasn’t received too many graphic updates through the years, so I can’t get too crazy with this score.

Audio: 6/10

I had to average Clicker Heroes’ audio score. Clicker Heroes has epic music. It often gets stuck in my head. But the sound effects are as annoying and repetitive as clicking a button thirty-five times a second. Ow! My ears. Those moments when I don’t use an ability and listen to Clicker Heroes’ soundtrack make all the difference for this score.

Aggregated Score: 2.72

Clicker Heroes is an idle game, so don’t expect much. While it has charm, the graphics haven’t been upgraded too much to keep up with modern devices. Clicker Heroes can be a slog if you don’t research how to maximize your Heroes or spend money, and I worry about gamers who fall into the ruby pit of reviving their “good” mercenaries.