ericdn627

This is a very simple, minimalistic version of dominoes. No frills here: match one end of the chain of dominoes to an end in your hand, and your opponent does the same. If you don't have a match, you draw more dominoes until either you do have one or there are no more dominoes to draw from. The winner is the first player to have exhausted their dominoes, and you earn points based on the value of the dominoes left in your opponent's hand. The game is visually attractive in a very non-intrusive way, the AI plays a very decent game, and the entire focus is simply on playing a game of dominoes. No frills, as I said, but that's exactly how it should be.

The Royal Game of Ur is one of the oldest known board games, and, at least according to the most common interpretation of the rules, is a fun and competitive racing game as two players roll their pieces onto, across, and off the board, somewhat reminiscent of earlier versions of backgammon. Your opponent's pieces can be captured, forcing that piece to restart its journey all over again, and this is where the strategy lies: you need to play offensively in order to win, but you also need to plan your moves defensively to avoid your pieces getting thrown off the board when you least expect it. Considering the relative obscurity of the game, this isn't the only version of the Royal Game of Ur to be found. This is, however, one of the best. The AI plays a very good game, especially on the hardest difficulty level, when it will give you a run for your money as it's nearly fearless in its moves. The atmosphere of the game is subtle, yet effective. The controls are simple: roll your "dice" and point to the piece you want to move that number of spaces. You can customize the number of pieces you want to play with (fewer pieces means a shorter game), and you can also choose between a linear path and one which has you take a more circuitous route at the end, which I prefer, as the simpler version eliminates the threat of capture in each piece's endgame. Whether you're already a fan of the grandfather of all racing games or whether you're interested in learning to play a true relic in the long history of board games, this is an excellent way to enjoy it.

"Ye Olde Cribbage Club" plays a decent game of cribbage, and it's also (as of 2023) the ONLY game of cribbage on Switch, so if you're a fan of the classic card game it's really this or nothing. It also has a fantastic tutorial which taught me how to play the game very quickly and efficiently. That said, a decent game of cribbage isn't a GREAT game of cribbage, and even the hardest of the three difficulty settings won't challenge you for very long. You'll lose some, but you'll easily win most. Still, it's a good (albeit the only) way to pass the time playing cribbage on Switch, and it's good for keeping your skills up. Fans of the visual novel "Later Daters" will obviously already know who the characters are and will enjoy the little tidbits of gossip that they'll tell you from time to time, none of which advances the story in any way, but at least serves as an identifiable bridge between the two games. That said, this is very much merely a side minigame from "Later Daters" that was simply repackaged as a stand-alone title. As its own game, especially one that's a spinoff of a visual novel, it feels rather incomplete. A cribbage game doesn't need much substance beyond the game itself, but considering you're in the visual novel's universe it barely seems like a continuation of "Later Daters" beyond merely a collection of familiar faces. Still, though, if you're looking for a decent (not great, but decent) game of cribbage, this game will satisfy your needs. If you're a fan of "Later Daters" and already own the game, you needn't spend your money for this title as you get the exact same experience playing the cribbage minigame there.

Your job is to help guide a wildly imaginative little girl named Misfortune as she plays a game with a (mostly) unseen narrator to win the prize of eternal happiness for her long-suffering mother. As she wanders around her neighborhood she's confronted with numerous choices to make, each one resulting in consequences, a new concept for Misfortune, that can come back to haunt her later on, or, perhaps at best, haunt her just a little bit less. In the end, it takes a healthy dose of optimism on her part in the face of numerous challenges and fears to conquer the game so she can end up finding what she's looking for. The consolation prize, though, doesn't seem to be a complete loss, either. This game's aesthetic is astounding, with a magnificent art style and exceptional voice acting, and, taken as a visual novel, the plot is captivating as you move from challenge to challenge, solving puzzles (which are quite easy) to determining the best course of action for every choice presented to you. As with many visual novels, there is limited replay value except for achieving a better score, in this game determined by successful glitter drops in all the right places (and Misfortune's love of glitter absolutely can not be understated), but the adventure of even a single playthrough is worth the time you put into it.

As you sit on your throne (or occasionally leave it for whatever reason), you're presented with two choices: swipe left for this or swipe right for that. Try to keep a healthy balance to meet the needs of the church, your population, your army, and your treasury, and you're all set. Though it sounds like the easiest job in the world, it most certainly is anything but, as every single person (or creature) you come across has their own agenda at the expense of everyone else, and choices you make now may affect the reigns of future kings generations down the line. Whether the reign of any one king is long and peaceful or desperately short and chaotic is at least as much a result of your own decisions as well as those of the people around you, of the actions of neighboring kingdoms, and, to be honest, pure chance whether or not you're going to end up facing numerous calamities all at the same time that threaten to depose you once and for all.

Perhaps THE BEST Civilization game in the whole series! You start out with a band of settlers and (usually) an armed escort, from which you build your civilization's first city. As time goes on, you micro-manage the activities of your cities, citizens, armies, industrial and agricultural output, and where you go from there is up to you: take over the world through violence, charm your opponents into submission, explore the stars, or hoard the wealth of the whole planet. The whole Civilization series is quite remarkable, but Civilization V is the perfect blend of action, management, diplomacy, and city building that always makes me want to come back and try again and again to see how successful my next game will be... or not. Tremendous fun. You may (no, you WILL) unwittingly stay up countless nights as you get lost in the gameplay.

This card-based roguelike dungeon crawler keeps calling me back for more, because no matter how many times you play and no matter how many times you win, there are still harder challenges, new rewards, and fierce battles ahead. Play as one of four fighters against a collection of unique and... otherworldly... foes as you battle your way through the Spire as you try to figure out what's controlling the world you find yourself in. Everything you need to survive, attacks, power-ups, and defenses, are contained in a deck of cards and a set of potions you collect and add to as the game progresses. While each fighter has his or her own unique deck of cards, thus creating a style of gameplay unique to that particular fighter, you'll soon find out that everything in this game is connected to everything else. You can, if you're lucky (or unlucky) start playing other fighters' cards, or you can sacrifice a reward from the past for a new one in the future, and all the while you're wandering deeper and deeper into the Spire facing foes with their own unique abilities to slay you before you slay them. To say this game is hours of addictive gameplay you just can't put down is an understatement. It's days, weeks, even longer, and I can't even guess how much time and how much raw grit and skill it would take to fully conquer this game. And yet that task doesn't seem as daunting because of how addictive this game is. Whether as a brief time killer or as part of a dedicated gaming session, Slay the Spire is truly among the best of the best of its genre.

This card-based roguelike dungeon crawler keeps calling me back for more, because no matter how many times you play and no matter how many times you win, there are still harder challenges, new rewards, and fierce battles ahead. Play as one of four fighters against a collection of unique and... otherworldly... foes as you battle your way through the Spire as you try to figure out what's controlling the world you find yourself in. Everything you need to survive, attacks, power-ups, and defenses, are contained in a deck of cards and a set of potions you collect and add to as the game progresses. While each fighter has his or her own unique deck of cards, thus creating a style of gameplay unique to that particular fighter, you'll soon find out that everything in this game is connected to everything else. You can, if you're lucky (or unlucky) start playing other fighters' cards, or you can sacrifice a reward from the past for a new one in the future, and all the while you're wandering deeper and deeper into the Spire facing foes with their own unique abilities to slay you before you slay them. To say this game is hours of addictive gameplay you just can't put down is an understatement. It's days, weeks, even longer, and I can't even guess how much time and how much raw grit and skill it would take to fully conquer this game. And yet that task doesn't seem as daunting because of how addictive this game is. Whether as a brief time killer or as part of a dedicated gaming session, Slay the Spire is truly among the best of the best of its genre.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]