The Videogame Corner: Divinity: Dragon Commander

Game: Divinity: Dragon Commander
Developer: Larian Studios
Genre: Real-time strategy, Turn-based strategy, Third-Person shooter, Political Simulation
Releases: 2013 (PC)

I could start this article with the usual stuff: A small paragraph of how I found the game I am going to talk about in the lines to follow, some random banter regarding the development and problems rearing their ugly faces, or the impact the title had on the genre it belongs to. I am not going to do that this time; although I would very much like to point your attention to the genres I have listed for “Divinity: Dragon Commander”. In fact, I simply copied the four entries from the Wikipedia page since they describe the genre mix at hand far better than I would have managed to do. But how can a game be both in real-time and turn-based while also doing various other things at the side? Well, I now have the answer to that question but let me get this straight: While innovation is certainly a good thing sometimes you might have to ask yourself whether there is a reason for certain combinations not being found on the market in present times. Sure, it might be the next big thing; or it is doomed to fail since it simply does not work. Nonetheless, I aim to give you an overview that covers all the facets of “Divinity: Dragon Commander”, a title that I would award the honor of “most charming identity crisis I have played in 2022”. What better game to cover for the 15th day of Blaugust 2022, so let’s get into it.

The Videogame Corner: Mordheim: City of the Damned

Game: Mordheim: City of the Damned
Developer: Rogue Factor
Genre: Strategy Role-Playing game
Releases: 2015 (PC), 2016 (Playstation 4, Xbox One)

Games Workshop is, as far as I am aware, mostly known for two things: Highly expensive plastic miniatures that some people buy with almost religious fervor; and outsourcing their franchises to various videogame companies and seeing what spawns by doing so. I do have my fair share of Warhammer 40,000 stuff in my flat, but while that might be a topic for an article someday, I want to focus on one of the videogames released in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. “Mordheim: City of the Damned” is actually the videogame adaptation of a tabletop variant of Warhammer Fantasy named “Mordheim”, and focuses on small warbands fighting each other rather than huge armies standing opposite another and the game becoming a huge resource-burning affair. I like the idea of small skirimishes rather than huge battles because they allow for the role-playing component to take center stage and individual characters having actual impact rather than just being part of a thirty-man squad, but whether “Mordheim: City of the Damned” manages to capture that sentiment is for us to see in the following paragraphs; which also happens to be the day 13 article for Blaugust 2022.

The Videogame Corner: Gone Home

Game: Gone Home
Developer: Fullbright
Genre: Adventure Game/Walking Simulator
Released: 2013 (PC), 2016 (Playstation 4, Xbox One), 2018 (Nintendo Switch)

Blaugust 2022, day 12. I have another game review in store, but not in the classic gaming idea. See, not all games need to ask for a lot of button presses, nor does every game need action to work. Sometimes you can just experience things in a videogame without doing much more than walking around and actually … well, experience things. A game genre known for serving exactly that purpose is the so-called “walking simulator”, both in regard to what is mostly done in the game as well as a slur by people that disregard them as actual videogames. Now, I do not want to open the debate about videogames as an art form and all that, but the game at hand, “Gone Home”, was in my opinion a nice way to tell a story without asking the player for that much really. So, here is the article for a game in which button presses are secondary, and taking in the surrondings is key. Oh, and there will be spoilers; and I mean it, since there are basically two reveals in the game and I will spoil them both in this article.

The Videogame Corner: Divinity II

Game: Divinity II
Developer: Larian Studios
Genre: Action Role-Playing Game
Releases: 2009 (PC, Xbox 360)

By releasing multiple games in a series, certain titles are bound to become more popular than others. A good example for that is the subject of this week’s article, “Divinity II”. Googling for “Divinity II” will often (read: almost exclusively) lead to results being about “Divinity: Original Sin II”, which does have all the words you googled for but is not the right result. No, “Divinity II” is a solid game on its own, and as the name suggests is the third entry in the “Divinity” series, because counting is difficult. After the more pixelated “Divine Divinity” and “Beyond Divinity” that came before it, this 3D action role-playing game is quite a change from the formular the series was going with before. Nonetheless, while both “Divinity II: Ego Draconis” as the base game, and the major expansion “Flames of Vengeance” are misfits in the series, they shall be our topic today. And let me tell you right from the start, with the ups and downs this game had to offer, it sure felt like a rollercoaster at times; which seemed to be the perfect hit for Blaugust day 11.

The Videogame Corner: The World is Your Weapon

Game: The World is Your Weapon
Developer: kagaya
Genre: Role-Playing game
Releases: 2019 (PC)

Here is another fun little addition to my first week in Blaugust 2022. The final day of this week of blogging is reserved to a genuinely fun little indie game that goes all out with one gimmick. Not all games need a huge world, insanely detailed graphics, astonishing gameplay, or deep and well-written stories (even though there might be people disagreeing with this statement). Sometimes, a game might just work in a small niche, being a proof-of-concept, a small time-waster, or simply a fun little project that is as much a hobby for the game developer as it is a playable experience for the players. This article features one of the games that fit the category of “small, but charming”, a one-man-project called “The World is Your Weapon”; and you will soon see why it carries that name as the world in this game truely serves as an impressive arsenal.

The Videogame Corner: Downhill Domination

Game: Downhill Domination
Developer: Incognito Entertainment
Genre: Racing/Sports Game
Releases:
– Playstation 2: 2003 (NA), 2004 (EU)

My fifth entry for Blaugust 2022 features speed and fists in equal manner; and is something I would never have thought I would review when I first saw it. I mean, there are various reasons to find interest in a certain video game. Maybe you heard good (or bad) things about it and want to test it out for yourselves. It could be part of a series of which you have played the previous titles, so playing that new game the series spawned is a no-brainer. Or you have no other reason to give a game a shot than the title itself; which was my reason to give the sports game “Downhill Domination” a go. This is not simply bike-racing, no. The title does not suggest that you win race, but instead dominate the other competitors. Needless to say, I was intrigued and found myself in a genuinely nice racing game that “plays by its own rules”.

The Videogame Corner: Ace of Seafood

Game: Ace of Seafood
Developer: Nussoft
Genre: Shoot’em up
Releases: 2016 (Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, Wii U)

“Do you have what it takes to become the Ace of Seafood? In the future, man has disappeared and the Earth has been flooded. Human souls have been reincarnated as fish with the ability to shoot air bullets, homing scales, and plasma cannons, and are in an everlasting war over reefs. Take your squadron of 6 fish/crustaceans/battleships and become the Ace of Seafood.”

– Source: https://www.giantbomb.com/ace-of-seafood/3030-53413/

There is this certain type of madness that only the Japanese can produce. I don’t know how they make it but while I automatically assume that any ex-Soviet block country has a knack for melancholic story-telling and a certain hopelessness in fiction, the Japanese have that extra amount of weird that only they can come up with. “Ace of Seafood” is one such example, a game in which you play laser-shooting fish in order to gain more territory. I cannot even begin to understand where the inspiration for that might come from but that matters little for I played the game and will give you my thoughts on it in the following article. I am all for scenarios that work with a “life after man”-approach but mankind being reborn as fish and fighting their wars underwater was certainly not something I ever thought I would be writing about. But while this rather random title would be somewhat out of its element for what I normally play, it certainly makes for a crazy addition to Blaugust 2022 as I am publishing it on day four of said event. So, without further ado, let us take a dive.