MMO News |
- A Druid’s Duel
- Gigantic PAX East 2015 Dev Interview – Aisling and Wu
- The Secret World Launches Enhanced Player Experience
- Heroes of Newerth Sol’s Theatre Dev Blog #2
- Blizzard Wishes Hearthstone a Happy 1st Birthday
- League of Legends Bard Champion Spotlight
- H1Z1 PAX East 2015 Interview with Adam Clegg
- Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade Opens Vote For 5th Eldar Sub-Faction
- H1Z1 Puts New Update Live with Battle Royale Changes
- Rise of Incarnates: Loki Introduction
| Posted: 11 Mar 2015 04:19 PM PDT Harness the power of nature to restore the balance in this colorful turn-based strategy game.  Publisher: Thoughtshelter Games Pros: +Simple to learn. +Vibrant colors & music. +Over 100 levels in solo content.
Overview A Druid’s Duel OverviewA Druid’s Duel is a turn-based strategy game that operates more like a board game such as chess than a traditional RTS. Controlling a young druid, you venture out into the world across over 100 stages, seeking to return the balance to the land of the six seasons. The game boasts simple to learn rules that can take months to master. It features single player, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer modes (supporting up to four players). A Druid’s Duel Screenshots         A Druid’s Duel Featured Video Full Review A Druid’s Duel ReviewBy Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF)
Introduction A Druid’s Duel is a turn-based strategy game and bills itself as taking place in a whimsical world of Celtic lore. It is developed by Thoughtshelter Games, a small indie team based out of Minneapolis. Gameplay is fast-paced, easy to learn, and hard to master. Despite all that, the game is designed with casual and lighthearted gameplay in mind. Back in April of 2014, A Druid’s Duel received $7,700 in funding from a Kickstarter campaign and came to fruition when it launched on Steam last Wednesday.
Customization Customization doesn’t quite apply when it comes to A Druid’s Duel. There is some, in that you can unlock certain avatars. But really, it’s not a primary feature of the game so you probably won't see much of it. And that’s OK, it’s still a fun game without a ton of customization options. I’m satisfied with what options are available.
Graphics The graphics style chosen for Druid’s Duel is what will bring in a lot of players. It’s cartoon-y and definitely has a whimsical nature to it. The design of the Druids remind me a lot of the Wizards from Magicka. The rest of the graphics have a lighthearted simplicity to them that make them a joy to look at. I think the game looks absolutely superb.
Controls The game is played with the mouse. This means things are fairly simple – everything you need is right on the UI and is just a click away. No learning hot keys and whatnot. Everything was responsive, and I actually like the design of the UI a great deal – it fits well with the rest of the graphics and works as smooth as you could hope for a UI to work.
Community While A Druid’s Duel has an extensive single player campaign, there are also some online features such as a ranking system. If you’re a competitive sort, this will add a mountain of replayability to the game. I didn’t find much of a community yet as most of my playtime was before the game launched in mid-February. As the game seems to be primarily aimed at casual play, I’m not sure how strong the community will be. On the other hand, this is the type of gameplay that is addictive so I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t at least a strong cult following once the game gains some traction. Also worth mentioning is the ability to play asynchronous games.
Gameplay A Druid’s Duel feels a lot like a (very) modern version of Chess or Weiqi, in some ways. Very similar to Chess, the game is easy to pick up but it’s something you could spend a life-time mastering if you wanted and the game community lasted that long. There is no randomness or guess-work in the game – there is a simple and straight forward set of rules to follow and play the game by. Don’t mistake that for meaning there is no strategy involved, as there is a lot of it. The campaign actually does a fantastic job of slowly introducing you to the game by revealing new strategies and tactics as you progress. The basic premise of the game is that of druids "dueling" with one another. You do this by summoning units – of which there are four – each with their own abilities. Each unit is capable of a different type of movement or play as well as an animal transformation. For example, the most basic unit is the Guardian, and it can move one tile per turn, attack in melee range, or turn into a wolf that can move multiple times in a single turn but cannot attack. Each unit has a cost – ranging from five mana for the Guardian to twenty mana for the Waywalker. The four units are: The Guardian, which I already mentioned. The Wind Rider, who is an archer that can transform into a bird and kill units in a wide range. The Snarlclaw that can do melee attacks, but can also turn into a bear that can move or attack up to three times in a move. Last there is the Waywalker, which is essentially a wizard who can’t directly attack, but can create or destroy obstacles and tiles using mana. The Waywalker can also move up to three times in a turn and transform into a tortoise for temporary protection. Games aren’t limited to simple one-versus-one matches. I believe the maximum is four players at the same time. There are a myriad of maps to play on, each varying widely from the others. This keeps things interesting, but I personally prefer going head to head against a single opponent. That’s just how I feel, though. Speaking of maps, the way they start out at the beginning of the match is not how they will be at the end of the match. As I said when describing the units, the Waywalker can create and destroy tiles. It can also create and destroy obstacles. You are also able to create a bridge tile for five mana at any time. As you might imagine, this makes the game quite interesting and each match a bit different no matter the map. There are various objects that can be present on the map – such as shrubs, "mana pillars," little floating fairy things that give mana if you ‘catch’ them… It provides a bit of spice to the game and objectives for you to fight over for control. Most of them center around providing extra mana (which is key in this game, in most cases), but some also are a great way to keep Guardians at bay. Obstacles have limited use though, as most every other unit besides Guardians have a way to get past them. The overall goal of the match is to completely remove all of your enemy's territory from the map. Until you’ve captured every square your opponent claimed, the match will go on. There feels like a very clear progression to each match. You start out relying on your Guardians to claim land and increase your mana generation, then you move onto using Wind Riders for long range attacks and even defense. Snarlclaws and Waywalker tend to make an appearance later on in the match. However, as you play, you’ll probably begin to experiment with different strategies than the "default" you learn during the tutorial and that process of trial and error is quite fulfilling. Each piece of territory you have under your control will gain your more mana per turn. The more mana you have, the more you can do per turn. This includes summoning more units or allowing your Waywalker’s to create more land (which is a great way to ‘safely’ increase your territory). While you’re playing, your goal will be to reduce the amount of mana your opponent has at his disposal while increasing your own mana at the same time. It’s key to balance your attempts at expanding your territory with actually keeping your opponent at bay; if you’re not careful you may find that you’ve got a nice sized territory and then instantly lose it because you didn’t take enough precautions to stave off attacks from your opponent.
Conclusion: Great A Druid’s Duel really surprised me. I hadn’t hear much about the game prior to trying it out, and I wasn’t sure if it would be able to capture my interest. Yet, I found myself spending a lot of time in the game – especially on the single player campaign which I found a lot of fun. Like I’ve said a few times, the game is easy to learn but offers enough potential for new strategies and tactics to evolve, something a lot of turn-based strategy players will appreciate. Overall, I found A Druid’s Duel to be a fantastic game and wouldn’t hesitate to suggest the game to any of my friends. It’s now available on Steam, or can be bought from their official website.
Features: 4/5 – Interesting features that made sense for the type of game it is. Customization: 3/5 – Some interesting customization options, but they aren't immediately apparent. Still more could be done to set yourself apart. Graphics: 4/5 – Almost perfect. I loved the art style and the game looks great. Controls: 5/5 – No issues, no suggestions for improvement. Community: 3/5 – It needs to grow.
Overall: 4/5 – Definitely check this game out! Screenshots A Druid’s Duel ScreenshotsComing Soon… Videos A Druid’s Duel VideosOfficial Trailer System Requirements A Druid’s Duel System RequirementsComing soon… |
| Gigantic PAX East 2015 Dev Interview – Aisling and Wu Posted: 11 Mar 2015 04:17 PM PDT Gigantic PAX East Dev Interview – Aisling and Wu Motiga didn’t come to PAX East empty handed. New Gigantic characters Aisling and Wu were revealed! After testing them out, DizzyPW had a chance to speak to Devon Cady-Lee, a member of the art team responsible for concept designs, on his inspirations for bringing these characters to life! < Keep an eye out for the full video showcasing our amazing play session against four members of the development and community management team on the Temple Mist map later this week! Gigantic is coming for us all. Learn the basics to prepare yourself for the hottest game of 2015! For all the details and videos on Gigantic, head over to our game profile at http://mmohuts.com/preview/gigantic.
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| The Secret World Launches Enhanced Player Experience Posted: 11 Mar 2015 04:06 PM PDT Today, The Secret World updated with its Enhanced Player Experience patch (1.11), aiming to improve the gameplay for both new players and veterans alike. The update makes combat faster against regular enemies in Adventure Zones, while retaining difficulty in Dungeons, Lairs, and Nightmare camps. Missions have been given better rewards to make it easier to obtain good gear, making it easier to progress through the main story through missions alone. Many abilities have also been rebalanced. New players will also find a new tutorial which gives one of two clearly explained Starter Weapons, details Builders and Consumers, and more. The storyline has been opened for free up until Issue #9′s content (Tokyo). Many other quality of life improvements have been made and are detailed in the patch notes. |
| Heroes of Newerth Sol’s Theatre Dev Blog #2 Posted: 11 Mar 2015 03:43 PM PDT New progress on the Sol’s Theatre map is revealed.
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| Blizzard Wishes Hearthstone a Happy 1st Birthday Posted: 11 Mar 2015 03:37 PM PDT A short community video to celebrate Hearthstone‘s first year.
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| League of Legends Bard Champion Spotlight Posted: 11 Mar 2015 03:28 PM PDT League of Legends introduces the roaming support Bard. Read the patch notes for this update here.
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| H1Z1 PAX East 2015 Interview with Adam Clegg Posted: 11 Mar 2015 02:32 PM PDT H1Z1 PAX East 2015 Interview with Adam Clegg H1Z1 is progressing rapidly with early access content updates happening so fast, we barely have the bandwidth to keep up with all the details. Luckily Senior Designer Adam Clegg spared fifteen minutes to summarize recent updates and share a peak into his vision for the future of the game. Get the full details in our PAX East 2015 interview with Daybreak Games! H1Z1 is the hottest free to play zombie survival shooter MMO likely to hit in 2015. Built on the same engine as Planetside 2, it offers robust possibilities with its advanced physics engine. Impatient gamers who need their zombie fix right this minute can buy into the Early Access test through Steam. Also don’t miss the latest patch update that hit just today! For all the details and videos on H1Z1, head over to our game profile at http://mmohuts.com/review/h1z1.
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| Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade Opens Vote For 5th Eldar Sub-Faction Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:24 PM PDT Behaviour has opened up a chance for founders of Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade to choose the fifth Eldar subfaction for the game. Each sub-faction offers a different benefit and will help shape who the Eldar become on Arkhona. The choices are:
Founders can place their vote here. Voting takes place from March 11 to April 2. |
| H1Z1 Puts New Update Live with Battle Royale Changes Posted: 11 Mar 2015 12:43 PM PDT Today, Daybreak pushed a new update for H1Z1 along with the plans to host a Battle Royale Weekend to test the latest changes. Among the changes added today are improvements for Battle Royale matches, including the launch of on-demand zones, queue fixes, automatic log outs after grace periods on the reward screen, player population tracking, and visual map changes. Other fixes to the game include crafting changes, the introduction of the demolition hammer, and more. You can read the full patch notes here. |
| Rise of Incarnates: Loki Introduction Posted: 11 Mar 2015 12:03 PM PDT Meet this unique version of Loki, coming on March 25.
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