Our Games of the Year 2022 - Biggest Surprises

Now that 2022 is in the rear-view mirror, we are entering 2023 with anticipation for the games to come. That doesn't mean however, that we don't want to take a little time to appreciate those titles that meant the most to us over the prior year as well. We have several categories in mind that will be rolled out each day, starting with our biggest surprises. As the name implies: which game managed to not only meet expectations, but blow them away? 

Pierre-Yves - Elden Ring

I don't know what I expected to be honest. Years in development, little teasers here and there, what was it? When would we get it? And then we had it. 

Dark Souls 4.

That's what Elden Ring is. Does it do anything new? Not particularly, but it's a combination of all of the Soulslikes experiences that From Software have done over the years into one awesome package. Is it perfect? No. Could the multiplayer use some enhancement like that epic mod that was created? Yes. But it was so hard to put down and it continued to impress me with its design approach. 

The biggest question now is, where does From Software go from here? Do they try to one up this? Return to Armored Core? Or make something brand new.

 

Note: This was originally written before the announcement of Armored Core 6. Yay for a new Armored Core!

Richard - Tiny Creatures

I'll admit, this isn't something I was expecting, and boy did it blow me away. A sort of novelized storytelling combined with puzzles and...action bullet-hell? It's an incredibly weird combination that just plain works. A weird and amazing take on Frankenstein told in a unique way, this is definitely the biggest surprise for me.

Nick - Roguebook

When this title was first announced, I really had no idea what to expect from it. As someone who enjoyed Faeria when it released, Roguebook was a welcome return to the characters and world that I hope to see in more games in the future. Like Faeria, Roguebook mashes up some aspects from similar but different genres and the end result was highly addictive and challenging game that I found myself picking up repeatedly throughout the year after its release.

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Roguebook from NACON is Out on Stadia!

Lesquin, France, June 28, 2022 – Soon, the adventure will have no boundaries: the critically-acclaimed roguelike deckbuilder Roguebook will be available on Stadia Pro and the Stadia Store on July 1st, 2022. Thwart the evil book’s traps on your phones, tablets, or computers!

Developed by Abrakam Entertainment, the developers of Faeria, and co-designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering™, Roguebook takes place in the enchanted world of Faeria. In the game, players choose 2 heroes amongst the 5 available and form a team to take on the legends of the Roguebook, a cursed book whose existence threatens all living creatures.

Upgrade your deck: you can boost the effects of cards by adding gems. You can also transmute your cards to create completely new effects!

Collect as many cards as possible: unlike other games of this type where refining your deck is one of the most common strategies, Roguebook encourages players to build as big a deck as possible to unlock unique skills for your heroes. These skills can be crucial to the success of your quest!

Explore the world in your own way: the chapters of Roguebook are told in a non-linear way. Reveal areas of the map with the ingenious ink system and explore as much of the map as possible to unearth all its treasures!

Every run counts: in true roguelike fashion, you must start from the beginning after a defeat. But you become more powerful with each run thanks to the new cards, skills, and permanent upgrades you have unlocked!

Roguebook is now available on PC, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo SwitchTM, and Stadia

Roguebook is on Facebook, Twitter, Discord, and YouTube.

All NACON Games and accessories are here: nacongaming.com

About Abrakam Entertainment

ABRAKAM ENTERTAINMENT is the AA Video Game Developer of the successful PC strategy game 'Faeria,' which launched in 2017 to 85% positive Steam reviews and praise from critics and major influencers. With their own tools and a very dedicated team, ABRAKAM has the ability to develop innovative strategy games efficiently. Roguebook, a roguelike card game, is their next major title to be launched on PC and Consoles.

About NACON

NACON is a company of the BIGBEN Group founded in 2019 to optimize its know-how through strong synergies in the video game market. By bringing together its 10 development studios, the publishing of AA video games, and the design and distribution of premium gaming devices, NACON focuses 20 years of expertise in the service of players. This new unified business unit strengthens NACON's position in the market, enables it to innovate by creating new unique competitive advantages, and achieves its ambition to become one of the world's leading players in gaming. https://www.nacongaming.com/

Article by: Susan N.

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Roguebook - XBSX Review

Roguebook by developer Abrakam SA and publisher Nacon—Microsoft Xbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes.

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While the deckbuilding roguelite genre has been pretty active over the last couple of years, Roguebook brings enough new to the table to warrant a look. Richard Garfield of Magic: The Gathering fame has his fingerprints all over this, and that’s a good thing as I found myself absolutely sucked in by this game’s mechanics.

Slay the Spire, Monster Train and other similar titles have been huge time sucks for me over the last couple of years. So getting a bit of that MTG DNA in here along with developer Abrakam’s visuals and music as well as characters and worldbuilding all harken back to their prior game Faeria – which I was a huge fan of as well. I am all-in on these developers continuing to flesh out this fantasy world of theirs.

But what about Roguebook itself? Well for one, like Faeria, it feels like a mashup of genres. You start off with a quick bit of story and then proceed to get dumped onto a hexagonal map that looks like something out of a 4x strategy game. However, that map is simply about exploration. You are in the Roguebook, and there are a handful of notable things (generally encounters) and a limited amount of shown real estate right off of the bat in this map, but after that you need to manage a resource called ink to uncover more of the map. There are broad brush strokes that allow you to reveal all around your character, and there are more targeted ink pots that can reveal tiles in a straight line to varying degrees. Early on, there is an urge to just explore everything in front of you, but you quickly learn that ink is a limited resource and you need to be selective in how you use it, making sure you can uncover as many tiles as possible.

Why? Because you can rush right to the boss, but odds are you’ll be underpowered and get crushed, especially after the first chapter. However, there is risk and reward to venturing around the map, as you can unlock new cards, gems to enhance cards, artifacts that boost your party in various ways and more. There are also enemies to battle along the way, which have drops of their own. Characters don’t level up via experience like RPGs, but as your collection of cards grows, you can unlock new abilities for either of your two characters or a shared party unlock as a third option. The more you battle, the more likely you are to be in a weakened state before the end boss, so fighting everything you see along the way makes you question the risk versus the rewards.

These are all somewhat common elements of the growing roguelite deckbuilding genre, but one of the places Roguebook really sets itself apart from the pack is this idea of a party. I’d love to see more characters added in time, but anyone who played Faeria will immediately recognize some of the characters as they get revealed. The party concept is an interesting one, because characters have different types of cards and different abilities and health. Most of the time, the character in the front is going to get hit by the enemies, so the order in which you play certain cards can matter a great deal. If you get too stabby with your glass cannon character, she might be stuck out front getting smacked around at the end of that turn, instead of her beefy companion who has nearly double her life and tends to have abilities that allow him to take more abuse. It’s a fascinating dynamic that only grows more involved as you unlock additional characters who have their own mechanics as you try to work out which combinations suit you best.

However, being a roguelike / roguelite game, the expectation is you’re going to die along the way. On my initial playthrough I made it to the second stage and then died halfway. On my second playthrough I made it to the second stage and died in the boss fight. My next couple I wiped in the first stage. There is a lot of randomness in the encounters, items, and things of that nature. Best laid plans and all that go out the window when your front-line character gets absolutely crushed by an elite attack and you don’t have the same quality of cards or block items as your last run.

That being said, despite the random nature of Roguebook (item drops, procedurally generated maps, opponent types, even bosses at the end of stages) seldom frustrated me, because the gameplay itself is very addicting and pretty brisk. Some of these card battlers become wars of attrition where battles long overstay their welcome, but that doesn’t really happen here very often.

I also enjoyed the sense of progression here, making this more of that ‘lite’ in the roguelite. I am someone who doesn’t like losing progress. Once the run is done, multiple things can be leveled up. Characters level up, adding newer / more powerful cards to their potential decks in future runs. There is also a branching skill table of sorts you can unlock perks between runs. You earn these unlock ‘points’ by exploring the maps and finding them. It’s a slow trickle that encourages you to make dozens – if not hundreds – of runs. It’s sort of a bold assumption that players will stick around and play that much but… in the first two days, I did about two dozen runs. Safe to say I am hooked.

Summary

Roguebook is an excellent mashup of collectible card game, with exploration and progression elements that keep the experience fresh for subsequent runs. I was almost immediately hooked, playing with different party combinations and structuring my decks to see if I could make it just a bit further on my next run. And the one after that. And the one after that. I’m going to stop writing now and go back for another run now.

Score: 9 / 10

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Blood Bowl 3 and Roguebook Updates at Steam Digital Tabletop Fest

Lesquin, France, October 21, 2021 – At the Steam Digital Tabletop Fest 2021, which takes place 21-25 October, Nacon is playing its trump cards and hosting exclusive livestreams for Roguebook and Blood Bowl 3.

Click here to explore the Steam Digital Tabletop Fest

For Blood Bowl 3, there will be a livestream on Friday, the 22nd of October at 6am PDT (3pm CEST) with two members from the development studio Cyanide: Project Lead Gautier Bresard and Victor Wathier, Lead QA. They will talk about the origins of Blood Bowl 3 and review the latest beta and improvements added based on fan feedback.

In its livestream, the Abrakam Entertainment team will discuss the latest updates to its roguelike deck builder Roguebook and what's next for the game. It will also be a chance to revisit the card design contest, in which the newly crowned winner was given a legendary Magic: The Gathering™ card worth $20,000: the Black Lotus. The livestream will occur on the 25th of October 4 pm PDT (1 am CEST).

Funnier, bloodier, and more spectacular than ever, Blood Bowl 3 will be a hit with fans of the universe and strategy games alike. At launch, the game will include 12 teams' each with their own pitch and cheerleaders, Campaign and Multiplayer modes, and more customization options than a Blood Bowl game has ever received before.

Developed by Abrakam Entertainment and co-designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The GatheringTM, Roguebook is a roguelike deck builder set in the magical world of Faeria. Players must build a team of two heroes from the four available and battle the legends of the Roguebook in tactical turn-based combat.

Roguebook is now available on Steam

The game will arrive later on PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo SwitchTM

Blood Bowl 3 will be available soon in early access on PC. The full release will be later on PC, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Steam, and Nintendo Switch™.

Check Roguebook Steam page

Add Blood Bowl 3 to your Steam wishlist

All NACON games and accessories are here: nacongaming.com

About Abrakam Entertainment

ABRAKAM ENTERTAINMENT is the AA Video Game Developer of the successful PC strategy game 'Faeria,' which launched in 2017 to 85% positive Steam reviews and praise from critics and major influencers. With their own tools and a very dedicated team, ABRAKAM has the ability to develop innovative strategy games efficiently. Roguebook, a roguelike card game, is their next next major title to be launched on PC and Consoles.

About Cyanide Studio

Cyanide is a French video game development studio created in 2000 and based in Nanterre. It has two subsidiaries located in Montreal and Bordeaux. The studio is known for its sports games, such as the popular PC series Pro Cycling Manager and its console version, Tour de France. Cyanide is also the author of Blood Bowl (Sport/Fantasy, 2009), the adaptation of the famous Games Workshop board game; Game of Thrones (RPG, 2012); Styx: Master of Shadows and the sequel Styx: Shards of Darkness (Infiltration, 2014/2017); and Call of Cthulhu, a game adapted from the tormented world of HP Lovecraft (investigative RPG, 2018). Since 2018, NACON, one of Europe's leading video game publishers, holds a 100% stake in the company. More information can be found at www.cyanide-studio.com

About NACON

NACON is a company of the BIGBEN Group founded in 2019 to optimize its know-how through strong synergies in the video game market. By bringing together its 14 development studios, the publishing of AA video games, the design and distribution of premium gaming devices, NACON focuses 20 years of expertise at the service of players. https://www.nacongaming.com/

About Games Workshop

Games Workshop® Group PLC (LSE:GAW.L), based in Nottingham, UK, produces the best fantasy miniatures in the world. Games Workshop designs, manufactures, retails, and distributes its range of Warhammer®: Age of Sigmar® and Warhammer® 40,000® games, miniature soldiers, novels and model kits through more than 529 of its own stores (branded Games Workshop® or Warhammer®), the www.games-workshop.com web store and independent retail channels in more than 50 countries worldwide. More information about Games Workshop and its other, related, brands and product ranges (including our publishing division ‘Black Library’ and our special resin miniatures studio ‘Forge World’) can be found at www.games-workshop.com.

Blood Bowl 3 © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2021. Blood Bowl 3, Blood Bowl 3 logo, Blood Bowl, the Blood Bowl logo, GW, Games Workshop, Warhammer, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likeness thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world, and used under license. Used under license. All Rights Reserved.

 

Article by:  Susan N.

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Roguebook - PC Review

Roguebook by developer Abrakam Entertainment and publisher Nacon—PC review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

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Here we are once more, prepared to get beaten into the floor. What does RNGesus have in store? Perhaps this roguelike will rely on luck more. My awesome poetry aside, today we're taking a look at another roguelike: Roguebook. Will you succeed in your quest to escape the confines of the Roguebook? Or will you be fated to forever wander its pages forever?

Welcome to the world of Faeria, where all the worlds legends are stored in a book. A magic book that has sucked you into the depths of its pages and refuses to let go. Four of you were dragged into the book, but only two are allowed to explore its pages. Can you best your foes and reach the end of the ever changing story that is the Roguebook?

Roguebook is an interesting title, as it feels like a weird amalgamation of traditional deckbuilder, Magic the Gathering, and boardgames like Settlers of Catan. Upon starting your first run of the Roguebook, you'll probably notice real fast that you are on a hex grid with some…ok, a LOT of missing segments. You'll also have a helpful NPC inform you that there is a gate that must be opened ny two, and only two, people. So grab two characters (only two characters are available to start) and head into the Rogue book to start fighting your way out. You can walk around the "world map" interacting with events, picking up healing units, opening vaults for cards, and getting into battles. But to uncover more of the map, you need to use ink and brushes to reveal more of the hex panels. These new panels can also have treasures, events, and pages on them, helping you throughout your journey. Panels are revealed based on the type of ink or brush used, and can either reveal an area around your character, or a set number of tiles in a straight line, for example.

In order to acquire more ink and brushes to explore more of the map, you need to earn them out of fights. Starting a fight you'll see where the Magic the Gathering influence is strong. Combat is performed through selecting cards dealt out from a shuffled deck. You have a set amount of action points per turn, with which you can attack, block to increase a guard rating, etc. based on what the effect of the card is. Each card has its own effect and action value, and you will probably find yourself alternating between defensive and offensive moves. Cards for both "heroes" you selected at the beginning are all shuffled together, and both heroes are on the battlefield. Generally speaking, the hero in front will be the one taking damage and protecting the hero in the back. The heroes can be switched by using certain cards related to the hero in back, or cards with certain effects for the hero in front. You'll be wanting to make the best of your cards to defeat your enemies and earn some gold and ink or brushes from the fighting. You can then take that gold down to the store to purchase more cards, relics, or gems to help you out.

Gems are similar to modifiers that you can attach to your cards. Each card has a number of slots, and you can slot a gem in there to give the effect associated. For example, a gem may increase a cards damage by a set amount, or put an identical card in your hand after use with no gem. Gem can either be purchased from the shop, gathered from certain map icons, or won from events and chapter bosses. The relics are sort of "permanent modifiers" that can either be a party wide effect, or attached to a specific character. Relics tend to be a little rarer, but can give some really nice effects. You can purchase a few relics at the shop, but can also be found in events, chapter bosses, etc. Once you've finished exploring to your satisfaction, or run out of ink, you can head off to the chapter boss. Fair warning: they're tough. Like, really tough if you aren't prepared. For comparison, the final boss on my first succesful run didn't have much in the way of special attacks, but had a passive that increased the cost of all cards by one action point. As well as adding a "doomed coin" to your hand. Quite literally the only reason I won that fight was because I had six minions that did a total of 58 damage per turn. I literally had to turn it into an endurance fight, and I was still left with one character with six health left.

Roguebook handles party member KOs pretty interesting, as if one of your character kicks the bucket, your other character stays up. If you use five "resurrection" cards, the other character comes back with a minimal amount of health. The only problem is this adds "wound" cards to your deck that just take up space, preventing you from getting more cards each turn. Wounds are removed at each chapter clear, but they can be super annoying. But if you persevere and make it through the Roguebook, congratulations! Your reward? Do it again. This time with "epilogue" stories unlocked, where you can slap on negative traits to give a page finding increase madifier. At this point I'd imagine you're wondering what pages are, and what they do. These are your "skill points", and can be placed in a tree at the beginning of a new run. The skills could be character specific, quality of run improvements, or just general benefits.

After completing a run, whether succesful or not, you earn experience for the party level, as well as character levels. These levels can unlock cards for your future runs. and is independant for each character as well as the party level. Even after a succesful run, Roguebook has you coming back for more, whether it be the increased challenges, the fact that a run doesn't take too long, or the endearing graphics and art style, Roguebook is sure to be an immersive experience. And for those who are worried about luck issues? Trust me when I say if I can complete a run, you can too. While I like roguelikes, deckbuilders are generally titles I shy away from. Not due to distaste, but from luck. This coming from a guy who used to play Magic the Gathering for fun, and had four games in a row where I didn't start with a single mana. Since all your used or discarded cards get reshuffled back into your draw pile, and you don't need to play and tap mana, the game can be broken down to strategy if you set yourself up for it, instead of purely luck, although luck certainly does help.

Overall, Roguebook is a great addition to both the roguelike and deck building franchise. The combat system is well fleshed out, the map exploration is fun and thought provoking, and the game isn't purely reliant on luck to get you through. While you probably won't be doing a lot of runs in one sitting, each run is short enough to not feel like a drag, and you can save your progress and leave to come back to it later, or just abandon the run altogether if you need to. With nice graphics and explanations for all the card effects you may not know, simply by hovering your mouse over it, Roguebook is really easy to get drawn into.

Score: 8 / 10

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