Two of itch.io’s latest TBT tasters prove that hex wargames don’t need exotic themes or unorthodox mechanics in order to entertain and evoke. The two-scenario Broken Front alpha demo recreates the kind of small-scale post-D-Day clashes that most of us…
Two new releases vied for my attention over the weekend. Korea: IL-2 had me reaching for my screenshot key every few minutes, but when it came to seeding smiles and producing the good kind of forehead corrugations, it was Nick…
GenAIs such as Grok and Gemini are already perfectly capable of coding the vitals of computer wargames… the GUIs, the LoS systems, the AIs. How long will it be before they can spot promising untapped historical themes the way a…
O is for On War: Stalingrad. I like the sound of Tomislav Čipčić’s next operational offering. The Croatian dev behind the elegant Attack at Dawn: North Africa believes he can deliver a deep Eastern Front wargame that is also “readable,…
Steamed on Friday and esteemed (by me) since yesterday, Pistols at Dawn is an inexpensive (£4) and ingenious turn-based pistol duelling game. By thoughtfully placing numbered tokens and special coins on a clockface-style board, you attempt to move your crosshairs…
To qualify for a Dusty But Trusty article, a game must be old enough to vote in Nicaragua, buy tobacco in Djibouti, and make the beast with two backs in Nepal. More importantly, it must be demonstrably super, smashing, great,…
There’s arguably not much point in analysing General Staff’s AI at the moment as the code that ensures the game’s Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century soldiers soldier sensibly and believably is still under the rasp. What I can do, having toyed…
Although the stiff throttles annoyed, and the mooring tutorial tied itself in knots after I accidentally skipped a stage, the time I spent with the Professional Ship Simulator demo yesterday passed pleasantly enough.
The Crimson Banner: War of Liberation demo is quite something. Deftly translated, lavishly tooltipped, and unusually generous (including tutorials it boasts fifteen scenarios), it does exactly what trials are supposed to do: illuminate, entertain, and pique interest.
Two tram sim tasters have appeared on Steam during the past week. Both The Tram and Elektronka: Bratislava centre trundlers produced by Czech firm ČKD Tatra. If you’ve ever visited a city in Eastern Europe there’s a good chance you’ve…