I’ve been thinking about semi-cooperative games again. These are of course games where players switch between modes of cooperation and competition, often incentivized one moment to work as a group, and another to secure a selfish victory. While many abhor this board game sub-genre due to its fragility and unreliable structure, they’re some of the…
Gale Force Nine is an interesting company. They produced some of the very best board games of the previous decade, including titles such as Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery, Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem, and Star Trek: Ascendancy. Then, their all-star design team departed and things changed. I wasn’t overly optimistic that…
I took one look at Deranged and it crawled through my retinas and into my brain. So much about this experience appeals to me, including an exceedingly stylish gothic horror setting, semi-cooperative player friction, and variable scenarios with both scripted and emergent narrative. Those games that play with fire and risk utter collapse also flirt…
Do you ever want to punch someone in the mouth? I do, all the damn time. Hellapagos from Gigamic Games lets you punch someone in the mouth. Of course, not really. Hellapagos’ version of the haymaker is giving Jim the finger and putting a bullet in his body so everyone else can eat. Don’t cry for Jim. This thing…
Player Elimination 