I thought he who controlled the spice controlled the universe, but it turns out he who controls the spice mostly just pays hellish taxes.
Here I am on Arrakis, spreading Fremen warriors to more and more territories so I can collect enough spice to rule the desert planet. And yet I have to pay most of my haul to the Spacing Guild as a bribe? And they want more every month? Forget this competition between the Atreides, Harkonnen, Fremen, and Smugglers factions: I hope 4X strategy game Dune: Spice Wars eventually includes a win condition that lets me tell the Spacing Guild to get lost. They’d probably nuke me from orbit, but I worked hard for that spice, braving sandworms and massive storms and treacherous spies. If I’m gonna go out I want to end my rule like Tony Montana, mountains of spice glistening on my impressively over-sized desk.
Dune: Spice Wars is the first videogame based on Frank Herbert’s books in two decades, and it’s an ambitious project for developer Shiro Games. When I think 4X, I think enormous games like Civilization and Total War made by hundreds of people, packed with so many menus and tooltips I’m intimidated before I’ve even left the title screen. Shiro Games, meanwhile, has a team of only 22 working on this new 4X strategy adaptation of Dune. (Shiro developed its breakout game, Northgard, with a team of just nine or so devs). Spice Wars launched in Early Access at the end of April, with a single-player mode for now and open-ended plans for future growth.
HOW YOU DUNE?
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Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.
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