Three Moves Ahead

This week Rob is joined by Ranged Touch's Cameron Kunzelman and PCGamesN's Ian Boudreau to discuss an unusual World War II military shooter that feels more like a tactics game: Hell Let Loose. Hear the stirring tale of trying to explain how to drive a manual transmission to someone who has only ever been in his 2006 Honda Civic during the middle of a war. Find out which war movie officer Rob would be. And by the end, probably have a pretty good idea of whether or not this would be your thing or not.

Len, Rowan, and Fraser gather to discuss Amplitude's Humankind, the Civ competitor that has been looming large over our release radar for the past couple years. How does it compare to Sid Meier's finest work, and even this studio's previous 4X forays? Will it reignite the spark for those who have lost their love for the turn-based march through history? And aside from all that, is this game even done?

Len, Jon, and Mike discuss the indie space "4X without two and a half of the Xes" Slipways. We dig into the benefits of games designed with very strict rules that eventually let you break most of them, as well as having challenging microstrategy games you can finish in about an hour but aren't totally mindless.

Rob is joined by Nicole Clark and Cameron Kunzelman to discuss two recent deck builders: Klei's Griftlands and Abrakam's Roguebook. What do we like and what brings us dismay about each? How do they stack up against other recent paragons of the genre? Where do these types of games fit into the strategy ecosystem? Is boxed macaroni and cheese really that much better if you drop some unsalted butter in there? That's not relevant to the episode. It's just me, Len, asking a cooking question.

Rob and Rowan are joined by PCMag's Mike Williams to discuss Dark Deity, a JRPG-inspired indie tactical RPG. What lies beneath the outward riffing on Fire Emblem? What kind of characters will we be bringing to battle, and can we make them kiss? Are numbers even real? Why can Len never come up with a clean way to wrap these episode descriptions up? Is she really just going to let it go out like this?

Troy, Len, and Jon gather by the fire to discuss Old World, the new ancient world 4X from Civilization IV designer and prolific 3ma guest Soren Johnson. Does the tighter timeframe help or hinder it? Is it just ancient Civ? Is that even a bad thing? How many more questions can I come up with? Does this description still look too short? This is probably a good place to stop, right?

Relic has announced Company of Heroes 3! Rob and Len were given a chance to give a bit of the new dynamic campaign map a go. Now they're joined by Relic's David Littman and Matt Philip to discuss what we saw and how this long-awaited sequel is coming together. You can check out the pre-alpha preview yourself by heading over to companyofheroes.com.

Rob, Troy, and Fraser have only a curtain wall and a micromanagement puzzle between them and the invading hordes as they discuss Siege Survival: Gloria Victis. Who will hold out, and who will secretly leave the postern gate open to put an end to the suffering? When are we going to do a show on Going Medieval? What is a siege, if not a larder persevering?

Rob and Rowan are joined once again by Three Kingdoms opinion-haver Brian "Chef Lu Bu" Smawley to discuss Creative Assembly's very odd pronouncement of ending support for Total War: Three Kingdoms. Where did it land and how do we feel about the state it's in? What do we wish had made it in? And what the hell is going on with gates?

In one of our biggest panels ever, Rowan, Fraser, Len, Jon, and Mike are joined by Sin Vega to discuss the many city builders currently stewing in Early Access, or which had a long tenure there. What is the role of Early Access for this genre, and why does it seem to be such a popular starting point? Also, what would we like to see in the next generation of city builders?