Imperator: Rome, the newest grand strategy from Paradox Interactive, was released on the 25th of April. At the time of writing, it is the 26th of April, and I have logged 12 hours in the game. So, without further ado, a review. What is familiar? As always, loading up a Paradox grand strategy for the first time results in overwhelming confusion-but this is a universal experience in these games- if you are new to the genre, I recommend watching some gameplay before jumping in, unless you are a bastion of patience. On the other hand, for someone who has played…

…is pretty fun. I figured I’d start the article by getting to the point. I suppose I’ll elaborate a bit, tempting as it is to chuckle, hit save, and put this in a side column. Pulsar is a developing game which throws five players onto a spaceship in an open galaxy and tells them to swim. It normally follows this up by swiftly drowning them- and then you learn that it uses permadeath. The permadeath is a pretty regular customer at the beginning. The main disadvantage of the game is that you really do need a full team of friends…

By Sinclair Davis Folklore, mythology and film studies; German studies. These are probably not the first words that spring to mind when thinking of designing games. But perhaps they aren’t as far removed as one might think. These are the respective PhDs of Dr Eben Muse and Dr Melissa Kagen, the professors at the head of Bangor University’s ‘BA with Game Design.’ And the course is fresh out of the gates! Consisting of six modules over three years, the program has only now completed three semesters – halfway. Muse and Kagen share an ambitious goal – in three more semesters,…

Shifter, a student-made game in progress, is a mystery adventure with a sci-fi twist. Within the story, so-called ‘Shifters’ are capable of morphing into the forms of other people, allowing them to move undetected through the game world. The player character has just lost their father and, with his death, the answers to their fast emerging power. The gameplay revolves around this ability to transform, and a strong central plot. The game is an early prototype, by Anneka Dinham, 19, from Wolverhampton. She is a second year student in Game Design here at Bangor. She also happens to be a…

Zero Fear is a cooperative survival game, set in a zombie apocalypse, under design by Ben Penny. The tabletop game revolves around players working together to move across a randomised map, uncovering locations, encountering enemies, and collecting items along the way. In playtesting so far the objective has been to collect generic supplies hidden around the map, and return them safely to the starting point. In future, however, the game is intended to feature varying scenarios each with their own goals. At the beginning of the game, the entire map consists of face down cards, which are uncovered to reveal…