Deck of Souls is an early-access deck-building roguelite. It’s a tried and tested formula, and while Deck of Souls doesn’t do anything particularly innovative, it does what it does well. The art style is simple but consistent, the sound effects and music are excellent and unobtrusive, and the gameplay has enough variety and replayability to immerse you. Let’s get into it!

What’s the skinny? How does Deck of Souls work?

In a series of turn-based combats, you draw and play cards against a variety of well-drawn enemies. You get to play one card per enemy, so combats feel pretty fair and balanced. Like many games in the genre, success in Deck of Souls relies on building a repertoire of cards that synergise with one another.

For example, on one of my more successful runs, I managed to make a build that relied on piling on armour and block to take enemies down. Of course, it’s all luck of the draw – but isn’t that what makes roguelites fun?

Combats and encounters are linked together on an FTL-style map. You can see what flavour of encounter is ahead – be that a fight, a random encounter, a chance to level up etc. – and choose your optimal path.

Defeating enemies grants you souls of various flavours, which you can use to level up your character’s stats or equipment. Bit grim. But we love it.

Story & Art

I’m a big fan of the art style in Deck of Souls. It’s pixelated, but more than detailed enough to know what you’re looking at. It’s colourful without being overwhelming and super consistent.

My one qualm with the art, however, is the UI. It feels a bit programmer-art, a bit placeholder. I can’t be sure if that’s a stylistic choice or if it’s due to be revisited, though. For now, it’s a bit lacking.

The music is great, really helps to set the grim fantasy vibe.

The story is hidden in dialogue with NPCs you encounter and beat the crap out of. There’s a tale of divinity, rebelling agents of higher powers, and redemption. The joy for me in Deck of Souls was discovering the story as I went and figuring out my own character’s motivations, so I won’t be spoiling it here. Suffice it to say, I really like the writing in this game!

Final verdict: Is it worth a go?

I would say if any of the above appeals to you at all, give Deck of Souls a chance. In places, it still feels a bit unpolished, but overall, it has promise. If roguelites or deck builders are in your wheelhouse, this will be a good entry. It fills a Slay the Spire-shaped hole. At less than a tenner, the price is great too.

As the developers move through early access, they have a roadmap of features that, refreshingly for an early-access game, seem realistic and achievable. I’ll certainly be sticking with the development of this one and returning for future updates.

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Go-Go Town! is an unholy mishmash of games that manages to be chaotic, charming, unhinged and compelling all in one. It’s colourful. So, so silly. And it’s fun!

Imagine, if you will, someone taking Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and the Mii Parade from the Wii and shoving them in a food blender. Spray the whole thing with brightly coloured paint and add a big dollop of goofy. Now you’ve got Go-Go Town!

The game starts with you, the player character, being flung from a moving vehicle in a duffle bag. After that, one of what seems to be the Men in Black tells you that you’re the new mayor of a half-block of podunk nowhere. He and his cohort of identical Agent Smith lookalikes teach you the basics of running a town, then get the hell out of dodge. You’re the mayor now! Congrats!

What’s a mayor gotta do?

As the player, your job (if you choose to accept it) is simple: grow the town, and make money. That’s about it. At first, you have to gather and process the materials yourself (classic mine rocks-smelt rocks, chop wood-saw wood stuff). You build houses for your residents, businesses for them to work in, and provide the raw materials for their jobs. At first, it’s simple materials, like rocks to make pet rocks (nope – not joking). As the game progresses, however, more lucrative jobs need more complex materials, processed multiple times.

Also, because you’re the mayor, you get to cut a cute little red ribbon for every new building. It’s the little things, isn’t it?

As your town grows, you can get the residents to start doing the grunt work like, for instance, gathering and processing materials. You can hire a courier to ferry materials around, a bin man to collect the rubbish, etc. etc. Who’d have thought? A town where the mayor doesn’t have to empty the bins! Will wonders never cease?

Who’s buying this stuff, you may ask? Firstly, it’s Townies. These are the residents of Go-Go Town! My first Towny, for example, was called Baldo. He was bald. He wouldn’t join my town until I hit 15 people with my car (again – nope, not kidding). Go figure. Secondly, there are the Tourists. These are mainly – and I wish I was kidding – ghosts and werewolves. They pretty much just wander around buying things and gawking at the sights. This generates Ego, which brings us nicely to…

Tech Progression in Go-Go Town!

Ego is the “research” currency in the game. Mainly, it allows you to unlock new structures, recipies and so on. Because each unlock provides a limited number of buildings, you’re gonna want to spend Ego often. Because Go-To Town!‘s progression is in set tiers, each new unlock brings you closer to advancing the whole town. Neat!

Speaking of which, once you reach specific milestones, you unlock Challenges! These, funnily enough, challenge you to hit certain goals (mostly, make x amount of money in y amount of time) and then you level up the town. Radical.

All this combined makes for super addictive gameplay. Because the systems are so complex but intuitive, you find yourself saying things like “If I just gather more octopuses to turn into sausages (somehow), I’ll get enough money to impress all these ghosts into making my town bigger”. Wow, it really is bizarre when you lay it all out like that. However – super fun.

Early access: should you get involved?

Go-Go Town! go-goes into early access on June 18th. We’ve all been burned by early-access games in the past. So, should you get it?

Long story short, yes. If you like cozy resource management games, you’ll like this. Moreover, if you like goofy bizarro weirdness fever dreams, you’ll like this.

Long story long, here’s some pros and cons:

Pros:

++ Compelling gameplay loop

++ Goofy & charming humour

++ Visually and musically lovely

++ Huge amount of content to sink your teeth into

Cons:

— The progression is pretty linear, so replayability isn’t great. As a result you can’t specialise your town, and you’ll always progress through the tiers in pretty much the same way

— Resource gathering is tedious and your Townies are very, very slow at doing it for you

Overall, I’d recommend it. If in doubt, there’s a demo out right now on Steam and you can try it out for yourself!

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The Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack has landed – that’s right, folks. It’s that time again. The 15th downloadable content pack for Planet Zoo, the Oceania Pack is live!

At this point, Frontier Development has established a pretty regular cadence with their DLCs. Some – like the Oceania Pack – focus equally on new animals & new building pieces. Others, like the Arid Animal Pack, are much more creature-centric. That said, while the new Polynesian-themed building pieces in this DLC are great, I would absolutely say that the new animal additions are far and away the stars of this experience.

Continuing another pattern, Frontier has also released a brand spanking new (and free!) content update, 1.15, alongside the new pack. As always, continue (or skip) to the end of the review to get our take on this.

Tiki-tastic Polynesian Pacific Props

The Oceania Pack adds yet another strong, classic “theme-park” style theme to Planet Zoo. Yet another kind of thatched roof (the first two being the South American and African styles). Fake glowing lava – very cool (not literally). Finally, it adds some neat “Tiki” themed props & decorations for that classic Polynesian feel.

Overall, a really nice addition to the building options. However, if you already have the South America pack, I will say that these additions feel quite same-y.

Cute, Cuddly, Classic! Animals of the Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack

As previously mentioned, despite not being an “Animal Pack” in the traditional Planet Zoo sense, the new animals really are the stars of this show. Every new entry is really gorgeous and, frankly, adorable. The new animals are:

• Kiwi
• Tasmanian devil
• Little Penguin
• Quokka
• Spectacled flying fox (this one is a walkthrough habitat animal!)

Frankly, unlike some of the previous packs, there’s not a dud among these. I particularly adore the Quokka and its utterly adorable grin. The animals are all brilliant, they fit in with the new plants & building pieces beautifully, and they fill out the catalogue of creatures admirably. Slam dunk from an animal perspective!

New Career Challenge: Goodwin Family Wildlife Park

Any avid GamEir readers who may have read my previous Planet Zoo pack reviews knows that I am sick and tired of scenarios involving Tiffany Summers, the clueless socialite. No shade on Tiffany – it’s just that a bit of variety would be nice!

Well, we’re in luck with this pack – Emma Goodwin makes her return in the “Goodwin Family Wildlife Park”. The challenge itself is nothing to write home about – not too easy not too hard. What it does bring, however, is yet another gorgeous canvas on which the player can build their dream zoo. A tropical Pacific island, covered in traditional buildings made of natural materials. In classic Frontier fashion, this map shows off the newly built pieces and plants introduced in the pack, hopefully inspiring the player to make use of them themselves.

Overall – fine career challenge, an excellent map!

The Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack – Delightful or dud?

At this point in Planet Zoo‘s development, the DLCs are falling into an unfortunately predictable pattern. Released regularly, each new DLC adds some excellent new content that stands alone. Frontier can’t assume that any given player owns any of the previous DLCs. As such, every one of them pretty much brings exactly the same new experience to the zookeeper fanbase.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all, of course. However, what this means is that my recommendation for this pack is the same as many of the previous ones. That is: if you’re dying to use either the animals or the new Oceania-themed build items in your zoo, go ahead and pick this up. If nothing jumps out at you, you’re not missing anything special.

Finally – the 1.15 Update!

Normally, Frontier add 3-4 very minor changes with each update. This time, however, they’re bringing something very special: viewing domes!

I can’t imagine any zoo I build from now on won’t include this. The ability to get your guests up close and personal with the animals without the hassle (and danger!) of a walkthrough habitat can’t be understated. I can’t wait to see what all the creative Planet Zoo players do with this brilliant new feature.

There are a few extra bits added along with these new domes, but nothing too exciting – check out the excellent summary here on the Planet Zoo Wiki.

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The Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack is the latest in a long line of DLC for Planet Zoo. It is the 14th content pack DLC for the game, bringing the grand total amount you’d need to spend to have every DLC to just shy of €200. Now that’s an investment!

That said, we here at GamEir love Planet Zoo and have had the privilege of reviewing the gamut of DLCs as they came out. So, does the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack hold up against the rest?

Short answer: yes, to an extent. Long answer: it’s a good addition, but is perhaps a little uninspiring. Longer answer: see the rest of the review!

By hoof, by claw and by spine! The Animals of the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack

Let’s get down to business (to defeat the Huns). This is an animal pack, for a game in which you build habitats to hold animals. And people pay to come see those animals. So, how are they? How are the animals?!

They’re… Pretty good. The new furry & scale friends in this DLC are as follows:

• Dromedary camel
• African crested porcupine
• Addax
• Somali wild ass
• Black rhino
• Sand cat
• Dama gazelle
• Desert horned viper

As usual, each and every one of these animals is lovingly rendered and animated. If there’s one thing you can count on Frontier Developments to do, it is design and realise utterly breathtaking animals for Planet Zoo. As usual, there’s only one word for the animal stars of this DLC: flawless!

There are a few stand-out critters in this line-up. Obviously, the Dromedary Camel is a strong entry. A classic zoo animal, popular, spectacular, and a star from back in the Zoo Tycoon days. The African Crested Porcupine is a delight, especially in motion. Watching their spines wobble to and fro as they paces their habitat is so fun. Normally, habitat animals (ie, the animals that can only live in a Dublin apartment-sized box) are fairly uninspiring – however, the Desert Horned Viper is adorable! It hides in the sandy rocks of its habitat with its little spiky nose sticking out. Definitely will be a staple for my zoos moving forward.

Finally, the Sand Cat. I love cats. I shamelessly adore cats in all their forms. The Sand Cat? Out of this world cute. Can’t get over it. 11/10. Give me more sand cats.

In summary: yes, this is another home run where the execution of the animals is concerned!

But is it worth the tenner?

All that said, taken in the context of the rest of the game and its packs, the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack is a little lacklustre. This DLC focuses heavily on hoofed animals and on animals from Africa. Both of these animal groups are extremely heavily represented in Planet Zoo already. So, even though each animal is wonderfully done, none of them really made me go “wow!”.

Furthermore, this pack adds yet another Career scenario starring the socialite Tiffany Summers. Why, Frontier?! We’ve had so many Tiffany missions already. You clearly gave up on voicing the scenarios several DLCs ago – why not give us another character, even a new one?

Speaking of the new scenario – it’s set in a gorgeous Saudi Arabian ruin, but the mission goals are very bog standard. Nothing really standout here – build a zoo, do it well, you’ll pass the scenario. Yawn.

Overall – the Planet Zoo: Arid Animal Pack is excellent where the animals themselves are concerns. But the pack taken as a whole, and in the context of what we’ve seen so far… Not incredible. A must-buy if you dearly love any of the animals, but you won’t miss it otherwise.

Finally: the 1.14 update!

As always, Frontier has released an excellent free content update alongside the DLC. This update focuses on letting players explore their creativity and expression, by adding:

• Staff Flexi colour – players can customise their staff’s uniforms for greater than ever fashion statements
• Spitting – numerous animals can now spit and your guests (amazing, no notes)
• Scenic camera mode & cinematic route editor – new tools to help players get the perfect shot of their zoo to post on the internet for sweet internet points

All brilliant additions! Especially the spitting. Hilarious. You’ve done it again, Frontier.

Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

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Planet Zoo‘s 13th expansion, Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack has landed! Along with the standard accompanying free update (1.13), the Tropical Pack adds 5 new animals, 200+ new scenery pieces and a new campaign scenario. At this point, pretty par for the course for a Planet Zoo DLC!

Whether you’re an Attenborough-worthy conservationist or an avid architect, this DLC has something for you. Let’s jump right in.

Foosa & Friends! The animals of the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack

Alright, the meat-and-two-veg of any Planet Zoo DLC; the animals! What are we working with here? Frontier has brought us lucky zookeepers 5 brand spanking new creatures to care for. They are:

• Fossa
• Lar Gibbon
• Red River Hog
• Asian Water Monitor
• Brown-throated Sloth

4 habitat animals and 1 exhibit animal – the sloth. The sloth is a bit special in this line-up, as it’s a new entry in the rare “walkthrough exhibit” category, joining bats and butterflies.

The Brown-throated Sloth’s walkthrough exhibit is gorgeous. It’s got a glut of climbing frames crisscrossing the habitat, allowing your sloths to slowly sling themselves around your hapless guests. They’re by far the largest walkthrough habitat animal to date – larger than many of the smaller regular habitat animals. As a result, I do somewhat question Frontier’s decision to include them as an exhibit animal at all. That said, I won’t say no to another ever-rare walkthrough exhibit entry.

The other animals are all standard habitat animals, and each one is as meticulously detailed and gorgeous as we’ve come to expect from Planet Zoo. The Lar Gibbon is a standout and is sure to brighten up any zoo.

Final note – did anyone else think they made up the Fossa for Madagascar? I sure did, before playing the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack.

Temples, Tongkonan & Tiffany (again…)

Other than the animals, the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack adds scenery pieces and a new campaign mission.

The scenery pieces are absolutely gorgeous. They capture the ancient beauty of Southeast Asian temples and traditional architecture beautifully. The influences here are largely Indonesian. One big standout is the “Tongkonan-style” structures. These crescent-topped buildings are so unique and bring enormous character to any tropical-themed zoo.

Besides the main temple and Tongkonan building pieces, there’s also a wide variety of props, architectural greebles and statuary. They’ve also introduced a few new plants. Of those, the Rafflesia is the standout – how iconic!

The new campaign scenario of the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack brings us to Bali, where we once again meet Tiffany Summers. She premiered in the Grasslands Animal Pack and is here to bring us her wildly incompetent ways yet again. The scenario itself is nothing to write home about – basic goals, no voice acting, and thematically pretty dull. That said, the map is designed beautifully and the topography presents some unique challenges.

Tropican or Tropican’t? Is the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack worth it?

Like many of Planet Zoo‘s DLCs, the answer to this is: it depends!

If you’re a hardcore fan of Planet Zoo, then the Tropical Pack is not to be missed. Whether you’re building a lush and secluded Balian temple, or want to reenact the Fossa attack from Madagascar with some lemurs (not recommended), the quality in this DLC is flawless. That said, the architecture is very specific and there are no “wow” star animals.

If you play Planet Zoo for the campaign and its challenges, the Planet Zoo: Tropical Pack could be worth a miss. The map is fine, but there’s nothing too challenging about it other than the intense topography.

Overall, this DLC is a great entry in a long line of expansions. Get it if there’s anything you’re dying not to miss or if you’re an avid DLC collector. Overwise, avoid or wait for a sale.

The 1.13 Update: Socialites & QOL Changes

As always, Frontier has released a jam-packed feature update alongside the Tropical Pack. Free Update 1.13 includes the following:

• Animal Sociality
• Null Paths
• Multi-Axis Advanced Movement
• Climbable Asset Toggle

The most exciting feature here is Animal Sociality. Following this update, animals will form bonds with one another, especially with their direct family. They’ve also added more roles and depth to animal dynamics, meaning you’ll see more sensible interactions between established family groups and the new “Outsiders”.

Beyond that, Null Paths will allow truly custom walkable areas, Multi-Axis movement should make item placement a bit easier, and the Climable Asset Toggle will make stopping your animals from escaping that much easier.

Overall – not bad at all for free!

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Since its release in 2019, Planet Zoo has been no stranger to DLCs. The Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack is the 13th piece of paid content to be released in the years since. The quality of these DLCs has generally been very high, with each entry adding some combination of story content, new animals, and new building pieces.

Veteran players may find the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack to be somewhat lackluster in comparison to previous packs. While it does add a whopping 8 new animals, it however lacks any new building pieces whatsoever. The new career scenario “Permits and Pampas” is charming, but let down by the dearth of voice acting.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

8 Brand New Animals in the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack

Of course, it’s a game about zoos – the animals are the stars. What additions have we gotten?

• Maned wolf
• Emu
• Caracal
• Red-necked wallaby
• Nine-banded armadillo
• Striped hyena
• Blue wildebeest
• Five colourful species of butterfly

Now, this is the first time we’ve seen this many animals in 1 DLC. Technically, you could even say this is 12 new species of animals. Each of the new butterflies is unique and beautiful. Additionally, a few of the new animals – namely the emu, caracal, wallaby and armadillo – have been hugely anticipated by the community.

As usual, each of the animals is beautifully rendered and textured. They each have their own fascinating animations. I found the armadillo and the caracal to be particularly gorgeous.

The Blue Wildebeest is the closest thing to a weak link – Planet Zoo already has the Black Wildebeest, and plenty of other ungulates to choose from. That said, the Blue Wildebeest is gorgeous, even more so than the existing Black Wildebeest.

All in all, a bountiful addition to the animal roster with some stand-out beauties. That said, one addition brings more than just a new kind of animal – the butterflies!

Why are the butterflies so special?

Besides being 5 brand new species in 1, the butterflies have 3 features that make them stand out from every other creature in Planet Zoo to date.

1. They are the first ever flying insect in the game
2. It is possible to display them all in 1 exhibit – the first-ever multi-species exhibit!
3. They take advantage of the brand new walkthrough exhibit introduced in the 1.11 update

So, besides being beautiful, colourful and enchanting, these butterflies are also utterly unique in the game in their mechanics.

Permits and Pampas: The brand new career scenario in the Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack

As is par for the course by now, the Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack adds a brand new scenario to the game. This one – called “Permits and Pampas” – takes place in the Argentinian “Purmamarca Educational Reserve”. This one reintroduces us to Tiffany Summers (first met in the Twilight pack).

As I mentioned in the intro, I found the lack of voices in this scenario quite off-putting. The scenario opens up with a letter rather than the customary voice-over in other scenarios. This trend is not unique to the Grassland Animals Pack – we saw the same thing in the Twilight Pack, for example – but it really does break the immersion and sheer personality established by the other missions.

Apart from this, “Permits and Pampas” is the usual heartwarming mix of zoo management and conservation. The focus this time is on the harm that otherwise well-meaning folks can do to their animals. The exotic pet trade and unqualified zookeepers are an enormous problem in animal welfare, and it’s fantastic to see Frontier shining the spotlight this way.

In conclusion! Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack – buy or avoid?

For me, this one is pretty cut-and-dry.

Buy if:

• You’re a hardcore Planet Zoo fan looking for more content
• Your passion is the animals in the game, and more animals = better
• You want a new scenario to challenge yourself with

Avoid if:

• You don’t need or want the injection of additional animals
• You mostly play sandbox or franchise mode
• The building and park management games are what you love

All in all, the Planet Zoo: Grassland Animals Pack is pretty good. There’s not much here to place it above any of the other packs, but what it does, it does well. I would say, for most Planet Zoo players, get it on sale.

Finally, the 1.12 update!

Frontier has established a history of scheduling a brand new update for free in tandem with their DLCs. We think that’s mighty fine of them, and I’ve taken to including a quick summary of the changes for our readers. In short, 1.12 adds the following:

• Guided tours
• Diorama mode
• Bulldozer tool

Honestly, all three of these are fantastic additions. The guided tours add a whole new dimension to the educators and to zoo planning. Diorama mode allows players to make beautiful tiny builds to share – brilliant for those who make things like this incredible palace.

The stand-out feature (for me, at least) is the bulldozer tool. In retrospect, it’s crazy this wasn’t in the game from the beginning. Finally, players can delete large amounts of objects at once, and filter for plants, rocks, construction etc. etc. Absolute game-changer.

That’s it for the Grassland Pack and the 1.12 update. Thanks for reading – and happy zookeeping!

Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

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The Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is the latest content pack for the genre-defining zoo management game, Planet Zoo. We here at GamEir love Planet Zoo and have been covering and reviewing it and its DLC since release. Earlier content packs have included massively popular animals like the kangaroo and sun bear, as well as beautiful themed scenery pieces from across the world. Generally speaking, previous packs have either been geographically themed (such as the Europe Pack, North Africa Pack etc.) or biome-themed (such as the Wetlands and Arctic Pack).

Meanwhile, the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack decides to take things in a decidedly… Spookier direction. Today I’ll be talking you through some of the sinister additions of the pack, as well as the free 1.1 update which dropped the same day!

NOTE: Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is a DLC, meaning it’s no good to you without the main game! If you don’t already play Planet Zoo, stop here and go buy it before reading on! Or don’t. I’m not your dad.

What’s in the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack?!

Alright, let’s get to the thing everyone wants to know – if you drop the cash for the Twilight Pack, what are you getting?!

First and foremost, let’s talk about the animals. The theme here is spooky. With the exception of the Egyptian Fruit Bat, every one of these animals is crepuscular – meaning they are most active around dawn and dusk. The fruit bat is unique in one other way as well, but we’ll get to that. The animals in the pack are:

• Raccoons
• Red Foxes
• Common Wombats
• Striped Skunk
• Egyptian Fruit Bats

As we’ve come to expect from all of the Planet Zoo animals, they are all beautifully modelled and animated. For me, the raccoons stand out as being particularly joyful to watch. The standard set by the base game and earlier packs is high, but the Twilight Pack more than meets the bar.

My only real qualm with these new creatures is that they’re quite… Mundane? There’s something not quite believable about buying a zoo ticket to see a fox or a raccoon. Maybe my perspective is very western-centric, but if I saw a fox knocking about the zoo I’d assume it got lost looking for the bins.

The first four are all habitat animals, meaning they wander around in their own dedicated habitats. The fruit bats, on the other hand, are exhibit animals (meaning they get a cozy smaller cage, which is less customisable).

That said, the Egyptian Fruit Bat isn’t your standard exhibit animal. The Twilight Pack also adds a brand new feature: Walkthrough Exhibits.

Walkthrough Exhibits and what they mean for Planet Zoo!

Essentially, the new Walkthrough Exhibit allows guests to get up close and personal with exhibit animals. It features a walkable path down the middle, customisable walls, and a much larger volume than the regular exhibits. At the moment, this feature is exclusive to the Egyptian Fruit Bat. No other exhibit animals can be housed there… Yet!

That said, this is a step in an extremely exciting direction. Planet Zoo players have been clamouring for birds and aviaries for a long while. While the game does feature animals such as the flamingo and peafowl, there has never been a practical way to house smaller birds like Macaws, Birds of Paradise, Ibises etc. The introduction of a new larger exhibit feels like a big step in the direction of real aviaries and birdhouses!

On top of that, while the Egyptian Fruit Bat will only be available to players who buy the Twilight Pack, the walkthrough exhibit object is available to all players through the free 1.1 update. Promising indeed!

Spooky scenery and eerie foliage in the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack

As well as the animals and the walkthrough habitat, the Twilight Pack adds approximately 200 new scenery items and props. Many of these are skewed very spooky (like carved Jack-o-Lanterns and witches cauldrons). The rest, however, are more usable year-round. The theme seems to largely be Romanian and generally gothic. For players who want to build a Medieval-style zoo, the items in this pack are definitely going to be a huge boon.

As well as this, the pack adds numerous plants in the same theme. The big star item is the Bristlecone Pine (super spooky, very cool), but the various other plants are equally excellent additions. I particularly love the addition of piles of fallen autumn leaves. The pop of bright autumnal colours adds real magic to forest scenes.

TL;DR: Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack is sure to please Hallowe’en lovers, but the scenery and plants are diverse enough that it doesn’t feel “one-note” and will be useful for plenty of themes across numerous zoos.

New Career Mode Scenario! Castle Myers

Lastly, the Twilight Pack adds a brand new Career Mode scenario! Set after the main story of the base game, “Castle Myers” is yet another mismanaged zoo for the player to bring up to par. In some ways, it feels a little bit like a showcase of the assets added by the pack – but that’s not a bad thing! It’s a beautiful, super atmospheric zoo.

Castle Myers doesn’t do anything too out of the box, but if you love playing Planet Zoo to meet objectives and adore the cast of characters, it’s one not to miss.

The conclusion! Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack – buy or avoid?

All in all, the Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack adds quite a lot. The animals are all beautifully rendered – if an odd addition to a zoo. The scenery and foliage objects are an excellent addition, though the focus on the Hallowe’en theme limits some of the pack to seasonal builds.

The main new game mechanic – walkthrough exhibits – will be available to all players through the 1.11 Update, though it won’t be usable until a later update or pack adds more animals for it.

Buy if:

• You love the cute-and-cosy spooky animals added
• You adore Hallowe’en or general gothic / Romanian architecture
• Career mode scenarios are your preferred way to play
• Going without buying every DLC will give you hives

Avoid if:

• The crepuscular creature additions do nothing for you
• You’re more of a Christmas person
• You don’t care about more career-mode scenarios
• The choice is between the Twilight Pack and a more “universal” DLC like the Conservation Pack or another animal pack

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of the Planet Zoo experience, this is a must-buy. If you pick and choose your DLC, this one definitely won’t be for everyone.

The free 1.11 Update!

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably interested in the free additions players got with the 1.11 update. You can read the full update notes here, but here are the cliff notes of the most exciting additions:

• Educator exhibit demos: Educators can now take exhibit animals out of their exhibit to show off to the guest. This makes exhibits feel way more alive and interactive, rather than just a static prop or money-maker. Awesome addition.
• Customisable exhibit backdrops: the brand new ability to import your own images for the backdrops of your exhibits. Not for everyone as it requires a bit of extra out-of-game prep, but a game-changer for detail-oriented zookeepers.
• Piebald animal coats: a new mutation to add some variety to your animals! For now, this is limited to the Nyala, Pronghorn Antelope and Springbok, but we may see this rolled out to other species in the future.
• New escape behaviours: previously, animals largely just ran about the place after escaping their cages. Now, larger animals will be able to knock over bins and eat the contents (gross!). Frontier claims this is just one of a “range of new behaviours”, but this seems to be the only obvious one for now.

Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

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The post Planet Zoo: Twilight Pack in Review (and the 1.11 update!) appeared first on GamEir.

Aquatico is one of those experiences that puts me in mind for my first serious forays into games. I absolutely adore the city-building genre. I cut my gamer teeth on Pharaoh, sunk hour after hour into Anno, and watched my Settlers grow their villages into prosperous metropolises. Honestly, I grew up playing city-builders, and I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the genre evolve into modern tours de force like Cities: Skylines, Surviving Mars and Tropico. It has been a sincere pleasure to see the genre grow and develop the way it has. I know city builders – and more than that, I know what an old city builder feels like.

Unfortunately, dear reader, Aquatico feels like an old, old city-builder. I wish I meant that in a good way. Before we go further, I would like to emphasise that Aquatico is an in-development game. My experience is likely not reflective of the final product, and I expect it to grow and change based on feedback – but they have solicited a review of their product, and we here at GamEir will oblige.

Aquatico, you ain’t got no alibi – you ugly!

Alright, let’s get this out of the way. It’s right in your face from the moment you launch Aquatico. The UI, the graphics, the animations… It’s all u-g-l-y. I’d love to be more generous, but I just can’t. It’s not stylised, or retro – it’s a poor effort.

The colour palette is incredibly bland and utilitarian. Each building is practically indistinguishable from the next – just another lump of unremarkable grey plastic. The pipelines that you must build to connect your buildings are similarly a blight on the landscape. The domes – raised platforms for your people to live on – are, again, boring, ugly, and just generally unexciting.

The UI is, frankly, shocking. City-builder games – and management games in general – live and die by their user interface. UI should be easily readable, unobtrusive, and at least a little bit aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, Aquatico‘s UI manages to be none of the three. It’s dense, it’s constantly in the way of the rest of the game, and very poorly designed. One thing that stands out – not in a good way – is the game’s over-reliance on colour-coding its building grid. It uses a bland palette of colours to differentiate buildable areas with a central colour key, but it doesn’t offer a colourblind option.

Finally, the music and sound effects are equally obnoxious. I eventually had to switch the in-game music off altogether.

Quarterly earnings report underwater; aka, Aquatico

The actual gameplay of Aquatico is incredibly simple. You have an in-flow and out-flow of resources, produced by various buildings. The buildings are staffed – variously by drones and human workers – and they either gather or process resources. Higher-level buildings require resources produced by lower-level buildings. Some buildings automatically move resources between them, while others (like the power or oxygen facilities) require the player to build pipelines.

That’s… About it. That’s the gameplay.

There’s a minor layer of complexity added to Aquatico in the form of domes. As I mentioned above, these are the raised platforms where your human colonists live. You need to satisfy their needs, make them happy with necessities as well as luxury goods – yada yada. All that said, however, I’m left with a burning question – why?!

Most city-builders provide some kind of goal for the player to reach. An enemy to out-maneuver, perhaps, or a threshold to reach. Not so with Aquatico. The game never really answers why I want more people, or why I’d bother to make them happy. Eventually – for me, at least – it just turned into a game of “build one of each kind of building”. The game didn’t really provide any goals, quests, or any motivation beyond “the surface is boned, build Rapture!”.

That wouldn’t really have been a problem if the core gameplay wasn’t so mundane, staid, and humdrum. There’s no real joy in building your underwater city. It all just feels a bit… Pointless!

Conclusion: Is it worth it for city-building fanatics?

The golden question. If you love city-builders, is this a game for you?

Unfortunately, I think you know my answer by now. In the state it’s in, Aquatico isn’t suitable for anyone. It’s the one thing no game should ever be. It’s boring. And did I mention ugly?

It’s worth reiterating my point from the intro. Aquatico is very much a game still in development. Maybe Digital Reef will put more meat on its bones. Perhaps much of its art and UI is a placeholder. I have my doubts but never say never. But right now, Aquatico feels like a game that was released in the mid-2000s and has not aged well.

What I can say is – unless you love watching numbers on a spreadsheet meaninglessly tick upward, this isn’t the game for you.Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

I promise we’re nice! Keep up with our streams over on Twitch (GamEir) and our videos on YouTube (GamEir) and we’ll give you all the latest content.

The post Aquatico in Review: If Atlantis was Run by Accountants appeared first on GamEir.

2022-08-11

The Serpent Rogue is an odd fish. On the one hand, it is undeniably beautiful. The artwork is gorgeous. Lovely, rounded edges compliment the almost watercolour colour palette. The music is subtle, relaxing, and atmospheric. There’s some light-touch worldbuilding that makes the lands of The Serpent Rogue feel intriguing and lived in. Stylistically, in conclusion, it’s hard to fault.

Rise ‘n’ grind, alchemists! The Serpent Rogue Gameplay

Where it all starts to fall apart is in the gameplay. At its core, The Serpent Rogue is a game about exploration, experimentation, and the occasional punch-up. Sengi Games, the developers, refer to their title as a “botanical action RPG”. As an adorable little plague doctor (weird combination of words), you must scour the corrupted landscape to find ingredients. You use these ingredients in cooking and in alchemical potions. Armed thusly, you forge on to defeat enemies and cleanse the lands of corruption.

Explore, Create, Combat

Firstly, there’s the exploration. Pretty self-explanatory. Each area is self-contained, filled with NPCs to interact with, animals, or enemies to defeat.

Secondly, alchemy and potion-making. Alchemy is really where the game shines. There are potions for healing, for polymorphing, summoning, buffing, debuffing… You name it. Each ingredient – which must be researched before you can use it – has an “Essence”. For instance, “Sulfur” has the essence “Burn”, while Garlic has the essence “Stinky”. You as the player string these essences together to create an effect. Once you get the hang of it, it’s quite fun.

Thirdly, there’s the ass-kicking. The combat is nothing to write home about. You run in, take a few swings at the enemies, get alchemical with it, and win or die. Your swings are sluggish and clunky. Narratively, maybe the game is trying to send the message that your character just isn’t built for combat. Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor! Not a swordsman! That said, combat is a core element of The Serpent Rogue, and I came to dread it during my time with the title.

Click to view slideshow.

Beautiful… But Bland.

Reviewing The Serpent Rogue took me a long time. I’d play a few hours here and there before it lost me again. There are a number of elements at play that really are compelling. I love the alchemy, and exploring to find new ingredients is exciting – the first time. But the combat is so clunky that it’s difficult to enjoy. Mistakes and their consequences sometimes feel unearned. Furthermore, the longer the game session goes on, the more it feels like you’re just spinning your wheels. Between collecting resources, researching, and experimenting, The Serpent Rogue features a lot of time spent just running around.

It’s clear that The Serpent Rogue is a labour of love. In truth, I’d love to be able to recommend it wholeheartedly – but I can’t. There’s absolutely something to be said for the satisfaction of experimenting with and mastering the alchemy system. That said, all in all, it’s not that complex. It takes very little time to learn the core systems, and then it’s just a grind from there to the end.

In its writing, the game luxuriates in mystery. The writers clearly love teasing you with open-ended dialogue and vague world-building. Occasionally that felt compelling – but, mainly, it just felt meandering.

The Serpent Rogue is by no means a bad game. It’s a solid first title from brand new developer Sengi Games. I couldn’t recommend it to everyone, and certainly not for full price. But for those who find joy in experimentation and the game’s bleak but beautiful aesthetic – it’s worth a buy on sale.

Stay tuned to GamEir. And if you’re interested, come converse with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

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As you may know, we here at GamEir really enjoyed Lawn Mowing Simulator’s original experience. Undeniably, the zen-like meditation of turning a wild out of control garden or field into a tended lawn is… Worryingly compelling. Indeed, there’s something about the white noise of the mower’s rotors that lulls me into a sense of calm.

Until today, I never realised what was missing from that experience. Dinosaurs.

This isn’t the first slightly offbeat DLC for Lawn Mowing Simulator. Previously, the Ancient Britain DLC brought players to long-forgotten druidic sites across Britain, and had fun little details like a collectable Sword in the Stone. So, clearly, Skyhook Games don’t shy away from the weird and wonderful.

As David Harper, Co-founder of Skyhook Games said:

“We’ve had such a great response to our previous Ancient Britain DLC pack and we’re delighted to be able to offer fans of Lawn Mowing Simulator new content with our new Dino Safari DLC pack. As always, we’d like to thank our amazing community for their support and hope you enjoy this new content.”

Click to view slideshow.

Lawn Mowers, Uh. Find a Way in Dino Safari

So, brass tacks, what’s on offer in the Dino Safari DLC?

• 4 new contract locations
  • Cretaceous Canyon
  • Herbivore Valley
  • Raptor Enclosure
  • T-Rex Paddock
• 12 career contracts
  • 4 general cut contracts
  • 4 overgrown contracts
  • 4 litter contracts
• Four new valuables to find in Career mode (One in each contract location)
• 6 new Xbox and Steam Achievements

Altogether, we were delighted to see this here at GamEir – the Dino Safari DLC is the same price as Ancient Britain, but has even more content.

Obviously, we can’t wait to get our hands on the Dino Safari DLC. That said, who knows what the developers will come up with next? Lawn mowing in space, sooner or later? Eventually, maybe under the sea! Indeed, it seems that, for Skyhook games, the sky really is the limit.

In conclusion, if you love mowing lawns (of course) and you love gigantic, long-extinct reptiles (of course) then you’re not going to want to miss out on what’s sure to be a one-of-a-kind gaming experience.

Finally, You can find the Lawn Mowing Simulator Dino Safari DLC on Steam, or on the Xbox Store for players on Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X.

Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).

I promise we’re nice! Keep up with our streams over on Twitch (GamEir) and our videos on YouTube (GamEir) and we’ll give you all the latest content.

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