Actualol Newsletter - June 2022 (Patreon)

Happy 7 Year Actualversary!

A neat time to hit 50,000 subscribers! Thanks for sticking with me over the years. I finally feel like a proper YouTube channel. Well, a proper board game YouTube channel at least!

And a nice time to look back at where it all began, in my last video “Are These Games Still Good?” . I hope to look back again some time - but perhaps focus on the games that didn’t fare so well of the years, or look at a certain genre. But next on the channel, I’ll be turning my focus to newer titles - because there’s some fun new games I‘ve been wanting to cover.

Actual Life

It’s been a weird month. I travelled to Birmingham for the UK Games Expo and briefly saw the press event on Thursday, only to have to get the train back before the show on Friday morning because Serena was called in for surgery that she’d been waiting on all week. She’s doing well now, but it’s been a month of worry and recovery. Then I got ill just in time for my birthday, so I had to cancel my plans and roast inside on the hottest day of the year!

I did glimpse two exciting upcoming games at UKGE, one was a party game from the makers of Just One, which is still top secret. And the other has just been announced - “Heat: Pedal to the Metal” , a racing game from Days of Wonder. I’m not usually one for racing games, but this one is from designers Daniel and Asger, who made Deep Blue and 13 Days, two games I really like. And it seems to build upon Asger’s popular racing game Flamme Rouge.

Actual Games

Wormholes is a new game from AEG and the designer of Tiny Towns. It is a pickup and deliver game - I know that can be a turn off but this one is actually fun!

You pick up passenger cards at planets in the galaxy, and then you have to travel to their destination planet and drop them off. The fun twist is that you can create wormholes to travel around faster. So once you’ve laid down your first two wormholes, they activate and you can jump back and forth between them for free.

You can even use other players' wormholes but they will get a point every time you do. The wormhole travel means that the game really ramps up, because you can achieve so much more each turn. And the puzzle is in how to get around most efficiently.

I really like how simple Wormholes is - it’s probably the simplest pick up and deliver game I’ve played, and the first that has really grabbed me. I need to play it more to be certain, but I think Wormholes is going to be a hit.

Bureau of Investigation: Investigations in Arkham and Elsewhere is a new game inspired by Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, but set in an HP Lovecraft universe.

It’s a hard game to review as a whole, because each case has its own unique mechanisms. One is a choose your own adventure, another is a big folder full of case files to pore over. Even the more typical SHCD cases come with a new half of the book giving you the option to “investigate” leads - surveilling suspects instead of just interviewing them - which is a nice touch.

They’ve replaced the “beat Sherlock” points comparison, by only allowing you to visit so many leads before you have to stop. Except you don’t have to stop, because you’re a grown adult and you can do what you want, and why on earth is a game trying to limit how much time you spend with it? It is a stupid system, but it’s easily ignored, so it’s not a reason to avoid the game.

No, the reason to avoid the game is that the cases are unsatisfying, but each in their own way. The first is too easy, you feel like it’s all handed to you on a plate. The second one will only give you extra leads if you follow a strict path that kills the feeling of freedom that you usually get in these games. The third is a choose your own adventure that wows you at the start then becomes unbearably tedious. The fourth is a  big folder of case files which is fun for a bit, but drags on - and finishes with an unforgivable catch that taints the whole experience. And I have chosen not to play the fifth and final case because it’s the longest one and I don’t want to give another four hours to this game.

Overall the writing is decent, and despite not being a Lovecraft fan I didn’t mind the setting. But I don’t think it’s a great fit for this type of game. The rules are very clear to inform you that “not everything will make sense” by the end of the case, that some things are meant to remain “unknowable”. The problem I found with that is that during the case I didn’t know which ideas I should be chasing down to learn more about, and which I should assume will remain unknowable. That coupled with the “15 leads and you’re out” mechanism, means that you feel punished for exploring a part of the story that would rather remain unknowable than reward your curiosity.

There are so many better detective games that I would only recommend this to the superhumans who have already eaten through all of SHCD, Chronicles of Crime and Detective: A Modern Crime Game. Or if you really, really love the theme, I think the gameplay is decent enough for you to have a good time.

New Arrivals

• Sniper Elite: The Board Game

Games I’ve been enjoying lately

• Topic
• Blood on the Clocktower

Now Watching - Big Boys

Now Reading - The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Have a great month!

Actually yours,

Jon