I am a simple man of simple pleasures. I like colony sims and city builders and high concepts and let’s just say the pitch of “Rimworld plus Crusader Kings” was a “slam that buy button” choice for your boy Tommy Ravens. Let’s get through the story wrapper real quick: There was a war, the empire […]

Here at Monstervine, we usually handle writing about games on a volunteer basis, but Grit and Valor 1949 was…well, let’s say “a real-time tactics roguelite in an alt-history World War 2 dieselpunk setting with mechs” was so me it was basically a “you are previewing this.” Fine, guys, twist my arms.  Axis forces destroyed and/or […]

Some games are about 300 hours of gameplay and high concepts and groundbreaking narratives and some are just about vibes. Cryptmaster is just about vibes, specifically, the vibe of cruising around a dungeon typing words while a sardonic, Vincent Price-style narrator complains about what an idiot you are (you are) and you try to fight […]

The Men of War series is one of those game series that is what it is and isn’t really going to change. In this case, it’s about brutal World War II Real Time Strategy combat and that’s what it’s always been about. Men of War 2 has some…let’s say controversial changes, like making it always […]

I do not have kids but I am an old enough man to be A Dad, which is to say I spent a substantial part of this weekend waking up at 6am, singing a little song about “going to the hardware store,” dealing with A Project that spiraled out of control, going to two different […]

Goblins have gotten a bad rap in fantasy games. Sure, they’re not quite Giant Rats in the sewer in terms of cliche enemies, but they’re what you fight after giant rats, maybe. Nobody really cares about goblins, except, of course, the horny weirdos, but those aren’t really people in a technical sense. Goblin Stone is […]

The state of action RPGs is such that your choice is “Get a Ph.D. in Path of Exile until Path of Exile 2 comes out” or endure the fact that Diablo 4 exists–and remember, I kept playing Diablo 4 even while we called it one of our biggest disappointments–and wait for Path of Exile 2. […]

World War II seems like it’s been done to death, but there’s still a ton of material just waiting to be explored. Operation Jedburgh is one of those areas that hasn’t really been covered in games, in movies, by endless specials on The History Channel, etc., but it helped pave the way for the ultimate […]

The internet may be full of communists today, but the Russian Revolution was not what the kids call a good time. The Bolsheviks eventually won, but there were a lot of other factions. You had your White Russians (distinct from what The Dude drinks), you had the Allies intervening to try and stop the communists, […]