Fantastic Universes

Article by Adam Ray WASD in London is always a phenomenal event for any gamer of any kind to play the hottest new titles coming soon to a console near you. There are so many titles that you truly get to play all kinds of gaming experiences. Much like A Little to the Left  in WASD 2023, sometimes I want a jasmine pearl tea and the chance to let my mind expand in a peaceful game. Paper Trail is a quaint but thoughtful puzzle platformer game by Newfangled Games - their first title which has already had its praises sung with multiple award wins and nominations. It has the soft and relaxing colour palette of a meditation garden but the trippy, physics warping puzzle platforming gameplay of Portal  or Lightmatter.  For the tragically short time I played it, Paper Trail  hugged me with its visuals and confounded me with its excellent puzzle gameplay. The story of the game is surprisingly rich given the genre. We are constantly treated to the voiceover narration of Paige as...

Article by Adam Ray We here at Fantastic Universes just deeply love games as much as comics and the rest of the big bad things in popular culture. Twice a year, as part of the London Gaming Festival, WASD brings players like us a plethora of games for us to sample. This is the first in a long bevvy of reviews that we're going to you delightful readers. Zet Zillions I love me some card gaming goodness, Akhariou from the Fantastic Plays Podcast can definitely attest to this. At WASD, there was a curious little game, easy to miss, but one that immediately grabbed my attention so deeply that I had to play it twice. There were one other game that made me come back for more. The Roguelike Deck-Builder is a style of game I ought to love, but have had a lot of trouble with. There have been elements of the gameplay where the difficulty wall is so high or the rigid playstyle of the gameplay makes it hard for me to express myself as a card gamer. Zet Zillions fired all those expectations ...

Article by Philip Clark An all queer cast. An all femme ensemble. A non-binary Dungeon Master. Throw in some quality story-telling and role playing too, this sounds like a whole lot of fun! If any of the previously mentioned things has piqued your interests, then I implore you to check out Mystic Muses. You can find this wonderfully crafted podcast where you can find all your other favourites including Spotify. There are currently four episodes out. Episode 0 is the prologue and character introductions, and I have to say it is very well put together! The intro to each episode is cleverly crafted, with the players and DM each sounding off a sentence to bring us into the game space. Speaking of bringing us into the game space, Adam, the talented DM sets the scene for the story very nicely. A descriptive, yet concise introduction to the environment gives both the players and audience a vibe of what we're in for. Then come the delicious character introductions that give vivid descripti...

Article by Adam Ray Our good friends up the country have been hard at work making their unique and powerful game. We've talked a great deal about it with the game's creator on the Fantastic Universes Podcast . There have been many developments with it and it's time we let you know about. Tournament Format As the game starts to ramp up into its competitive circuit, the team at Host have developed a familiar but fun tournament structure. Matches of Host are Best of Three in a two deck format. Each deck must have Hosts from different factions. If you want to play Amatheia, you couldn't then play Graxis as your other Host. The two decks must then be built according to the current rules. 50 cards, up to 4 copies of each card. Bring two decks to Best of Three games. You choose which one will be your "First" deck. You'll play against your opponent's First Deck for Game 1. The loser switches to their Second Deck. If the winner beats both decks then that's ...