Blog Archives
Clammy Scythe-on-Expeditions Action
I won’t pretend to know what’s happening in Duel of Meloch. When we first got a glimpse of this world via Scythe, it was an alt-history Great War mechs-n’-boiled-barley affair. Then Expeditions rolled around and the whole thing took on a determinedly Strugatsky Brothers flair, all strange zones and alien meteors and zombified hussars. Now there’s a foreign entity named Meloch who’s thrown the previous games’ heroes into a time warp, resulting in one last excursion that just so happens to be a grudge match between two of Jamey Stegmaier’s most iconic gameplay systems.
Do these disparate threads make a lick of sense? Not to this philistine. But even as the gameplay mostly gets me shrugging, I can’t help but find the result compelling. It’s a pickle.
Expanditions
I didn’t love Expeditions, Jamey Stegmaier’s follow-up to Scythe. For a game with such an enticing setting, it was sterile and undifferentiated, more zoned out than Zone. But when Gears of Corruption showed up at my doorstep, I was eager to return to this meteor-blasted Siberia with my trusty animal companion and rusty mech. That’s a good sign. Right?
Right-ish. Gears of Corruption does indeed improve on the game it’s expanding. But like a few splashes of paint over the rusted flanks of my crawling longship, there’s only so much it can do.
Roadside Picnicking
There’s always been a bit of an identity crisis rattling around the copper-bottomed hull of Scythe. Jamey Stegmaier and Jakub Rozalski’s alt-history speak to one thing, those continental hamlets shaking at the approach of smoke-belching combat mechs. Then you play it and it’s about moving logs. And I say this as somebody with an above-average appreciation for the thing.
After multiple expansions and a spin-off for kids, Stegmaier and Rozalski are back at it with a proper sequel. It’s called Expeditions, and it swaps the battle-torn countryside for the barren tundras of Siberia, where a recent meteor fall has kicked off a series of otherworldly events. It’s a tantalizing excuse to groom your animal companion, check the bolt of your rifle, and hop into the old mech for one last adventure. It’s too bad the winter air doesn’t work any miracles on the series’ neuroses.
SPACE-BIFF! 