95
SHADOW TACTICS:
BLADES OF THE SHOGUN
RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 86Fraser: Desperados 3 is the newest tactics
game from Mimimi Games, but 2016’s
Shadow Tactics remains my favourite
thanks to the Edo setting and charismatic
cast. It looks stunning, much more so than
the Wild West, and by the end you won’t
want to say goodbye to your band of killer
pals. And beyond that, it’s still a superb,
sneaky tactics game that encourages
creativity, experimentation and, of course,
save scumming. Bonus points for letting
us use an adorable tanuki for murder.96
SHADOWRUN:
DRAGONFALLRELEASED 2014 | LAST POSITION Re-entry
Jody: I didn’t expect to recommend the
cyberpunk RPG with elves, but here we
are. Dragonfall may have a setting where
dragons give up hoarding gold to become
megacorp CEOs hoarding stock options,
where a dwarf hacker mastercrafts
software like a smith forging magic axes,
but it understands the genre like few
others (shout-out to Umurangi Generation
and The Red Strings Club). It’s explicitly
anti-authoritarian, an entire game about
holding together an anarcho-state in
Berlin. With elves. It’s the best revivalist
CRPG too. While not pushing the subgenre
as far as Divinity: Original Sin 2 – it lifts a
chunk of plot directly from Baldur’s Gate 2
- it modernises the isometric RPG with
Mass Effect-style companions and
XCOM-inspired combat.
The Top 100
FE ATURE
WINGSPAN
RELEASED 2020 | LAST POSITION New97
Rachel: The most charming board game
out there, and that includes both the
physical and virtual versions. It’s an
engine-building card game where you
play as bird enthusiasts trying to attract
birds to your wildlife preserve. Each card
has a bird fact and an illustration that
has been wonderfully animated in the
digital version. Definitely one to play with
friends who like a laid-back approach to
competitive card games.
Wes: Bird facts! Wingspan’s theme really
is delightful. Beneath that is just a great
‘easy to learn, hard to master’ strategy
game, with tons of clever interplay
between the different types of birds. My
favourites are the predators, which can
snatch other bird cards out of the deck
for you to score points.