Matthew Smail

Board games are so vast, so luscious and so packed with interlocking mechanisms these days that I’m beginning to wonder whether making a game that is both simple and brilliant might not be the true sign of a masterful designer. Up step…

For Lamentum’s main protagonist, Victor Hartwell, life has not worked out as well as it should have. A young aristocrat in 19th Century New England, Victor is delighted to win the hand of his beloved Alissa — but before long a terrible…

Post Updated: 5 Nov 2021 - Terraforming Mars Turmoil and The Big Box added to the article I’m going to tell you why Terraforming Mars — in its base form — is the best board game that almost any of us will ever play. Sometimes, the stars…

I’ve said this before, and I am sure that I will say it again — there’s nothing better than passing hours and hours of your free time with a videogame that massively exceeds your expectations. Chernobylite is exactly that kind of game, and…

What will you do with yourself today? This is a question asked mainly by parents when intending to load their teenage children with tasks around the house, or by a spouse who senses that their partner looks dangerously close to having a lie…

Most gamers will be aware of the fantastic Rockstar Games’ western; Red Dead Redemption II — but the story of Arthur Morgan and his gang wasn’t the only wild west tale to be told in 2018. Around the same time, board game fans were doffing…

The idea of taking a classic game and remaking it isn't new in either video games or board games, but few games have had the amount of makeovers as Aintoine Bauza's 2010 classic, Hanabi. This cooperative game about making a wonderful…

Whenever I hear about a videogame that sets out to be funny, I immediately think of the warning signs. Bad jokes, often in bad taste, and awful writing are typical of what I’ve come to expect from games, and in most cases, such games don’t…

It’s a sad truth that most games based on the Alien universe are rubbish — just like the majority of the films. Yes, this wonderful intellectual property has spawned more lumpy, unattractive little horrors than any xenomorph queen ever has,…

For more than twenty years now, I’ve loved rally games. Whether I go back to the seminal experience of Colin McRae Rally, or consider the likes of Richard Burns Rally, Rallisport Challenge and the Dirt: Rally series, I’ve always been keen…