I suspect a large part of why most MOBAs are about wizards is because it’s easy to wave away questions about the genre’s intricacies and absurdities by saying “A wizard did it.” Wizards aren’t cool though, are they? You know what’s cool? Tanks, guns, bombs, and bullets. If only tanks could be wizards! Alas, the elver blood shortage prohibits weaving tank-sized robes.

Undeterred, Grey Goo developers Petroglyph are making a military MOBA where each player controls a company of 2-12 units. Victory Command [official site] will be free-to-play when it properly launches but, for folks who dig the idea of MOBAs but don’t want to be a daggy wizard, you can now buy into the beta through Steam Early Access.

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The art direction in the new King’s Quest [official website] is a prickly subject. While some people are unimpressed with the final outcome, at least we can all agree that it comes from a good place. The latest ‘Behind The Scenes With The Odd Gentlemen’ video (which will never stop being creepy) shows that everything you see in the game will be hand-painted. Whether you re a fan of the painting or not is up to you.

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Part of a miscellany of serious thoughts, animal gifs, and anecdotage from the realm of MOBAs/hero brawlers/lane-pushers/ARTS/tactical wizard-em-ups. One day Pip might even tell you the story of how she bumped into Na Vi s Dendi at a dessert buffet cart. THIS WEEK, however, she will be chatting to Dota 2 caster Capitalist about the upcoming ESLOne competition!>

I went to the inaugural ESLOne Frankfurt event last year. It featured one of the best games of pro Dota 2 I’ve ever watched (Alliance v Cloud9) and, as it took place shortly before Valve’s mega-tournament The International, it was an interesting opportunity to size up some of the competitors before Seattle. This year’s event will offer similar fare big-name teams and a chance to see how they perform on LAN in front of a massive audience but a lot has changed over the past year. Teams have undergone massive shakeups and enchanted mangoes, octarine cores and glimmer capes abound on the battlefield. In case you’ve lost track of competitive Dota 2, here’s caster Austin ‘Capitalist’ Walsh on the current meta, the teams to watch, and the relationship between casters and players.

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I really enjoyed the surreal cyberpunk world of Void & Meddler [official site] last year. Created in a game jam, it was an adventure game which gave a fine sense of a weird, sprawling world by not explaining any of it. No lengthy exposition about the grubby future, the humanoid animals, our character’s history, or any of that guff – you launch the game and launch into a sinister adventure of murder, illicit substances, cyberdreams, and conspiracy.

I’m delighted to see that creators Dorian SRed and Trevor Reveur (the duo behind also No Wave) have built a team to continue Void & Meddler, and plan an episodic release starting in October.

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Back in December Marsh said that heist ‘em up The Masterplan [official site] was “fun, fulsome and stable enough to deserve my 11″, which is fairly high praise for an Early Access title. That value for money looks to skyrocket come June 4th, when the game is unleashed from Early Access and becomes an Actual Game, with a bunch of new features, including a new story mode written by Tom Jubert.

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While everyone else is off killing monsters and looking at bottoms in The Witcher 3, Pip and Adam have been killing time and looking at butlers in Regency Solitaire [official site]. It’s a game of cards and cads, taking in romantic Regency hotspots such as the baths of Bath, the beaches of Brighton and the ballrooms of London. As well as discussing its finer qualities, we try to work out what it all means, how important theme and setting are to our enjoyment, and whether so-called “casual” games are often unfairly passed over. Onward, gentle reader.

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Japanese publishers Koei Tecmo have been pretty good about releasing PC versions of their games in recent years, though their ports can leave something to be desired. Still, good on ‘em, and I’m glad to see Samurai Warriors 4-II [official site] is coming our way too.

Today they announced a western release for the latest in the semi-historical fantasy hack ‘n’ slash series, which is due a release via Steam on October 2nd. Expect more people in ridiculous costumes cutting through dozens of footsoldiers with one swipe, which is exactly what you’d want from a Warriors game.

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If Hotline Miami had come into being during a late night session in an British pub, it would probably have emerged into the light looking quite a lot like Not a Hero [official site]. Although its action is side-on rather than topdown, the content is similar surrealist sprees of violence involving an odd crew of protagonists and countless stereotypical gangland denizens. It’s from the makers of indie skateboarding smash hit OlliOlli and here’s wot I think.>

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The most popular FPS of 2037 will be a fingerguns RPG hybrid where characters’ adherence to the kayfabe of imaginary Uzis, grenades, pump-action shotguns and headshots depends on your relationship with them. We can’t predict the direction the genre will go on, which weird addition or experiment will catch on then be repeated and iterated upon for years, compounding with other oddities to make something bizarre.

For now, in 2015, perhaps the answer is a pogo stick. That’s what Pongo [official site] went for. It’s out now, so you can judge for yourself whether it’s a vision of things to come.

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2013’s Expeditions: Conquistador was an interesting idea, an expedition into the New World mixing exploration, party management, RPG bits, and turn-based combat. It was pretty fun, our Adam thought, but had a fair few problems too. Now developers Logic Arts have returned to announce another voyage, or more a series of raids.

Expeditions: Viking [Facebook page] will see that beardy lot cruising for a bruising and perusing for a pillaging, trying to lead a clan into a bright future.

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