Core Gaming Archives

Galaxy of Pen and Paper is the latest release from Brazil-based Behold Studios, makers of fine entertainment software like Knights of Pen and Paper and Chroma Squad. We first met Saulo Camarotti at SxSW a few years back, where he was showing off a beta build of Chroma Squad. Saulo graciously provided us a review key of GoPaP prior to release, and I've been zipping around the galaxy questing like a crazy person since. Find out what I learned in our Galaxy of Pen and Paper review!

You may recall that Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun took home our coveted "Best in Show Overall" award from SxSW Gaming 2017. Cons are a great place to get a quick demo of a game, and maybe a few impressions. Really, though, sinking your teeth into the full experience is the only way to truly know if a game is good or not. Luckily, with the console release of Shadow Tactics on the horizon, developers Mimimi Productions were nice enough to provide me with a review copy! Let's see if it lives up to my hype - read on for our Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun review!

Audio Technica has a long and storied history in the realm of audio products. These guys make most gaming headset manufacturers look like newborns by comparison. Founded in the 1960's in Japan, Audio Technica has been producing high end audio products for longer than there have been personal computers. Their gaming headset line is fairly new, though, having started with the ATH-AG1 in 2013. At SxSW Gaming, we chatted extensively with the Audio Technica team, and they graciously sent us their second generation ATH-AG1x for review.

SxSW Gaming 2017 changed up the formula from previous SxSW Gaming events. This year, entry wasn't free! There were still a lot of booths occupied by award nominees from all corners of the globe, but there was also a section dedicated specifically to student game developers. All this mixed together to create a different SxSW experience from what we're used to. Let's take a look at the "best of the best" games that we picked from SxSW Gaming 2017!

Back in January, we checked out the LucidSound booth at PAX South. If you missed that coverage, go get caught up! LucidSound is a relatively new name in gaming-grade audio devices, but as I mentioned in our PAX South coverage, these guys have been working in gaming audio for quite some time now, previously under the Tritton brand name. That pedigree would give the impression that the LS30 is going to be more polished than you'd expect a first offering to be. Now that we've got our hands on a pair of LS30's, let's put them through their paces in this LucidSound LS30 review!

Another one of our favorite games of PAX South 2017 was Loot Rascals, my Editors Choice for Best Strategy. Indie dev Hollow Ponds is putting the finishing touches on the game for a March 7th release, and I was lucky enough to snag a review copy! Does the full game live up to the con demo hype? Coming up next, my Loot Rascals review!

Automata Empire first popped up on our radar after a most unlikely demo - we saw it at an afterparty during PAX South 2016. It took home our Pleasant Surprise award at the con for popping up out of nowhere and stealing our hearts. Automata Empire released last April, but somehow we lost track of it until we bumped into Nonadecimal Creative again in an unlikely place - the Black Ice booth at PAX South 2017! We're not letting this one get away again - let's nail down these little fuzzy monsters before they head off in a random direction. It's time for our Automata Empire review!