Well, I just played close to an hour of the first playable game on my Steam Library, a simple yet challenging digital board game called Abalone. It’s sort of like Checkers in the sense that you’re supposed to claim little game pieces, but that’s where the similarities end. Click below to find the full review. Please note that absolutely nothing on this blog is sponsored and every single view is my own. I don’t get free games from developers, though that’d be pretty amazing.
So, Abalone is an interesting but very challenging (at least for me!) type of board game where you have to push six opponents game pieces off the board by moving your pieces toward them. You can only move a maximum of three pieces per turn and only one space each, then your opponent does a similar move or series of moves. It’s quite fun, but I only won one game so far. I played on Normal, mostly, and then Easy. Oddly enough, I won the third game on Normal but lost on the two Easy games.
The graphics: Simplistic but attractive. It’s really all you need for this. 5/5.
Rating the gameplay: Wow, it’s challenging. But fun. 4.5/5, maybe tone the bot’s skills down just a little bit? Maybe have a “very easy” setting for true beginners, like me…? Maybe it’s just because I haven’t slept at all that I’m doing badly, but still.
Final Rating: It’s pretty fun, but not for everyone. I definitely will be playing again, however it may be seen as repetitive, boring gameplay and/or too dull graphics to others. I’d say that if you like games like Checkers and the apparently existing physical version of Abalone, try this game out. It’s on the Steam store but I got it through Humble Bundle with one of their game bundles, I think.
Price: $6.99. Maybe wait for it to go on sale if you aren’t sure if you’ll like it but if you want to give it a go, I’d definitely suggest it. Check it out here on the Steam Store.
How to Kill Boredom 