#89 Relic return to the front: what I played in February 2023

03/04/23 • 11 min

Can 2023 live up to the lofty hopes of a revival of real-time strategy games? We had the first major test of that thesis in February, with the releases of The Settlers: New Allies and Company of Heroes 3. I reviewed both of those games for Entertainium this month, and share some brief thoughts in this episode. The games covered this month are:

The Settlers: New Allies (2023)
Company of Heroes 3 (2023)
Wanted: Dead (2023)
Train Valley 2 (2019)
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (2004)

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The Settlers: New Allies (2023)
Company of Heroes 3 (2023)
Wanted: Dead (2023)
Train Valley 2 (2019)
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (2004)

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Previous Episode

#88 True grit: The Sands of Mars (1951) by Arthur C. Clarke

The exploration and colonisation of Mars is a perennial subject in science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke's 1951 novel The Sands of Mars is a significant entry in that history, especially because it takes a realistic approach before the Mariner 4 flyby in 1965 - at least until the alien kangaroos show up.
This episode takes a look at the book, and how it fits in with the history of Mars-themed fiction and Clarke's wider career.

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Next Episode

#90 Space oddities: The State of the Art (1991) by Iain M. Banks

The 1991 collection The State of the Art serves an important function in the bibliography of revered Scottish author Iain M. Banks (1954 - 2013). It collects his short fiction from 1987 to 1989, crucially including the stories "A Gift From the Culture", "Descendant", and the title story. These are entries in Banks' Culture series, and good entry points into that sprawling, post-scarcity SF setting.
This episode is a whistlestop tour of The State of the Art, taking in skulls, alien waste disposal, a lovesick plant creature, and nuclear war.

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For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Classic SF with Andy Johnson - #89 Relic return to the front: what I played in February 2023

Transcript

For a while now, 2023 has been talked about as the year when strategy games make a comeback. February was the first big test of that thesis, as two major games came out of the gates. I covered both The Settlers: New Allies and Company of Heroes 3 for Entertainium, with decidedly mix