Not too long after Fate, I was back playing another action RPG. This time it was Depths of Peril. Both share the basic blueprint laid out by Blizzard years ago with Diablo. Compared to Fate, however, Depths of Peril offered much more than hack and slash gameplay. It blended strong strategy elements with standard action RPG fare. It was an interesting fusion of styles and not like any other game I’ve played before.

You play a faction leader in the barbarian city of Jorvik and compete with rival factions, called covenants, for control of the city. Diplomacy also comes into play. You may ally with other covenants or even fight alongside rival factions in defense of the city against outside invaders. Not only does your character have money in the form of copper, silver, and gold coins, but your covenant accumulates crystals collected through taxation. The game also supports trade of items, money, and objects. War is ultimately waged by raiding a covenant’s house and destroying its lifestone. In addition to all of these strategic elements, your character may adventure outside the city gates. Optionally, you may be accompanied by a member of your covenant.

There are four character classes: warrior, mage, rogue, and priest. I opted to play a mage. My character was Styrbiorn, courtesy of the random name generator. I named my covenant The Chosen. We had to compete against five other covenants for control of Jorvik. As you can see in the image below, we started last place in the power rankings. We moved up fairly quickly, however. The Guardians, Keepers of the Faith, and Shadow League were the first three to fall. An invasion of walking dead through a dimensional gate in the center of town caused most of the casualties. Styrbiorn returned to town and helped stop the invasion. That left The Chosen battling The Gilded Coin and Defenders of the Faith. Eventually, The Gilded Coin sealed its fate when it began demanding tribute from us. We responded by raiding its house and destroying it. I continued to adventure while Defenders of the Faith built its power base. After waging a rumor campaign to weaken their influence, Strybiorn and all of his covenant recruits raided their house to claim victory.



Styrbiorn was a Level 11 Amateur Mage at the time he came to rule Jorvik. His final stats and attributes are listed below.

Stats
Health: 188 / 188
Mana: 302 / 302

Attack: 146
Defense: 188
Armor: 56

Damage: 8 - 21
Dps: 7.2

Money: 8SP 2CP

Attributes
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 26
Vitality: 32
Intelligence: 39
Spirit: 16

One game that’s hooked me recently is 2048. It is imitative of the critically acclaimed mobile game Threes!. I would buy Threes! if I had an iOS device. I don’t, however, so I gave the free 2048 web game a try. 2048 may not be as good as the original but it was still plenty addicting. It is a sliding puzzle game where the objective is to combine tiles. You win the game when you create a tile of 2048. After that, you can continue playing to increase your score until you run out of moves. I must have played over 50 games of 2048 before I finally achieved victory yesterday. I ended with a score of 35,220.

Last Sunday, I finished the campaign in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, the first expansion pack for AOE3. The story was divided into two acts, Fire and Ice. The former featured the Iroquois while the latter featured the Sioux. It continued the story line of the Black family from AOE3. The expansion also included the Aztecs, which are playable in skirmish and multiplayer modes.

Fire was set during the American Revolution. Several missions were based on historical events such as crossing the Delaware River, Valley Forge, and culminating in the Battle of Yorktown. The protagonist was Nathaniel Black, son of John Black. Another prominent hero character in Act I was George Washington. Act II, Shadow, began in 1866 and followed Chayton Black, Nathaniel’s grandson. In seven missions, Chayton battled against the Sioux and later by their side.

I love Age of Empires and this was another solid entry in the series. Between AOE3 and The WarChiefs, there were almost 40 missions to play, all featuring members of the Black family from various generations. After finishing the single player campaign, I have been playing some skirmish mode games. I want to give the Aztecs a try next.