Michael Iantorno PhD Candidate, Game Designer, and Writer

Tagreviews

The Cave Review

I really wanted to like The Cave. The premise caught me immediately. Start out by assembling a team of three from a rogue’s gallery of characters ranging from a perpetually flourescent time traveler, a knight in shining armour, and a pair of twins who look like they fell out of a Tim Burton movie. After making your pick, drop down into a mysterious cave and delve into the dark backstories...

The Pallid Plague Review

There are two things that the average player will take away from The Pallid Plague. The first is a smug sense of satisfaction from trouncing an entire cult without breaking a sweat. This is, without any exaggeration, one of the easiest Pathfinder scenarios ever published. The brave Pathfinders are sent to the far off land of Andoran to investigate a plague that has been ravaging the fey residents...

Organ Trail: Director’s Cut Review

Organ Trail is more of a prolonged joke than a game. Anything based on Oregon Trail would have to be, I suppose. For those of you who aren’t children of the 1990s, Oregon Trail was a computer game released to schools on floppy diskette. The player assumes the role of a man guiding his family across America to Oregon by means of covered wagon. Raging rivers, bears, and dysentery stand in the...

Spelunky Review

The best word to describe Spelunky is dangerous. The player takes on the role of an unnamed adventurer with an uncanny resemblance to Indiana Jones. With nothing but a whip in hand and a backpack brimming with ropes and bombs, you plunge into the depths of an ancient cavern. Deadly spikes, arrow traps, snakes, and giant spiders lurk around every corner, each hellbent on preventing you from...

Legend of Dungeon Review

As a retro enthusiast, there’s nothing listed under Legend of Dungeon‘s key features that I can complain about. “26 floors of randomized dungeon.” “Tons of items, weapons, and magic.” “[A] [l]ocal and online scoreboard.” “4 player co-operative gameplay.” In theory Legend of Dungeon delivers on all the golden tropes of the rogue-like genre it hails from. But after a few hours of...

Shadowrun Returns Review

Shadowrun Returns surprised me. First off, because I completely forgot I had funded the project on Kickstarter. A banner advertising the game on Steam caught me off guard, prompting me to plumb the depths of my Gmail account for a long forgotten activation code. Secondly, because of how good the game is. Shadowrun Returns is a rare Kickstarter project that not only manages to live up to the hype...

We Be Goblins 2 Review

We Be Goblins is one of the most beloved Pathfinder scenarios ever published. Many new players are ushered into organized play by the adventure, and many old players return to play or run it again and again. When Paizo announced that a sequel, We Be Goblins Too, would be the company’s offering for Free RPG Day 2013, naturally expectations were high. But does the sequel manage to live up to...

The Price of Friendship Review

To say The Price of Friendship is a problematic scenario would be generous. Fresh from their adventures in the Sky Citadel of Janderhoff, the players are intercepted by venture captain Canayven Heidmarch. He relays that the Pathfinder Society aims to delve into the dwarven ruins of Koldukar in order to discern the location of another long lost Sky Citadel. There’s only one problem: Koldukar...

Michael Iantorno PhD Candidate, Game Designer, and Writer