Truthfully, I was pleasantly surprised by Ancient Relics. It adds a noticeable amount of content especially to the late-early and mid-game, building up on Distant Stars’ ridiculous number of scientific events to prevent the game from drying up. If you like the idea of uncovering alien mysteries or just wants more story things to do in Stellaris, Ancient Relics is definitely worth a look.

Urban Warfare has been a welcome opportunity for me to fire BattleTech back up, and I've been generally delighted to see how far the game has come over the past year. It's a game that I liked quite a bit off the bat, and now a good number of the rough edges have been sanded off, or at least been supplemented with ways around them. My recommendation, then, is to fire up a new campaign and see what's new. Knock the rust off those gargantuan metal legs and get a feeling of whether a stroll through the city would do you some good.

All in all, Chaos Space Marines is a good DLC for *inhales* Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War. It provides a good roster of units, a bunch of fitting mechanics and abilities, as well as some flavorful writing. Heck, the buildings that fill the CSM cities are carbon copies of the structures you built in Dawn of War 1! Aside from the Slaaneshi descriptions and the bug I mentioned, it has no other flaws and is well worth your time. Now, if only they fixed the AI that likes to spawn Imperial Guard Hydras almost to the exclusion of anything else…

A fine-tuned game with some absolutely gorgeous visuals. Despite some minor hiccups, it’s an experience well worth the low price of entry.

The digital adaptation of Raiders of the North Sea was created by Dire Wolf Digital, and they've done an excellent job creating the game on PC and Mobile. Garphill Games, the creators of the North Sea Trilogy (of which Raiders is the second entry) hired a fantastic artist to bring the game world to life, and this has been carried through to the digital version. Animation has been added to give everything that extra touch, and modest use of 3D animations have enhanced the look and feel of the board as you move your pieces around and raid areas on the board.

In summary, Warriors of the North is a successful expansion to Battle Brothers in that it is strictly adding on additional options without disrupting the core gameplay in a significant way. Personal taste aside, it’s hard to argue that isn’t what an expansion should be doing at a base level. Just note that outside of some unique Barbarian flavor or Cultists shenanigans, this isn’t offering any fundamental changes to how you are going to play Battle Brothers once the reality of the scenario’s difficulty sets in. For you diehards out there, rejoice in your newfound glory! For those looking to see a little more variance, your mileage may vary depending on what starting scenarios pique your interest.

Interstellar Space: Genesis is a modest and conservative return to a genre classic with meticulous attention to what fans of 4X Space empire builders crave.

Personal bias aside, with all the influence coming from The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game and the fact that the cards are essentially permanent, you would be as well just buying a deck and playing at your friendly local game store. The only real advantage to the video game version is the story and the ability to change card art by unlocking it with points - which is a nice change from paying for it though the groundwork is there for microtransactions to seep in eventually. However, if you want more stories about Middle Earth, then I guess it’s worth it for that. Just, maybe mute the game whenever Smeagol is involved.

Deadlock was already one of Slitherine’s best games -- if not the best one -- boasting a more interesting gameplay and beautiful space engagements and replays that are quite welcoming to newcomers and have the potential to appeal to a slightly less niche market. With Resurrection -- a DLC that adds a new campaign, new ships, and further capitalises on Battlestar Galactica’s signature ship -- Deadlock just became even better.

This game needs a lot of work, and so far only goes to highlight how better other contenders in this genre are.

While The Bloody First is a decent start to the new era of Close Combat, it still needs a bit of TLC, and we hope some dedicated post-release support and future DLC will iron out the game and make it a title worthy of the legacy.

With everything from a Daemon-possessed Dreadlord to a Regiment of Renown mortar that has airburst poison shells, this DLC is surprisingly interesting. I'm definitely not a Dark Elf nor Skaven fan, but the new mechanics are good enough to keep me engaged for the duration and make me seriously consider a replay. Warhammer 2's latest DLCs have often been way more 'hit' than 'miss', and The Shadow & The Blade is no exception.

In the end, Astra Exodus is a capable 4X game. It is much better than other similar titles out there and it is definitely worth a shot if you want something more straightforward than Stellaris or GalCiv. It as a very well-executed game, so if you are not put out by the 2D graphics and the cartoony, anime-like illustrations then give it a try.

An excellent new addition, but one that doesn't shake things up massively. The New story campaign is great and the new ships are a nice addition to the main campaign.

All things considered, Warhammer 40,000: Gladius’ T’au DLC is a must for anyone who plays Gladius in TYOOL 2020. If you dislike the race (you should), you will at least appreciate them as enemies and find use of their various racial abilities for modding. The question now remains if we’re going to get the rest of important races - like both flavors of Eldar - in the DLC cycle, or will they be saved for a sequel?

Overall, The Spire Rises is a very solid expansion for an excellent game if a very difficult, surprisingly intellectual strategy game is what you're looking for.

As a whole, The Warden & The Paunch is another sizable DLC that should please if you are interested in the general theme, even if the execution is a bit lopsided. While I loved the High Elves part, honestly, I don’t get why people like Greenskins -- they are base creatures governed only by impulse, whose sole interest rests in anarchy and food. Compared to Yvresse’s military and cultural upgrades, done by the development of the region and the increase of its magical power, Grom’s faction is boosted by a simple food crafting menu, which is vastly less interesting than the already basic Athel Tamarha interface. Still, if you like at least one of the factions in the Lord Pack and want to give the (awesomely voiced) Warden of Tor Yvresse or the Paunch of Badlads a go, you surely won’t be disappointed.

An additive DLC that adds a new overpowered race, endgame crisis, and a new game mode, but doesn't affect the actual underlying gameplay flow in any meaningful way.