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Jonathan Bolding


48 games reviewed
77.5 average score
80 median score
68.8% of games recommended

Jonathan Bolding's Reviews

Jon Bolding is a critic, writer, and streamer with a background in literary criticism and theory. This only sometimes enters his work on games. He sidelines in tabletop game reviews, including a specialization in roleplaying games. He currently edits, writes, and streams full time for The Escapist.
79 / 100 - Last Train Home
Dec 12, 2023

A rich, interesting, and honest experiment in history-as-game: If you're interested, play it.

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84 / 100 - Victoria 3
Oct 24, 2022

Victoria 3's attractive historical sandbox is filled with potential, but it's on you to unlock it.

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7 / 10.0 - Hard West 2
Aug 4, 2022

Hard West 2 has plenty of little annoyances, but it's a supernatural western tactics game with a lot of style and the substance to back it.

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Jul 18, 2022

Novel tactical mechanics make this indie a contender for the best strategy RPG this year.

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May 20, 2022

King Arthur: Knight's Tale is a strategy RPG that gets the fantasy of playing as a heavily armored knight exactly right, but it would've been a better game if it didn't pad itself out with so many repetitive battles.

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87 / 100 - Gloomhaven
Nov 5, 2021

It's still one of the best dungeon crawlers ever made, but now it's on PC.

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Oct 29, 2021

Disciples: Liberation is a promising RPG with rich stories and compelling tactical combat, but nothing quite makes it a must-play.

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Oct 1, 2021

Diablo 2: Resurrected brings a beloved classic up today's graphical standards, but it overlooks 20 years of obvious flaws. It's still a very satisfying action RPG, but you couldn't get away with these problems a decade ago, much less today.

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8 / 10.0 - Eastward
Sep 17, 2021

Eastward is a post-apocalyptic picaresque as charming as it is pretty, with simple action combat and puzzles that are accessible to everyone.

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59 / 100 - King's Bounty II
Aug 23, 2021

King's Bounty 2 is a unique game, but it's uniquely mediocre.

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Jul 16, 2021

Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector is a jolly, blood-spattered tactical romp through the grim, dark future.

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78 / 100 - Roguebook
Jun 21, 2021

Roguebook stands out from the pack on a few qualities, but it's not a must-play.

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8 / 10.0 - Loop Hero
Mar 17, 2021

Loop Hero's cleverly stripped-down RPG concept demands attention for as long as it takes you to work out the clear "best" way to guide each hero class, and its fantastically dark story setup stands out as one of the best in years.

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5 / 10.0 - Breathedge
Mar 2, 2021

Try not to suffocate… or die of boredom. Breathedge's concept of survival crafting in space may be good, but it just isn't fun.

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Feb 5, 2021

Field of Glory 2: Medieval is the closest to a tabletop miniatures experience you'll get on PC.

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A functional, basic board game port isn't enough to truly shine off the tabletop.

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85 / 100 - Per Aspera
Dec 4, 2020

Hard science, harder simulation, and narrative innovation make Per Aspera a real gem.

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4 / 10.0 - Empire of Sin
Dec 1, 2020

Empire of Sin's criminal management sim and turn-based tactical combat combo sounds brilliant on paper, but it completely fails to live up to its aspirations due to major imbalances and bugs.

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90 / 100 - Wingspan
Nov 28, 2020

The flock of dizzying strategic possibilities and the brilliant plumage it's dressed in make this digital board game a must-play.

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Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition preserves for posterity the core of this weirdest 00s RTS experiments while making some much-needed changes. Love it or hate it, the definitive edition is Age of Empires 3 amplified.

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