I am looking for a board game along the lines of Monopoly, but, where people in the game can make children and take turns being the parents and the children.
In the middle of the board is a "year clock", that ticks forward one year with each go.
In each go, people take cards like in Monopoly to see what happens as they move around the circuit.
There, could be, many variations of this game.
Where can I find such a game?
Thanks.
EDIT: I could have made this a really nice game, but, didn’t, have time, to write down all the ideas.
People could also collect ideas, teachings, changes, lessons learned, desires, and other things, as gadgets (in the game), which may affect how people move through the game.
There could also be an AI-powered board fate controlled, smartphone, placed in the middle of the board, so that players could play a large infinitude of games with the same board and pieces (the center AI could be powered through an app (and there could also be custom apps for given boards, and users not having a board and pieces could copy them at home with material based on standard board compendium descriptions provided on websites).
The Nintendo Switch 2’s dedicated Direct has come and gone. Games were revealed, a release date was set, and there was no pricing information (though this hit the internet, and everything is quite expensive). But how do the games PLAY? Thankfully, yours truly was part of a select few who got to play the Switch 2 at a special New York event. I tried out a good mix of first-party titles and came away impressed by most of what I experienced.
Mario Kart World
Of the titles I played, Mario Kart World was the one I spent the most time with. For the first section, I played two two-player exhibition races on the television screen and two single-player matches on the handheld, meaning I got a feel for the Switch 2 Pro Controller and the Joy-Con 2. Playing on the television racing against an attendee next to me and the various CPUs was thrilling. Every track was new to the series. There were various character options, including the amazing Moo Moo cow. Many outfits were selectable, too.
The Switch 2 Pro Controller was a joy to hold and control. It and the Joy-Con 2 felt more comfortable for people with big hands, which was great for me. Races start a little differently now: instead of waiting at the starting line, you drift into the race with everyone else, though Lakitu still shows up to count you down and you can still boost if you hold the gas at the right time. Lunch bags are a new pickup you can grab; doing so will cause your character to eat a snack and change their outfit during a race. I noticed some new powerups: a Gold Shell that launches forward and drops many Gold Coins (these boost your speed) and a wand-like item that calls in the sorcerer Kamek to do some damage.
The best part of Mario Kart World was Knockout Tour. 24 racers, back-to-back courses flowing together seamlessly, and if you don’t place high enough by the time you reach each of the five checkpoints, you’re eliminated. It’s the most frantic I’ve ever seen Mario Kart; people were downright bloodthirsty. The race allowed you to go anywhere, meaning falling off a track or going off the beaten path wouldn’t necessarily spell your doom. Getting to each checkpoint felt exhilarating. I placed fifth overall!
Donkey Kong Bananza
We haven’t had a new 3D Donkey Kong title since Donkey Kong 64 so Donkey Kong Bananza is a pleasant surprise. It’s reminiscent of Super Mario Odyssey, except you’re collecting and eating Gold Bananas instead of nabbing Power Moons. Donkey Kong is a simian with one philosophy: punch everything in his path. He can punch forward, punch downward, and even slam the ground from the air. The amount of destruction he can wreak is unparalleled; you’ll be leaving craters in the ground and smashing through terrain. Donkey Kong can even grab a rock slab and ride it like a surfboard. He can also pick up explosive purple crystals and lob them at enemies or rock formations. Donkey felt great to control, especially while climbing the scenery (no Stamina Wheel, thank goodness). My only gripe was that the A button was jump and the B button was ground pound. It was hard to get to grips with but you can remap the buttons.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
As a big fan of the Metroid series, I had to make a beeline to the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond play area. The game did not disappoint. It’s gorgeous, running at a full 60 FPS in 4K Quality Mode and an astounding 120 FPS in 1080p Performance Mode. If you’re a Metroid Prime expert, everything will click into place: you have a dedicated button for Morph Ball mode, a button to switch to the Scan Visor, a jump button, a missile button, and a button for shooting and charging your beam. Prime 4 looks to follow Prime 3 in the way it presents its plot: there are other characters you can interact with and a bevy of cutscenes. It’s a different feel from the original Metroid Prime, which evoked a feeling of isolation, so whether you like this approach or not depends on your preference. The best part of the gameplay was realizing you can switch from standard controls to gyro aiming by just flicking your wrist and aiming at the screen, no menu changes required. It certainly helped with the demo’s boss fight, which required shooting different points on its body.
Drag x Drive
Nintendo wanted to show off its mouse functionality with the Switch 2, so it’s no shock to see a game run hog wild with that gimmick. Drag x Drive is that game. There was an extensive tutorial for this title, and for good reason. It takes time to get acclimated to the controls, especially turning left and right, since you use the opposite Joy-Con 2 to turn in that direction. You can’t expect to go fast in short bursts, either, as you need to do long strides with the controller to build up speed. Once you get used to the layout, it’s fairly intuitive. The 3 v 3 match I was thrown into after the tutorial seemed to last for less than five minutes, but it was fun to pass the ball and use the Joy-Con 2 to angle shots at the basket. It was entertaining, but I had a huge flat surface to glide my Joy-Con 2 across. I wonder if the game will feel as good in tighter spaces or on different surfaces.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World
This is the only enhanced Switch 2 Edition game I played, but it’s great. The demo throws you right into the Star-Crossed World expansion, and the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS now, improving the gameplay, especially with setting up your dodge rolls. The new spring powerup feels great, bringing to mind Rattly the Rattlesnake from Donkey Kong Country 2 (though using the timing from that title will cause you to miss your jumps and plummet to your death). For all you completionists out there, this add-on has you covered, with many hidden paths and collectibles to uncover. No word yet on how long this expansion will be, but hopefully it’s hefty.
Gameplay-wise, I was impressed with the Nintendo Switch 2. All the peripherals felt solid, and many of Nintendo’s first-party games are stellar. However, the price of the console, accessories, and games is frankly unaffordable, so I believe the Switch 2 will not reach the heights of its predecessor. Hopefully, prices will go down in the future.
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The main point of this new patch is to fix some of the known issues and bugs introduced with TU1, and solve a couple of other issues that have been lingering there for a while.
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The new Monster Hunter Wilds patch fixes the slightly hilarious bug that caused the game to crash when you spoke to Nata and specifically requested trading with Sekka. When the bug was first identified, Capcom asked players to just fire up the BBQ and wait before trying again. That is, thankfully, no longer necessary.
With many Wilds players now firmly in the endgame, a lot of the focus has now shifted to the newly-introduced Arena Quests. As more of those quests are played, however, an unusual bug kept popping up. The bug caused the Powercharm and Armorcharm to be added to your pouch whenever you decided to bring them to the quest, but that has now been fixed.
On the topic of Arena Quests, some require you to use specific weapons the game chooses for certain fights, but crafty players managed to break that and bring their own weapons – well, no more.
Switching over to the slightly bizarre and unusual bugs, certain cutscenes – in some cases – go rogue and decide not to respect the voice pitch settings you’ve chosen for your Hunter and Palico. So, if you’ve not been skipping cutscenes, and noticed that your pals sound different, this is why – though you thankfully won’t have to worry about that anymore.
Yes, sometimes your Palico sounds different. | Image credit: Capcom
That one might only break your immersion, but one other cutscene bug actually caused a progression block involved your Palico refusing to get on the Seikret to progress the story, which has now been fixed, too.
Patch 1.010.01.00 also brings a few other crash fixes caused by your choice of weapon and gear, alongside a fix to an issue that prevented players from being able to redo the Mizutsune assignment.
As with any new patch, however, there remains a list of known issues, which Capcom has outlined in this blog post. You should check that page if you run into any issues after installing the patch. Until then, our Monster Hunter Wilds guide remains your faithful companion.
What if you could play an MMO completely on your schedule? That’s the central thesis of new RPG Erenshor. It takes the style of Old School Runescape and the lived-in feeling of World of Warcraft, but flips these persistent virtual lands completely on their heads. Erenshor certainly looks like a classic MMORPG, with hundreds of ‘players’ questing and battling alongside you, but they’re not real people. Instead, this is a single-player game made to emulate the joys of ’90s MMOs, and it’s out now.
As someone who’s spent hundreds of hours in Final Fantasy 14, Erenshor immediately caught my eye. It looks like OSRS at a glance thanks to the vast open world, dungeons, and ostensible players scurrying about, but it couldn’t be more different. Instead of playing with actual people, you’re accompanied by what developer Burgee Media calls ‘Simplayers.’ These NPCs progress independently, persistently exist in the world, and group up alongside you just as MMO players would – but they’re not actual players.
You hunt monsters, complete quests, and earn mountains of gold just like WoW or Guild Wars, but it’s not in service of the grind. Instead, you’ll build a character just as you would in a single-player RPG.
The first day you start up Erenshor and begin the tutorial (a right of passage in any MMO), that’s when the ‘server’ becomes ‘live.’ The NPCs will progress right alongside you, all in pursuit of growth. So if you find some armor or weapons you don’t need, you can give them to the NPCs to help them become more powerful. When you come to a particularly difficult raid or dungeon, you can then recruit these characters to fight alongside you, that gear still slumped over their shoulders or in their hands.
Becoming part of the world in an MMO also means putting your quest to save the world aside, and Erenshor embraces this with open arms. If you want to simply explore, dig into the world’s history, or hunt for loot, you can do that. Burgee Media wants you to reexperience the feeling of playing a classic MMO, but without that same level of commitment.
Burgee Media has launched Erenshor in Steam Early Access now, with a demo also available. You can get involved right here.
If you’re looking for more, we’ve got all the new MMOs to watch out for, alongside the best multiplayer games to dive into with some friends.
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There’s even been some spamming of ‘DROP THE PRICE’ by fans in Treehouse livestream chats and some subtweeting by Reggie Fils-Aimé about the Welcome Tour not being free. It’s ok though, it’s not like if you get the Switch 2 edition of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you’ll have to buy the DLC/expansion pass separately. Oh no, hang on, you do.
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Nintendo has confirmed as much in a statement to IGN, saying: “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition does not include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass DLC. That DLC is available as a separate purchase.”
Very to the point, but what it’ll mean for you depends on your current Breath of the Wild ownership status. If you already own the game on OG Switch as well as all its DLC, and opt to buy the $10 “upgrade pack” that turns it into the Switch 2 edition on that console, you’ll not need to buy the DLC again.
However, if you don’t already own the DLC, just upgrading isn’t gonna hand it to you for free. The main folks affected by this are people who don’t own the game at all, and buy the Switch 2 edition, which will costs $70. Since it’s not included, they’ll end up paying $90 in total for Switch 2 Breath of the Wild plus DLC, since the game’s expansion pass costs $20.
Is it that egregious a decision on its own? Not really, even if it’s kinda taking p**s with a game from 2017. However, when taken alongside all the other stuff I mentioned earlier, it does seem like Nintando kinda bumbling into kicking itself in the dick again from a PR perspective.
Are you currently staring at your bank account wondering how you’re going to send half of your lide savings to Nintendo and still afford unimportant things like rent and food? Let us know below!
Published: Apr 3, 2025 09:04 am