Owari

Clean design, competent AI for single player, as well as solid online/offline multiplayer. Do recommend as a mancala game.

[h1]A simple turn-based strategy game for two[/h1] Game itself is alright but the execution leaves some to be desired. [h1]Rules[/h1] Owari is one of the myriad of [i]Mancala[/i] games. In this version the rules are as follows: - Players in turn choose a pit on their row and move the stones in that pit counter-clockwise leaving one stone into each pit. - If the last pit has 2 or 3 stones in it (i.e. it had 1 or 2 before), those stones are captured and scored. In case of capture, if there are several of applicable pits in row before the last pit, those too will be captured. - First to 25 points wins. - Also somehow clearing your own row grants lots of points - the number of stones left on the table, maybe? That's simple enough. Also, there's a quick and easy to follow tutorial. [h1]AI and multiplayer[/h1] There's three AIs to fight. I lost to the Easy one on the first try but afterwards won all three in a row, so I doubt they are particularly optimized for challenge. You may also play local and online multiplayer. Online multiplayer match is required for one of the achievements: fortunately there's a guide to do this on your own (launching another game client and making that join the host) since there are no online players. Some people in the review section have complained about the multiplayer not working but I sadly cannot comment about this. It is possible that the issues have been fixed though. If not, you could still play through [i]Steam Remote Play[/i] almost just as well. [h1]Technical stuff and oversights[/h1] There's a serene ambiance accompanying you. You may mute music, or both music and sounds but not sounds separately. Game launches in a window. Fullscreen does not increase the play-area, so I saw no point to it. The user interface (UI) is very clean and natural. I would only wish for a highlighter showing where the stones will end up, before clicking. Also, it's sometimes difficult to interpret how many stones are in a pit without hovering over it (this shows the number). However, there's an oversight in the UI regarding the multiplayer: while in [i]Remote Play[/i] or local play both players take turns to click their respective rows to play, for some reason this functionality has not been disabled for regular online games (which I tested with the guide). So, the same player may make the moves of both players even in regular online matches! That's odd to say the least. [h1]Conclusions[/h1] I am not sure whether to recommend this or not. It would be a chill game to play every now and then against one of your friends or family. However, I personally will not do so. I played it for the vain reason of achievements. This took me 45 minutes playing regularly against the AI, but the achievement guide boasts that it can be done in 10 minutes by using an exploit of sorts. Anyway, I would recommend at least waiting for a sale. [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9997062/]~Twistorian Curator~[/url]