Armello, the acclaimed fantasy digital board game from League of Geeks, has recently launched its enormous v2.0 update on Windows PC, Mac, and Linux.

This free update will arrive on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the future.

After three-plus years of continuous post-launch support, Armello v2.0 delivers a tremendously improved multiplayer experience. Multiplayer Reconnect, the most-requested feature from Armello fans, allows any player whose connection drops to rejoin a match in progress. Additionally, the intelligent Party Menu makes it easier to set up online matches against friends.

Armello v2.0 offers new long-term goals and rewards through the new Hero Mastery feature, allowing players to level up heroes and earn new cosmetic content, including the ability to equip multiple dice skins in never-before-seen combinations. Hero Mastery also encourages online play, as completing multiplayer matches earns experience, with wins giving greater bonuses.

The new Jewellery Box feature makes it easy to view items, organize them, and see progress toward prizes not yet obtained. Save Hero-specific loadouts of skins, dice, and jewellery with the Clan Grounds feature. A new 3D card system sees the stylish frame-animated cards swoop into the game whenever one is play. Finally, a massive overhaul of the hero selection screen, interface, and UX help make even just launching the game and navigating menus simpler.

“This update is our way of saying thanks to everyone who supported Armello over the years, and to make sure that we made the game live up to your evolving expectations,” said Trent Kusters, co-founder and director, League of Geeks. “After four years of content and updates, v2.0 was a chance for us to renew the very core of Armello. This is a collection of our most requested and anticipated features.”

Armello v2.0 releases on Steam for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux.

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Armello, the acclaimed fantasy digital board game from League of Geeks, will launch for Nintendo Switch on Sept. 27, 2018 in a Standard and Complete Edition

The Complete Edition includes the base game bundled with the four Bandit Clan heroes, eight additional playable characters from the “Usurpers” and “Rivals” hero packs, two alternative board skins from the “Seasons” pack, additional hero skins, and the premium dice pack. Including all content and improvements since the game’s 2015 debut, Armelloon the Nintendo Switch combines the best of the intricate, magical strategy that has captivated so many with accessible and on-the-move gameplay of Nintendo’s popular console.

In the Kingdom of Armello, mighty heroes from the realm’s five clans – Bear, Rabbit, Rat, Wolf, and Bandit – embark on a perilous journey to challenge the crazed lion king for his crown and save the land from a dark, corrupting force known as the Rot.

Select one of 20 champions and embrace their unique strengths, weaknesses, and character-specific hero abilities while vying against three opponents also out to usurp the throne. Overcome the competition by any means necessary in this rich hybrid of role-playing and tabletop games.

With a collection of characters, a variety of victory conditions, procedurally-generated maps, dynamic questlines, unlockable items, collectables, and more, every match of Armello has something different to offer and brings worlds of cards and dice alive in new and magical ways.

“For over three years now, Armello has taken the experience of playing board games with a table full of friends and brought that to life in a virtual space,” said Trent Kusters, co-founder and director, League of Geeks. “Not only does Armello play brilliantly on the Switch, whether docked or on the go, but players new and old will inherit years of content, updates, and improvements when Armello launches on Nintendo Switch.”

An IGF, Indiecade, and SXSW awards finalist, Armello is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and recently launched for Android.

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Armello, the award-winning fantasy digital board game brought to life by League of Geeks, will launch free for iOS devices on 15th of March, 2018.

In addition to being free-to-play, Armello’s mobile version is completely devoid of bothersome energy systems and paywalls. The base game comes with the original four playable characters who debuted in the Steam Early Access release. Twelve more heroes, cosmetic items, and other content found in the PC and console versions, as well as their DLC packs, will be offered both as permanent in-app purchases and timed subscriptions that unlock all content.

Alongside player-friendly monetization changes comes a suite of gameplay alterations that tailor the Armello experience for mobile devices. The result is an adventure that takes advantage of the portable hardware and touchscreens in fun new ways with a brisker pace.

Fusing the rich tactics of card games, the strategy of tabletop games and grandeur of RPGs, Armello provides a fairy-tale anthropomorphic world to get lost in. Compete for the crown across single and multiplayer matches by embarking on epic quests, battling foes, ensnaring rivals in insidious traps, casting powerful spells, and hatching plans en route to deposing the mad king.

Each match begins with the Kingdom of Armello falling into darkness as the corrupting force known as the Rot drives the lion king insane. In response, the realm’s five animal clans – Bear, Rabbit, Rat, Wolf, and Bandit –call forth their mightiest heroes to brave the perilous journey to the monarch’s palace where they can challenge the mad ruler for his crown.

Players choose a character from one of the clans, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and distinctive abilities, then compete against three others to ascend the throne.

“Tens of thousands of players are still playing Armello more than three years after its initial launch, and soon this passionate community will now be able to take Armello with them on the go,” said Trent Kusters, co-founder and director, League of Geeks. “It’s a perfect way to share the experience and introduce an entirely new group of fans to the magical world of Armello.”

Armello is currently available via PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam for PC, Mac, and Linux.

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Australian developer League of Geeks have blurred the lines between board game and video game with their debut title Armello. The unique blend of video game, board game and card game aspects provides for a distinct yet and entertaining experience.

The fantasy kingdom of Armello is in chaos with the king slowly being corrupted and dying by a dark force known as the Rot. With a royal title up for grabs, four ambitious heroes set out to claim this title for themselves.

The world of Armello has a fairy tale fantasy tone manifested in everything from the gorgeous visual style to the characters which are essentially animals with a bit of a twist.

Games play out very much like a board game and generally take about an hour to complete. Players initially choose one of eight characters to use. Each character possess a unique ability, look and stats. Unfortunately though not all characters are equal with some possessing more desirable stats than others.

From here you are thrown into one corner of the board and take turns with other players to complete the game. The board is filled with randomly generated terrain ranging from mountains to settlements. While this does create some variability between each game, visually the games look the same.

There are two basic ways to win in the game: have the highest prestige when the king naturally dies by the Rot or kill the king yourself. The most fun part of each match happens towards the end of the game as players all scramble into the centre to try and get that final blow on the king. If you are the prestige leader though, you can choose to try and defend the king from the other players, something which proves stressful given how chaotic things get.

While the overall goal is to kill the king, you will spend the majority of the game training yourself up for the task. This is done via way of completing quests which reward you with rare items, prestige and increased stats. To complete a quest you simply have to get to a particular location on the map. To get there however you will have to overcome any players or evil NPCs you come across.

While the quests themselves aren’t interesting, completing them does feel rewarding, especially when it leads to you finally lifting that much sort after crown.

One of the best parts of the gameplay is the cool card based system it utilises.

Cards you pick up generally involve equipment you can equip, spells you can cast or traps you can set. The cards add a more strategic element to the game and generally makes things more unpredictable and fun. For every card you use, you are able to pick up another card the next turn. This encourages players to try and use as many cards as they can. Getting stuck with cards you cannot use though does prove frustrating at times.

Between turns the game can get a bit boring. For every second you are doing something, there is about four that you are not, as you wait for your three opponents and NPCs to complete their turn. I frequently found myself utilising this time doing other things such as browsing the internet or even writing this review.

Battles take place using a creative dice system which is based part on luck and part on characters stats and items. The first makes the battles exciting and unpredictable and the latter ensures that strategy and training is still critical.

The six sided dice contains different symbols on each side which correlate to either a hit, a block or a miss. No matter how much stronger one player is than the other, there is no way to be sure who will win and how much damage would be taken making each battle thrilling, especially when you are the one taking part in it.

Armello’s major shortfall is that it lacks variety, something inherent to most board games. While what happens in each game can vary, the game itself stays the same. After a few games, it does start to get a bit repetitive. Something to change the game the game up a bit in both visual style and objectives feels very much needed.

Armello can either be played either online with other people or offline with NPCs. Each of these has their own shortcomings. Playing offline, the AI is generally a bit too easy and also there isn’t as much satisfaction when you finally get that victory. When playing online however, it can take quite a long time to find a game, any connection issue will see you evicted from the match and people tend to rage quit when they begin to lose too badly.

A couple of online games I played did bug out. One of which had been going on for about an hour with the final outcome to be decided that turn before an NPC got stuck and never took its turn. Needless to say much frustration was gained at having wasted all that time only for a bug to prevent me from a possible victory.

Armello does succeed in creating a unique experience for those wanting something a bit different. While many parts of the gameplay is great, the game does lack variability in some key areas making matches feel somewhat repetitive.

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