Mobile Games are world-weary already, despite being one of the youngest platforms in the modern era. They’re consistently filled with advertisements that interrupt gameplay, infinite microtransactions to progress into a lack of end-game (besides purchasing more microtransactions), and lack any soul that makes gaming such a grandiose adventure in the first place. Many have hung up the platform for good, deciding it better to surf social media sites and using dedicated platforms for their gaming exploits.
This isn’t to say that all mobile games are near shovelware; there are gems to be found deep within the gacha-games and relentless adverts. One such game that is looking like it has that promise is DicTater, and it has a day and some change left on their Kickstarter platform; they’ve managed to reach their goal of $1,900, and are at $2,237 of $2,500 for their first stretch goal.
It actually looks promising, forgoing the consistent microtransactions for actual gameplay that looks enjoyable and replayable. It’ll never catch on in the industry, but one title is at least taking a stand against endless profits for games with meaning.
Although, the title is about potatoes taking over the world. A 4X strategy game about building farms to grow new potatoes, taking control of neighboring provinces on a hex-like map, diplomacy assassination, sacrificing your potatoes to the potato god to increase your strength and receive buffs; it’s typical potato warfare that we all know and love. Deep-frying your troops is a new facet that may interest some as well.
You can dive deeper into potato-geddon than just looking at the screenshots; you can sign up to receive access to the closed alpha for both Android devices and iOS. It’s noticeably an alpha build, with a prominent bug reporting button that takes up a small part of your screens estate, but it is beyond addictive.
Even without ending your turn (which brings out the never-ending ‘one more turn’ mentality), it’s difficult to put the game down as you attempt to bring your legions of starch and carbohydrates to make other potatoes bow to your prowess.
With researches that affect your military might, civilian happiness, and ‘intatergence’ (intelligence), it’s tremendously enjoyable to bring your regime ever-stronger power while smiting those around you. It plays quicker than Civilization, and the humor is there in spades as you deep-fry your men, or attempt to keep your populations saltiness in check as you over-extend your borders into the weak Russet potatoes lands.
Even if you aren’t interested in the Kickstarter, there’s little reason to not sign up for the alpha to explore what’s offered already.
