Stratego® Online

This used to be one of the best, most user-friendly apps on the market. No ads, no microtransactions, no even monetization. I stopped playing for a few months, then came back to paid cosmetics. Fine, I get it, devs need a return. But now? Intrusive ads that you have to pay an overpriced monthly subscription to remove. Said subscription also comes with completely unnecessary features, and at this rate it's only a matter of time until things you used to get for free get paywalled. I'm disappointed

the "capture the bombs" part of the campaign, literally the most insufferable piece of gameplay I've ever sat through. I've played it dozens of times. cannot beat it. infurrrrrriating. no help button, no hints, nothing. gotta capture 5 bombs with 3 people that are weaker than just about EVERY ENEMY character. the only three people that are strong enough are placed so far apart that if they get targeted, you're screwed. waste of space.

Was great until May '25. Look, I get devs need to make $$ too... but taking a game that was ad-free and then jumping straight to a recurring monthly fee to remove them is a bold move. I'm not paying 1/3 of the cost of Netflix to play one single strategy game on my phone. I'll just dust off the board game and play with my kids. Too bad though, it was a good game before. Peace out, Stratego.