UHQBot

For a full breakdown of the Event and FAQ check out the blog here.

August 13, 2019

TL;DR - The Event includes:

Limited Time Mode - Solos
- We are finally dipping our toes into the Solo waters. We’re going to put it out there and see what happens. Too early to say if this will become permanent or not - healthy matchmaking across all modes is priority. Give it a shot and let us know what you think.
Octane Town Takeover
- New Town on Kings Canyon
Double XP for Top 5 & Wins Weekend
- From 10am PST on August 16th through 10am PST on August 19th players will earn double XP for Top 5’s and Wins all weekend long. This bonus will affect both Account Level and Battle Pass progression.
A special Collection Event Apex Pack and Iron Crown Event Store
- Available for a limited time!
With Bloodhound Heirloom Set Preview!
Exclusive event challenges with free loot.
- Complete a variety of challenges to earn two Iron Crown Collection packs, exclusive Iron Crown event badges, and event currency (Crowns).

PATCH NOTES

BUG FIXES

Fixed issue where assigned challenges not resetting properly and giving rewards.
Fixed bug causing incorrect calculation of Kill/Death Ratio in player stats.
Fixed an issue where sometimes a Care Package would clip into map geometry.
Fixed a bug that was sometimes showing Apex Predator ranked players RP as zero when viewing the badge in the Lobby.
Fixed issue with players having connection issues when trying to join a squad that has already played a match.
Fixed issue where Daily and Weekly Challenges would reset earlier than communicated in the game.
[Xbox Only] Fixed bug where players would sometimes not receive “The Player” achievement when hitting level 50.
Fixed a bug where sometimes Arc Stars would attach to players and some objects at a distance and appear to float off of them.
Fixed bug where sometimes Arc Stars would not explode or do no damage when it detonates.
Fixed issue with players sometimes unable to unlock the “Double Duty” Badge.
Fixed bug where sometimes using a healing item while experiencing bad ping would cause them to heal for twice as much.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Added a Death Recap to the end of match summary that will display a damage summary of your last battle.

Improved the UI during the Match Summary to better show Battle Pass progression.

Added In-game Survey
- While playing you may get a prompt that will pop up asking if you enjoyed the last match. This data will be helpful to us so please provide your input when you see it.

Added option to spectate your squadmates after dying.
Added option to “Invite Squad” in the Squad Tab.
Players should no longer lose RP when experiencing a server crash or disconnect in Ranked Mode.
Fixed issue where squadmates could not ping a friendly Wraith portal.
Fixed issue where players could pull other players out of a match by joining them, and then joining another friend from the Lobby.
Fixed issue where sometimes a player would get left behind from their squad in the Lobby after they enter a match.
Fixed issue where players would sometimes get a “Party Not Ready” error message even though they were no longer in a party.
Fixes that should improve overall game stability to reduce crashes.

WEAPON BALANCE

Disruptor Rounds with Alternator:

Reduced Shielded damage multiplier 1.7 -> 1.55.
- Designer Notes: Disruptor rounds on the alternator are shredding shields a bit too quickly and still proving to be stronger than intended, so we're reducing the disruptor rounds multiplier on shield damage.

RE-45:

Increased Magazine Size for all tiers to the following:
- Base: 16
- Common: 19
- Rare: 22
- Epic: 25
- Designer Notes: We’re giving the RE-45 a small boost in power by giving it one more round for every mag size. Downing a non-fortified enemy with the RE-45 with 0, 50, 75, and 100 shields requires 10, 14, 16, and 19 shots respectively, so this extra round gives the gun the ability to one-mag more armored enemies instead of leaving them barely alive.

R-301:

Increased vertical and horizontal recoil. Slightly increased recoil pattern randomness.
- Designer Notes: We’ve made these changes as we’ve seen that the R301 is a bit stronger than intended at long range. We’ve adjusted recoil to balance keeping it effective at medium to close range--which is the original intent--but it should be more difficult for players to auto fire and still laser enemies at long distances.

LEGENDS

General

Made adjustments to Pathfinder’s and Low-Profile Legends hitboxes.
- Taking shots to the hip now does torso damage instead of leg damage. This should more closely match the behavior of the other Legends.
Fixed a bug where activating a healing item would cancel the Ultimate for Legends that need to prime it [Bangalore / Pathfinder / Caustic / Gibraltar / Bloodhound]
Fixed an exploit where players would sometimes be able to still shoot while downed.

Bloodhound

Increased the distance that Bloodhound can see traversal clues left by other players [but not other kinds of clues] to 25 meters.
Adjusted the area of effect for Bloodhound’s Tactical to 125 fov.

Wraith

Based on player feedback, we’ve reduced the “hum” audio that’s playing while using Wraith’s Kunai.
Fixed issue where actions for Wrath would have a slight delay when her weapon is holstered and crouching or sliding while the kunai is equipped.
Fixed an exploit that allowed players to remove the cooldown for Wraith’s Tactical Ability.

Mirage

Fixed bug where Mirage was able to stay invisible and still be able to shoot and melee when using his Ultimate on a zipline.

Octane

Fixed bug where sometimes Octane’s Jump Pad would not launch the player.

(Join the discussion HERE)

August 13, 2019

Hey, Legends!

Last month, we kicked off Apex Legends Season 2 – Battle Charge. Since then, it’s been awesome to see players hustling to get to higher tiers in Ranked, creating strategic plays with Wattson, and using new parts of the environment to their advantage. In the process, the community has provided lots of great feedback for us to take in.

But that’s not all we have planned for this season! Today, we’re kicking off the Iron Crown Collection Event. To tell you all about it we have Lee Horn, Director of Product Management for Apex Legends. Take it away, Lee.

Hey all,

Leeeeeee-RSPN here with an overview on the Iron Crown Collection Event.

TL;DR What’s in the Iron Crown Collection Event:

Limited-Time Mode – Solos
Octane Town Takeover
Double XP for Top 5 and Wins Weekend
A special Iron Crown Collection Pack and Iron Crown Event Store
- With Bloodhound Heirloom Set Preview
Exclusive event challenges with free loot

Limited-Time Mode – Solos

That’s right, we’re finally dipping our toes in the Solo waters. While we are committed to Apex Legends delivering a competitive, three-player squad experience, we’re going to put Solos in for a limited time. We are always striving to ensure healthy matchmaking across all modes, so it's too early to say whether Solos will be permanent or not, but we're going to watch and see what happens. As always, we want to hear your feedback, so let us know what you think.

Octane Town Takeover

Octane has taken over part of Kings Canyon and done a bit of remodeling to better suit his adrenaline-seeking tendencies. Check out the mega jump pad course and Ring of Fire to eliminate enemy squads in style. We’re always looking for new ways to weave Legend personalities into the map, and this change will remain part of Kings Canyon even after the event ends. If the community enjoys these types of town takeovers we’ll look into adding more for other Legends in the future.

iron-crown-inline-1.jpg.adapt.crop16x9.320w.jpg

A special Iron Crown Collection Pack

Apex Legends Collection Events bring a set of themed, limited-time content to Kings Canyon. Open Iron Crown Collection Packs for a 50% shot at an Epic item and a 50% shot at a Legendary item from a set of 24 themed items. No Commons, no Rares, and no duplicates will be included in these packs.

iron-crown-inline-2.jpg.adapt.crop16x9.320w.jpg

A fixed loot pool with no duplicates means that if you unlock all 12 Epics and still have items remaining, you’re guaranteed a Legendary on every future Iron Crown Collection Pack opening.

Iron Crown Event Store

The Iron Crown Collection Event also introduces a new event currency, Crowns, which can be earned from challenges and received from Iron Crown Collection Packs. Crowns can be spent in the new limited-time event store to unlock Event-Limited Rare, Epic, and Legendary content.

During the event, if you unlock all 24 Iron Crown Collection Pack items, you’ll be able to get Bloodhound’s Heirloom Set with Apex Coins. The Bloodhound Heirloom Set will enter the standard Apex Pack bonus pool after the Iron Crown Preview Event ends.

Unspent Crowns will automatically convert to Crafting Metals at the end of the event. All Iron Crown Collection Packs and Iron Crown Store content are Event Limited.

Event Challenges with Free Loot

During the Iron Crown Collection Event, complete a variety of challenges to earn two Iron Crown Collection Packs, exclusive Iron Crown event badges, and Crowns.

Double Top 5 and Wins XP Weekend

From 10:00 a.m. PT on August 16 through 10:00 a.m. PT on August 19, players will earn double XP for Top 5 finishes and wins. This bonus will affect both Account Level and Battle Pass progression.

For additional details on the Iron Crown Collection Event, head over to our FAQ here. As always, we appreciate all of your support and feedback. Can’t wait to see you on the Frontier!

Leeeeeee-RSPN

(Source)

Click to watch embedded media

August 13, 2019

Publisher: Bandai Namco

Developer: Supermassive Games

Release: August 30, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Last month, Imran got the chance to go hands on with The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, the latest title from Until Dawn studio Supermassive Games. During that session, he briefly touched on the game's socially oriented Movie Night mode, in which players pick a character and pass the controller when the action shifts to that character's perspective. Today, Supermassive has released a new dev diary that highlights the feature and explains why horror and co-op are such a natural fit.

Just like with Until Dawn, player choices have direct consequences – something that's bound to rile up local players, whether they're cheering after a narrow escape or bemoaning a character death thanks to a poor decision from the person on the other end of the couch. This mode is completely optional, so you're welcome to take it all on solo if you only want yourself to blame.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on August 30.

For more on Man of Medan, take a look at Kim's earlier preview as well as en extended chunk of gameplay.

August 13, 2019

Publisher: Crea-ture Studios

Developer: Crea-ture Studios

Release: 2020

Platform: Xbox One, PC

Independent developer Crea-ture Studios has officially announced that its Session skateboarding title is hitting Steam Early Access on September 17 followed by a debut on Xbox One via the Xbox Game Preview program a few weeks later. Later on in early 2020 the game will release in full.

The Early Access version of the game takes place at and around the infamous Brooklyn Banks spot in New York, and there is even the ability to modify some spots by dropping objects and creating new lines and possibilities.

Users can capture and share their exploits via the game's video editor, which has a VHS aesthetic to match the game's replication of the "golden era" of skateboarding of the nineties when skate videos helped transform the sport.

For Crea-ture Studios' co-founder and creative director Marc-André Houde, it's been quite a journey introducing the world to the game's True Stance Stick controls which maps each analog stick to your avatar's feet, moving the sport away from rote and rigid button combos. Houde describes the game's unveiling on Kickstarter back in November of 2017 as "barely a prototype" using mostly placeholder and conceptual designs. Since then the title has been refined with tweaks to the board's flipping speed and grind connections, and improvements for the character's movements and the game's overall physics.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Similarly, the game during this Early Access period will also evolve. For instance, right now the impact of landing big drops is strictly visual, but eventually players will have to manage these landings in some way to avoid automatically taking a tumble.

Although it won't be in the Early Access build on day one, character progression is also coming to the game. Session still doesn't feature a scoring system, but Houde says the team wants to reward players pursuing their own skating style by unlocking better manuals, faster flips, higher ollies, and mastering switch skating. Progression will be how skaters access different areas of the map, and progression also applies to video editors, which Crea-ture considers a fundamental discipline within the game.

The developer hasn't outlined a strict timetable when new features will be introduced to the Early Access build, but players will start out with a baseline roster of popular skating tricks that players can combo together. Later on more tricks like no-complies, hand plants, and pressure flips will be added.

Through the Early Access period, Crea-ture will naturally take feedback from the community and continue to refine the game, trying to strike that balance for players while still adhering to its core principles. "As much as we really enjoy the challenge of Session," says Houde, "we don't want to turn it into kind of a private experience for skaters."

The Xbox Preview version of the title will have all the features of the PC one, even if they may progress on different timelines (such as for video editing and sharing, for instance). The Xbox One version includes Mixer livestreaming integration, which the developer says it's excited about in regards to what it can bring to the title, including challenging the community to do certain tricks at certain spots, for example.

Crea-ture is eyeing a full release date in early 2020 for the game, but to Houde this is more than just a project, it's an expression of his life-long love of skateboarding. It's his and the team's contribution to skate culture. Like showing off a new street trick to the world, the game is in the hands of the community from here on out, where they'll take it in some cool and even unexpected directions.

August 13, 2019

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Infinity Ward

Release: October 25, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Activision and Infinity Ward have passed on new multiplayer footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, this year's new take on the Modern Warfare formula that updates and recontextualizes its various themes. The multiplayer, however, still has all the same qualities fans of the series have loved over the years.

You can check out the video above, which was captured originally in 4K on the PlayStation 4 Pro. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is launching on all varieties of PS4, same with Xbox One, and PC, with crossplay between all platforms, on October 25.

Click on the banner below to reach our hub for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. We'll be adding content all month examining how Infinity Ward is breathing new life into the longstanding series, with articles, interviews, videos, and more.

August 13, 2019

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Bungie, High Moon Studios

Release: September 4, 2018

Rating: Teen

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Just before E3, Bungie announced that they would be taking Destiny 2 to the next logical level and letting you play the game anywhere you happen to own it with those same guardians. If you switched to PC, or want to, or want to join friends on Xbox One, you can transfer your characters at a then-unspecified date. Now it seems Bungie is ready to launch their cross-save initiative next week.

The news comes from a fairly pithy tweet from the Destiny 2 account, alongside an associated frequently asked questions post.

https://twitter.com/DestinyTheGame/status/1160971152333791232

The questions and answers do clear up a lot of questions for people who haven't been keeping on every aspect of the cross-save changeover. Silver will be kept to the platform you got it on, as will platform-specific weapons, but for the most part all the important aspects of your guardians will be transferred over the cloud with a Bungie account.

Destiny 2 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and the upcoming Stadia.

FIFA 20 Career Mode Details

August 12, 2019

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Konami

Release: September 10, 2019

Rating: Everyone

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

PES 2020 comes out on September 10 (PS4, Xbox One, and PC), but its demo already gives us a glimpse of what we may see in the game's final iteration. Although Konami has promised that some changes are on the way, such as to fouls (see below for more), the demo could advertise that a solid year of gameplay is in store. Here's what the demo does well and what I hope it means come release time.

GETTING PHYSICAL

The demo showcases more player contact expressed through jostling animations, providing players a way to slow down and pester attackers until numbers arrive or to prevent clean passes and shots. You can even tactically foul players in some situations.

Related to this are the number of fouls the refs call. I like that more calls are being made than in previous years, since they are called on you when you're trying to make standing tackles from behind or slightly to the side of the dribbler. This is as it should be since these are risky areas. I've also noticed in the demo that even defensively engaging opponents from the front can cause fouls if you are rash and don't time it right. Konami says that it believes the refs in the demo call fouls too excessively, so I hope they balance the final game correctly.

One thing related to fouls I would like to see is more of them called on the opponents, since it seems like the A.I. still gets away with bloody murder at times.

HEADERS

I've never been very good at headers in the game, but I like their timing in the demo. I think the window to execute them isn't as early or is possibly more forgiving than last year. This includes being on defense, where clearances are of the upmost importance.

DEFENSIVE POSITIVES & NEGATIVES

Your A.I. teammates are very helpful in throwing their bodies, feet, and even faces at shots which is great. The one speculative concern I have with this for the final game is that I hope my teammates are smart enough and defensively organized enough to clear the resulting rebounds. I say this because there are times in the demo, like in PES 2019, that defenders are unaware of what's going on or switch off. Having said that, and ending on a positive note, I've seen plenty of times in the demo where your teammates get in good defensive positions and harass dribblers without being directly commanded to.

ONLINE CONNECTIONS

Dependable online play has consistently been a problem for the series, whether it's lag or simply getting matched with an opponent with a good connection. While the demo environment doesn't match the final release, one thing I really liked in the demo was the ability to see your opponent's connection before deciding to accept or decline. This won't stop lag cheaters who purposely overload their connection to produce automatic drops when they are losing, but at least it gives you a heads up before your jump in.

GAME FLOW & SPECIAL MOVES

The default speed for the game feels slower than last year, which I don't have a problem with. This highlights one-on-one matchups, which themselves are helped by a new finesse dribbling technique performed by letting go of the left analog stick and just using the right analog. This is advertised as a new feature, but it's basically a refresh of the old R2 close control. Either way it's a useful and easy-to-perform way to buy yourself some time by dragging the ball back or shifting from one foot to the other to keep opponents at bay without having to go into a multi-input, full-blown special move.

THE A.I. IN ATTACK

PES 2019 was notorious for the way the A.I. patterned its attack. This had to be addressed in a post-release patch, and it's nice to see the demo carriers forward that progress. Long balls into the channels, lay-offs and cuts inside at the top of the box, and drags along the end line, are all different ways the A.I. attacks.

The larger question for PES 2020 proper is the matter of overall A.I. scripting – something that fans complained about in 2019. How overpowered will teams feel when behind and/or nerfed when ahead? It's a big issue that the game has to sort out, whether it's overt or a more subtle balancing issue that gives players that sensation.

THE TICKER

NBA 2K12 Adds the WNBA

FIFA 20 Volta Trailer & Footage

Skater XL Update

Dirt Rally 2.0 Gets VR

More Information About Madden 20 Archetypes

Great Sales News for NBA 2K19

August 12, 2019

Publisher: Double Fine Productions

Developer: Foam Sword

Release: August 27, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, PC

knights-and-bikes-screenshot_0001_9_knightsandbikes_jousting.jpg

When you're a child, everything seems a little bit bigger and a little bit more dangerous than it actually was. This level of imagination-fueled adventure is the fundamental basis of Knights and Bikes, a story of two girls traversing their neighborhood on a British Island with an adorable artstyle. Today, developer Foam Swords announced that the game will be releasing in just a few weeks on August 27.

The game is developed by Rex Crowle and Moo Yu, two friends who met while working at Media Molecule. Knights and Bikes is itself a coming of age story starring two friends Nessa & Demelza, who have heard tell of a treasure in their sleepy little town and are out to find it.

Knights and Bikes is releasing on PlayStation 4 and PC on August 27.

August 12, 2019

Hello HansKnees,

Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

HansKnees joined on the 08/12/2019.

August 12, 2019

Hello floppart,

Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

floppart joined on the 08/12/2019.

August 11, 2019

Publisher: Iceberg Interactive

Developer: GhostShark Games

Release: Fall 2019

Platform: PC

Still There is an upcoming adventure game that puts you in the shoes of a space lightkeeper who attempts to stay sane all while confronting grief and isolation.

Developer GhostShark hopes to evoke both dark humor and difficult but personal themes. This sounds like it could be a challenging balance, but one that could be incredibly satisfying if done right.

Aboard the Bento Space Lighthouse, you're accompanied by your A.I. companion Gorky and you must solve "technical puzzles" by operating different dials and panels on tech equipment on the station.

The trailer, at the top of this story, plays a message from what I presume is a loved one back on Earth, and it looks like separation from your family will be the main source of your grief.

If you like emotionally-charged space adventures, read our reviews for Tacoma and Alone With You.

August 11, 2019

Hello pmilburn,

Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

pmilburn joined on the 08/10/2019.

August 10, 2019

Hello foozleton,

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foozleton joined on the 08/10/2019.

August 10, 2019

Hello RubberBaron,

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RubberBaron joined on the 08/10/2019.

August 10, 2019

Hello eliad,

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August 10, 2019

Hello Daringchan,

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August 10, 2019

Hello gajett,

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gajett joined on the 08/09/2019.

August 10, 2019

Hello Grimroll,

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August 9, 2019

Hello DoktorDelta,

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DoktorDelta joined on the 08/09/2019.

August 9, 2019

Publisher: Arc System Works

Developer: WayForward Technologies

Release: September 5, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

A few months ago, Arc System Works announced a new River City Random game developed by WayForward called River City Girls. The new game stars high school girls Misako and Kyoko beating up the delinquents of River City in an effort to get back their boyfriends from nefarious clutches. Today, Arc System Works released a Japanese overview trailer for the game showing various new mechanics and bosses.

You can check out the Japanese language trailer below.

The trailer shows off some new things like the shops, one of River City Ransom's finest traditions, as well as an interesting new comrade recruitment mode. Sparing some enemies lets you summon them in for attacks later. We can also see intros for what appear to be the various bosses in the game.

River City Girls releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on September 5.

August 9, 2019

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Square Enix

Release: July 12, 2019

Rating: Rating Pending

Platform: PlayStation 4, Switch

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a sequel to a game that in itself was inspired, perhaps blatantly, by a worldwide phenomenon in Minecraft. While the first game was well-liked, the second really took on a much wider and more favorable critical reception, with even some of our own editors becoming addicted to the game. That has translated into some sales success for the game and Square Enix is thanking fans with an update.

A new update coming to the game provides new hairstyles, as the protagonist only has one for character creation. Unfortunately, these hairstyles are basically just hats, so you can't stack anything else on top of them. Additionally, the game will be getting support for multiple save files, which it lacked before. Multiple buildertopias will be supported and you can change the weather on the Isle of Awakening. These updates solve some complaints players had before.

Most excitingly, however, is that an epilogue is being added for players who finished the game. You'll need at least 45 builder recipes, have completed all the scavenger hunts on the Explorer's Shores, and visited one buildertopia. After which, you'll receive an in-game letter pointing you toward new content.

In addition, Square Enix has noted that the game has shipped 1.1 million copies worldwide. With digital sales, it is difficult to say what the ratio of shipped and sold actually breaks down to here, but it does seem to imply that the game is doing a lot better than its predecessor. Maybe that's because people saw us building haunted houses in the game?

August 9, 2019

Publisher: Paradox Interactive

Developer: Triumph Studios

Release: August 6, 2019

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Age of Wonders is a long-running strategy franchise, but new entries only release every other blue moon. Age of Wonders III released in 2014. Before that, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic dropped in 2003. Fortunately, these long gestations give Triumph Studios plenty of time to refine the strategy and pack a lot of tiny features into its robust combat system, and that is evident in Planetfall. This new Age of Wonders isn’t perfect, but its unique strategy-driven battles were worth the wait.

Previously, the Age of Wonders series dropped players into epic wars set within fantasy worlds full of elven courts and warring dragons. Planetfall warps you into the future; you awaken from cryogenic sleep to build a new empire on a variety of alien landscapes. The setting might be different, but the future remains full of colorful characters. I was impressed by the creativity expressed in every alien faction. The Syndicate is a purple-skinned race of intergalactic traders and merchants who possess powerful psionic attacks. The Assembly is an army of nearly undead cyborgs who see every planet as an organ bank ready for harvesting. And, the genetically engineered Amazons are stealthy warriors who ride dinosaurs into battle. Planetfall’s factions are so interesting that I almost had trouble settling on one at the start of the game.

No matter which faction you choose, you must plant your nation’s flag in the dirt and slowly push your boundary markers across the planet. As with other 4X games (like Civilization), this involves researching advanced technologies, constructing new buildings, and managing your population’s happiness. Sadly, this top-level strategy is a bit stale in Planetfall, and I was rarely faced with interesting choices for what to build or research.

As you explore your world, you meet other races who send you on missions, which keeps you busy while your citizens churn through your production queue. However, your diplomatic options are limited, and I found it hard to keep the peace. No matter how many favors I ran for other nations or how often I traded with my neighbors, my relations always deteriorated, and I was forced to call in my army. This makes these interactions feel more like you’re only delaying the inevitable conflict, rather than engaging in political negotiations.

Combat is where Planetfall shines. The early turn-based battles are slow, but you can always auto-resolve a combat, which is a great way to skip low-risk encounters that don’t deserve your attention. Once I had built up a sizeable army, I had the most fun getting my hands dirty, issuing orders on the battlefield. Each faction has their own unique set of units and offers their own twist on the action. For example, the dwarf-like Dvar are fond of explosives and heavy tanks, while the Assembly rush at their enemies in hordes and can even resurrect their fallen comrades. And, since you can have multiple armies join a single battle, some of my biggest encounters felt truly legendary with over 40 units ducking in and out of cover.

Your armies develop complicated team synergies. The insectoid Kir'Ko have a hive mind that gives them defensive buffs when they are positioned near each other. Other hero units are collected by completing various missions, and these specialized commanders are some of your most stalwart soldiers. As they fight, they level up, allowing you to pick from a range of upgrades that boost their ranged attacks and give them special immunities.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Basic units don’t have hero upgrades, but they can be equipped with mods that do everything from apply status effects to their attacks, let them to heal other units, or even allow them to phase through obstacles. I love the freedom this provides and how two identical unit types can be spec'd for different specialties. This flexibility gave me an endless number of choices on the battlefield so I never felt short of tactical options to work my way out of a jam.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall takes several turns to get moving, and newcomers might feel overwhelmed until they gain their bearings, but Triumph Studios’ newest strategy offering is full of fun, creative ideas and each faction is worth taking for a spin at least once. Building a sustainable empire and managing a happy populous takes some grunt work, but they are really just stepping stones to Age of Wonders: Planetfall’s epic firefights.

Score: 8

Summary: Planetfall’s strategy systems are complex and routine, but managing your armies is the fun kind of complex.

Concept: Turn the fantasy-themed 4X series into a sci-fi romp with stellar action

Graphics: These alien creature designs are fun and the overworld map looks great, but the randomly generated battle environments are repetitive

Sound: The sweeping soundtrack is generic and the stilted voice acting detracts from Planetfall’s otherwise interesting worldbuilding

Playability: Planetfall’s strategy systems are complex and routine, but managing your armies is the fun kind of complex

Entertainment: Overworld missions keep the action moving, but the XCOM-like turn-based combat is the real star

Replay: High

Click to Purchase

August 9, 2019

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Infinity Ward

Release: October 25, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is already showing promise with its multiplayer. However, for many, the single-player campaign is an important part of the equation. After Treyarch opted to not include a full story mode with Black Ops 4 last year, Infinity Ward is bringing it back in a big way. While at Infinity Ward for this month’s cover story, we got the lowdown on what players can expect from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s ambitious campaign.

When Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare launched in 2007, it told a contemporary story about two sides fighting a more traditional war. However, in 2019, warfare is different. In the world of insurgents, terrorists, and freedom fighters, sides aren’t as clearly defined as they’re depicted in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. With that in mind, the campaign team at Infinity Ward, led by a group of Naughty Dog alumni, set out to create something unique, intense, and unprecedented in the first-person shooter space.

The studio says that the definition of “modern warfare” has changed, and with that, the team’s approach to creating a Modern Warfare game also has to change. “Thematically, in this world, enemies don’t necessarily wear uniforms,” campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff says. “The world is not as clear. War is much more messy these days. We’re representing that mechanically.”

During the campaign, you must identify threats as you move through the mission. In one of the two missions we saw, a squad is methodically working through a townhouse serving as a terrorist safehouse. The player is in control of Sergeant Kyle Garrick, who believes the rules of war need to adapt in order to fight an enemy that doesn’t play fair. Garrick wants to cross the line in his fight against the enemy, and he seeks out Captain John Price in hopes he’ll see things his way. In the Townhouse mission, Infinity Ward shows what that means.

The team of soldiers breach the townhouse at different points – the front door, a second-story window, the basement – and immediately begin securing or neutralizing every inhabitant. Kyle enters the kitchen as his squadmate subdues a woman who obliviously wandered in. A quick walk down the hallway reveals a meeting room with a few members talking loudly. Kyle equips night-vision goggles and shoots out the light, and the team picks them off one by one. You can approach scenarios like this one differently; if you don't shoot out the lights before engaging, the enemies have a better chance of seeing you coming. The squad continues up the stairs, encountering different scenarios along the way. One room has a woman who runs to grab a crying baby, while another has a man take a woman as a human shield. Kyle neutralizes the hostage-taker, only for the woman to grab a gun and come at the squad.

“If you shoot the guy as we did in that demo, she goes and grabs a gun,” Minkoff says. “We train the player early on that you really need to be identifying threats. And this all came from us talking to our military consultants. They don’t talk about civilians and non-combatants; there are unknowns and threats.”

Situations like that require players to identify hostile actions and hostile intents. Warfare isn’t always black and white, and likewise, threats can also be more ambiguous in games. “Hostile action is a really simple thing,” studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki says. “It’s like, ‘Someone’s shooting at me.’ Hostile intent is a whole other ballgame. Those are the metrics they have to deal with and navigate.”

As the team continues up the stairs, some more obvious threats present themselves: one room has a man grab a gun and hide under the bed to ambush you – nothing a few shots through the mattress can’t handle. As the team approaches the attic, a shotgun blast erupts through the door, downing one of your squadmates. Every single surface features appropriate penetrative properties, meaning that drywall and wooden doors are easier to shoot through than metal doors and concrete. Similarly, a 9mm pistol will have trouble shooting through plate armor.

The squad finally reaches the attic. Price remarks that the primary target is in there and that Kyle should try and take her alive if possible. Kyle peeks in to spot a woman standing in the shadowy loft. Kyle downs her with a shot to the lower body, but she lunges for something on the table. Kyle takes one shot to her head, killing her. So much for taking her alive. However, as Price and Kyle approach the table, they see what she was reaching for: a detonator. Minkoff and Kurosaki tell me that if she grabbed the detonator in time, it would blow up the townhouse, killing the squad and giving the player a game-over screen. Price tells Kyle he made the right call.

Players need to make tough calls like that on the fly, and while dying obviously leads to a critical mission failure, it’s not the only way. “The game sort of has its own version of, ‘You just got court marshaled and arrested,’” Kurosaki says.

“If you cause too much collateral damage, which is the official term for killing people who should not have been killed, the game will fail you,” Minkoff adds. “We have pretty complex heuristics where we’re basically trying to determine, are you, the player, acting like a proper soldier? Or are you kind of being a psychopath and not playing by the rules?”

Despite this emphasis of wanting players to identify threats, Modern Warfare’s campaign will not rely on random elements to keep you guessing or branching narratives based on your choices for the sake of replayability. “We want you to have the highest quality cinematic experience we can possibly create; that’s what we did at Naughty Dog, that’s what we do here,” Minkoff says. “By necessity, branching and randomization diminish narrative quality. And there’s a place for that in video games; I’m a huge fan of big, open-world games that have lots of randomization. But no one has ever said that those games have great stories. We’re in the business of making the best possible cinematic story experience. That’s why it’s linear.”

What's the Scene In Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare?

Whether you’re talking experiencing a nuclear explosion firsthand or doing the unthinkable in the controversial No Russian mission, the Modern Warfare series has traditionally featured scenes that have players talking long after they put the controller down. With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare putting such an emphasis on storytelling and the darker, more complex side of contemporary combat, Infinity Ward’s latest campaign is sure to have memorable moments, but will it have a defining, transcendent scene?

According to campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff, this isn’t just a question fans and journalists ask him; his fellow developers at Infinity Ward and Activision also pose this question to him repeatedly. “They’re like, ‘Where’s your "blankety-blank" scene?’,” he says. “There are so many of those at this point that people have stopped asking that question.”

“The answer is it’s the whole game,” studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki says. “I could come up with a list of like eight different things that it could be. Who knows what it will be.”

While you play as Kyle Garrick for loosely half of the campaign, players can expect a different experience for the rest of the game. In this portion, you play as a CIA operative known simply as “Alex.” Alex is stationed in the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Urzekstan to enable and collaborate with local rebels. One local rebel Alex is working with is Farah.

Farah was born into violence. The second gameplay sequence I see is a flashback that begins with you playing as a young Farah being pulled from the rubble of a house that was hit with an explosive. Her mother's lifeless body is crumpled beside her, but a group of rescuers is able to remove the debris and reach the little girl. The remainder of the sequence involves sneaking through the town with her father in order to get home to her brother Hadir, using a screwdriver to take down a massive Russian soldier who broke into the house and killed her father in front of her, dodging pockets of gas, and trying to escape the town unnoticed.

This sequence gives a painful look at the life Farah has led, giving more meaning to how she acts in the modern-day missions. Unlike Kyle Garrick, who wants to destroy the enemy by any means necessary, Farah has a strong grasp of right and wrong, and refuses to cross the line and sacrifice her humanity to win the battle.

Farah is fighting a war on two fronts: the Russian forces occupying her country, as well as those who would do terrible things to regain control of their home. “Her magnetic true north is that she’s going to fight in a way that doesn’t diminish her own humanity,” Kurosaki says. “If that means, ‘I lose because I’m not willing to resort to whatever tactics are necessary, then so be it, I lose. Because if I reduce my own sense of humanity in order to win, then there’s nothing left to fight for.’ That’s a big driver of what defines her.”

With those two characters’ opposing dynamics at play in the story, along with bold presentations of difficult situations inspired by real-world events, one of Infinity Ward’s main goals is to make players feel empathy. “The old games definitely made you feel a certain sense of empathy, but in a very detached way,” Minkoff says. “What we bring to the mix is a much more developed sense of character. I want you to empathize with every one of these characters with all their perspectives, and say, ‘I understand why you did that, but I don’t agree with it.’ I want you to understand the complexity of modern war, and empathize with the reasons why different people have different perspectives. Understanding different people’s narratives is super, super important.”

Kurosaki understands that not everyone who plays a Call of Duty story is there for those kinds of messages, but he hopes that even those who just want to shoot through a fun popcorn-movie-style campaign will still take something away. “Shining a light on this other half of modern warfare that maybe is not as covered in the news, is also one of our goals,” he says. “With a platform as big as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, for someone who doesn’t read very deeply into the news of the world, to shine a light on a character like Farah who is very much based on people that are in the real world today, and empathize with and understand that war isn’t just something that happens 'over there.'"

The story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare looks to be dark and complex, giving players a lot to think about during and long after their playthrough. According to art director Joel Emslie, the campaign’s ending could have gone horribly wrong if not for the careful handling of the development team. “I watched the end of it… I highly suggest if you get to play the game, you play it all the way through single-player," he says. "The end of the game is so f---ing awesome, and it’s just great storytelling. It has such a great payoff.”

With so many touchy subjects and emotionally heavy moments promised throughout the campaign of Modern Warfare, it’ll be interesting to see how the player base reacts when the game launches on October 25.

Click on the banner below to reach our hub for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. We'll be adding content all month examining how Infinity Ward is breathing new life into the longstanding series, with articles, interviews, videos, and more.

August 9, 2019

Publisher: Hello Games

Developer: Hello Games

Release: August 9, 2016

Rating: Teen

Platform: PlayStation 4, PC

In March, Hello Games revealed that they’d be releasing another large free update to No Man’s Sky called No Man's Sky Beyond. They promised three big features for the update: expanded online multiplayer, full VR support, and a mysterious third feature. We recently got a chance to speak with Hello Games’ Sean Murray about the update and learn exactly what they’ll be releasing on August 14th.

“We get to this point where we're launching something and I always think, “Why have I brought this on myself?” jokes Murray. “Actually, this is the happiest the team has been and the most productive… It's just shipping things and making games is hard. Those last couple of weeks are always just a bit crazy.”

While the team wants to emphasize that they aren’t turning No Man’s Sky into an MMO, they are increasing the maximum number of players in the game. The number will vary depending on the platform, but you can expect a range of 16 to 32. The update will also include the addition of a social space in the form of a giant ship that Murray compared to the Tower in Destiny. “You can just summon it at any time,” Murray says. “You fly into this huge ship in space. And if other people are there, no matter where they are in the universe, then you'll see them… everything takes on much more meaning, and you can do multiplayer missions together, and create fire teams and meet random strangers.”

No Man’s Sky Beyond will also let players experience the entire game in VR. To learn more about how the team achieved this technically, check out our interview from GDC. “There's about one million people that own a headset that also own No Man's Sky,” Murray says. “So, day one, there's over a million people who are getting a free, cool VR game.” The game will be playable on PC headsets and PlayStation VR. Murray says that while he loves the Oculus Quest, he doesn’t think they’ll be supporting the current version.

Above: Watch us share impressions from playing No Man's Sky in VR during GDC.

During the interview, Hello Games revealed that the third mysterious feature for No Man’s Sky Beyond is… not really one feature at all. “The third component is really about pleasing a lot of the community,” Murray says. “We're adding creature riding, creature farming, creature milking, and you can tame creatures.” The team is adding a long list of features that the community has been asking for since the game launched but also repackaging everything into what Murray describes as a “cohesive whole”. These features include NPCs walking around on planets, deeper missions, and new alien languages and races. Murray says that the list of features added to Beyond will consist of patch notes twice as long as their last update for No Man’s Sky Next.

The team is continuing to expand base building in the game as well, now allowing for larger bases and industrial bases (Murray compares them to the game Satisfactory) that feature generators, solar panels, and mining extractors. “On top of that we've made it so that bases support things like logic and electricity so that people can be really creative,” Murray says. “We built a version of Rocket League with working goals and a ball spawner. All four buggies were in there and people were playing multiplayer. If you build something like that, then you can share it online… You can go to a board and you can see featured bases, things that people have made, almost like browsing in LittleBigPlanet.”

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While Hello Games is packing a lot in to No Man’s Sky Beyond, they don’t see an end in sight for the ambitious sci-fi game. I asked Murray if they see this as the final big, named update for the game.

“No, we don't,” he says. “Even though we've got a lot of things in Beyond, there's also a lot of things that just didn't make it that even now I can see we're going to spend the next few months after release doing. We’re committed to doing a season (at least) of really regular updates, community events, and things like that. Because we've got whole new systems to make them more social, and do global community events where we send everyone to a certain planet to go and dig up fossils or whatever.”

No Man’s Sky Beyond will be launching on August 14th as a free update to the base game, a new retail version for the PlayStation 4 will be launching in September as well. We also asked Murray about whether we’ll ever see the game on the Nintendo Switch, click here to check out his full answer. Or, for a better idea of how this whole journey began, check out our exclusive videos from when No Man's Sky was on the cover of Game Informer in 2014.