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August 5, 2019

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August 5, 2019

Publisher: 2K Sports

Developer: Visual Concepts

Release: September 6, 2019

Rating: Everyone 10+

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

Last week 2K Sports released the first gameplay trailer for NBA 2K20, which gave us a small glimpse of some of the new features coming to the hardwood. Today, we got our first official information on how Visual Concepts plans to evolve the on-court experience via an in-depth blog post that explains their intentions. Here are the biggest takeaways:

2K Continues Its Quest For More Responsiveness

NBA 2K18 introduced a new motion engine that was intended to honor stick skills and responsiveness over animation-driven gameplay. NBA 2K20 continues to operate under this creed, with more slight changes meant to make these world-class athletes look and feel as agile and dangerous as their real-world counterparts.

"Some of the advances that you’ll immediately see and feel when you pick up NBA 2K20 are better foot planting, momentum modeling, and motion style variation," says gameplay director Mike Wang. "Players have a much better sense of weight and plant their feet properly when cutting or exploding from a stand. And thanks to the addition of motion styles, you’ll quickly feel the difference between a lumbering big vs. a quick, explosive guard."

Visual Concepts also spent time researching the sprint speeds of NBA players to more accurately recreate their burst, which led to a larger change around how sprinting affects stamina. "This year, you’ll notice a flashing yellow effect around the stamina bar when your energy level drops below a certain threshold," Wang says. "Once hit, you’ll quickly ramp down to a run speed and get tired much faster. So it’s important this year to pick and choose when you want to explode with your first step and not abuse the Sprint trigger all game long. "

Ball Handlers Get Signature Dribbling Styles

When you're taking the ball up the court in NBA 2K20, you're going to have a lot more options at your disposal than you did last year. Visual Concepts has developed 27 different dribbling styles, which affect how a player handles the ball. This should better separate the lightning-quick dribblers like De'Aaron Fox from players like DeMar DeRozan who operate with more wiggle. Using these new controls, you can change up your dribbling rhythm and pace just by moving the left analog stick.

Here's the list of Signature Dribbling Styles, which you can also use in MyCareer: Base, Big, Power, Fundamental, Quick, Slasher, Shifty, James Harden, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, Dennis Johnson, John Stockton, Allen Iverson, Tim Hardaway, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Isiah Thomas, Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Stephen Curry, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard.

Other changes to the dribbling in NBA 2K20 include a new size-up mechanic that lets you chain standing dribble moves by flicking the right analog stick, expanded triple threat offense options, and new advanced moves like behind back wrap escapes, Luka Doncic’s fake stepback, stutter chop steps, new shammgods, and the fake sham hesi that Will Bynum pulled out at the Big Three.

Stronger On-Ball Defense

You can't buff ball handlers without giving defenders the tools to lock them down. NBA 2K20 introduces some new tools Visual Concepts dubs "Read and React Defense."

"When guarding the ball, defensive players will see a small arrow under the ball handler, indicating where they’re leaning or attempting to go," Wang says. "The arrow shows up at different times based on the defender’s abilities, modeling the different reaction times between a poor defender and a great one. Anticipating the ball handler’s movement properly and cutting off their attack will yield much more predictable outcomes such as stonewalling the dribbler, forcing a pickup, or causing a fumble."

A new icon under the ball handler indicates whether they are vulnerable to steals as well. If it's a solid circle, you automatically know it's a bad time to attempt to pick their pockets. However, if the icon changes to broken up lines, you will have a much higher likelihood of coming away with the ball when attempting a steal. Wang hopes this makes the on-ball defense feel more predictable and encourages players to pick their spots rather than spam the steal button.

Reworked Layups Give Players More Control

Layups have been a point of contention for 2K users for a while now, and Visual Concepts has some new ideas in 2K20 that should give them more agency over what happens once they leave the ground.

"The new gather feature allows you to kick off an advanced gather on the floor, read the defense, and select how you want to finish that gather by re-deflecting the Pro Stick as you takeoff," Wang says. "For example, if you started a euro gather but saw the defense close in, you could re-deflect the Pro Stick down to branch to a floater finish to avoid contact. This also allowed us to introduce the concept of gather resolutions. Forcing a gather into heavy traffic or directly into a defender will lead to jam ups, but choosing the correct gathers in open spaces will let you knife right through traffic."

Conversely, patrolling the paint gets bolstered in NBA 2K20 thanks to hundreds of new in-air collision animations, hard fouls, grab blocks, and swats. Post defenders also have an expanded post body-up system that Wang says should help them counteract spins, drives, dropsteps, and hopsteps.

Off-Ball Juke Moves Return

Since you spend so much time moving away from the ball in MyCareer and in the various competitive multiplayer modes, Visual Concepts wants to bolster this area in NBA 2K20. Users can play their defenders by using the Pro Stick to access fake first steps, spins, and stutters that can be chained together.

Defenders can counter these with more off-ball collisions. If you anticipate their move, you can cut it off.

The final big change to off-ball movement is a reworked screen system that should allow help defenders to better navigate around screeners and not get sucked into animations.

A.I. Goes To School

Not everyone likes to call offensive plays; some prefer to rely on ball movement and isolation to create opportunities. These players should get a boost in NBA 2K20 thanks to the new dynamic freelance engine, which governs A.I. teammates to make more intelligent decisions off the ball. The new system centers around your best players, so it should generate looks you will be compelled to consider, particularly around off-ball screens and cuts that free your star players for open looks.

If you prefer to control the strategy yourself, NBA 2K20 introduces new play action buttons that quickly activate situations like floppy, receive screen, isolation, etc. Users can save their eight favorite quick plays for easy access.

Those who primarily play offline should notice a much different feel to the way the opponents shoot this year. "In past 2K’s, the A.I. has always used Real Player Percentage when it came down to determining makes and misses," Wang says. "This could often lead to robotic, predictable outcomes. This year, we’ve implemented the same shot timing mechanics for the A.I. that players use. The result is a much more human-like opponent and a more even playing field.

Visual Concepts also spent time reworking the transition defense, which gives players new options for protecting the perimeter against three-point attempts on the break.

Reworked Badge & Takeover System

Ratings matter, but the skill-centric badges is what players spend the most time grinding for in NBA 2K games. This year, Visual Concepts revamped the entire system. "We know how important they are to the game and to the community, so one of the first things we did this dev cycle was sit down (in many meetings) to re-imagine what badges we should have in the game and how they should work," Wang says. "We came away with an impressive list of around 80 badges that allow players to express different strengths in various areas of the game. We put in a ton of work to ensure that each badge was valuable and unique enough to cater to just about any imaginable playstyle. We even added Neighborhood-specific badges that enhance the physicality and flashy play of the Playground."

Takeover returns in NBA 2K20 as well, but Wang says it should feel much more balanced across the board, no matter your position or play style.

NBA 2K20 releases on September 6 for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. You can play the demo starting August 21 on all platforms besides PC. To learn more about the game, read our preview of the changes coming to MyGM and MyLeague.

August 5, 2019

Hello r0ll3rs8r,

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August 5, 2019

Hello yukki,

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August 4, 2019

Publisher: NIS America

Developer: Nihon Falcom

Release: October 22, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4

Nihon Falcom’s Trails of Cold Steel is one of those series I wish got more love. Falcom has made a name for itself with its long-running Ys franchise, which helped pave the way for action/RPGs, but its equally-fantastic Trails series, part of The Legend of Heroes brand, has never received the same recognition. After Trails of the Sky hit North America in 2011, nearly seven years after it first launched in Japan, hardcore RPG fans realized they had been missing out something special. The game featured charming characters and an alluring and detailed world. It had a classic feel that reminded you of your favorite traditional RPGs of yesteryear, but it also wasn’t afraid to take chances and modernize the genre.

After the Sky trilogy was complete, Western fans were then treated to the Trails of Cold Steel series, which added a school backdrop, complete with social elements and improved turn-based combat. After two fantastic entries filled with surprising reveals and epic battles that had the students do everything from partaking in crazy mech duels to stopping a civil war, we’re about step into the third part of the four-game arc. I had the pleasure of playing the first five hours of the game and so far it’s shaping up nicely, full of callbacks and reunions with past cast members alongside new mechanics and locations to make the series feel fresh.

A New Class VII

Past entries have centered on Thors Military Academy and its special Class VII, with protagonist Rean Schwarzer leading the way while uncovering his own mysteries about what he thought was a seemingly normal life. For those who need a refresher, Rean’s class was the first to ever to not segregate noble and lowborn students, which is a big source of tension in the first game. The second game had our heroes working together to stop the Erebonian civil war, and Trails of Cold Steel III picks up about a year and a half after these events.

“After Trails of Cold Steel II, we see that [Chancellor Giliath] Osborne is alive and well, and now holds all the power,” says Nihon Falcom president and producer Toshihiro Kondo. “He is currently carrying out a campaign of invading foreign lands to increase the Empire's territory. As for Rean, he is caught up in the events that happened at the end of II, and—as the Awakener of Valimar—is following Osborne's orders. Internally, though Osborne has quieted the noble faction, their activities will be further examined throughout the events of III.”

Those are far from the only new developments: Rean and his peers have now graduated from Thors Military Academy, meaning they are taking their first big steps into adulthood and trying to figure out their lives. Part of the fun is seeing the different roads the characters we’ve come to know and love have traveled. Rean is still the protagonist you control, but he has a bit of a different role this time around: instructor at a new branch of Thors Academy. The new branch is populated with outcasts and misfits and Rean leads a new “Class VII” with only three members initially (you keep running into a few other characters that will most likely join up with you later).

For now, there’s Kurt Vander, a determined young man who excels with twin blades, Juna Crawford, a gunner who formerly worked at the Crossbell police academy and isn’t afraid to speak her mind, and Altina Orion, a mysterious girl created in a laboratory that we met last entry and can manipulate a black combat shell. “The new Class VII has students whose pasts diverge beyond the distinction of class, including some who were formerly involved with Ouroboros—the villains—like Altina, and a noble who is hiding from his former responsibilities,” Kondo explains. “In various ways, these students have more ‘complicated’ backgrounds.”

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Cold Steel III’s opening hours showed an interesting dichotomy between the three classmates. Growing up in a lab and being treated like a weapon means Altina struggles with human interaction and rarely considers options outside the most logical avenue. Kurt and Juna have a relationship very similar to Rean and Alisa in previous games, as both are trying to prove themselves and run into a few misunderstandings along the way. Throughout the first chapter, there’s plenty of funny moments between the cast as Rean tries his best to play professor and has reunions with members of the previous Class VII. “While the main characters of this tale are Rean and his students, you might remember that at the end of II, the former members of Class VII made a promise to each other,” Kondo says. “They are all now working in various parts of the empire, doing their best to fulfill their ends of that promise. As Rean and his students begin to travel across the empire, they will run into familiar faces, and we'll see what they are up to.”

In many ways, there’s a weird déjà vu with Trails of Cold Steel III. The game is filled with callbacks and appearances from characters throughout the Trails series history. It feels like a big class reunion; many times I’d recognize a character then jog my memory for their role in the story that has unfolded so far. Let’s just say there’s great reward for longtime fans beyond Trails in the Sky’s Tita Russell and Agate Crosner appearing. In addition to many surprise cameos, you also often stumble upon people, places, and things from previous games that bring new revelations and twists. Trista Radio, anyone?

The parallels to the first Cold Steel entry where Rean was stepping onto campus for the first time and brushing shoulders with his new classmates are ever-present, right down to Kurt and Juna bumping into each other in a similar way to how Rean and Alisa did. It’s a fun trip down memory lane, and if you ever need a refresher, there’s a handy backstory option on the opening screen to lookup certain characters and events.

A New Principal Heats Things Up

While things seem par for the course for the school experience, Rean’s new academy harbors its own mysteries – from the get-go something seems a little off, such as the administration willingly throwing students into dangerous, barely survivable situations. The school’s principal is also none other than Aurelia Le Guin, who was the general of the Noble Alliance during the civil war in the previous entry. Le Guin is a bit of a wild card as she retired for unknown reasons; Kondo even refers to her as “a very intense person.” Le Guin doesn't sugarcoat things and sees value in preparing students for the worst circumstances.

To add to matters, it appears Rean’s former military academy and his current branch are at odds, creating some extra tension and conflict to navigate. “The Thors main campus is facing a different set of circumstances than it did when Rean and his classmates were enrolled there,” Kondo says. “The biggest change is that there is a different [Thors Military Academy] principal, who is much more willing to toe the government line. Not to say that Dreichels wasn't concerned about the glory of the empire, but the current principal is much more in-line with Osborne and his regime. On the other hand, the branch campus is actually closer in-line with Olivert's vision, and with that being said, I think you will be able to imagine the differences between the two campuses.”

If you remember anything about Olivert, let it be that his more pacifist ways are bound to ruffle some feathers, especially Chancellor Osborne and his military dictatorship.

New School, New Town, New Challenges

While it follows a similar format to previous entries, Cold Steel III also has some new locales and situations bringing a different tone and feel. “In the previous games, we mainly explored the Eastern part of the empire,” Kondo explains. “This time, we will be exploring the Western side, and visiting places that have only been mentioned up until now. There are also new areas to explore in existing locations.”

Leeves is the new town housing Thors Branch Academy, and it’s a quaint little spot. It has similar areas to what we saw in Trista, with a chapel, an opportune fishing spot, and a slew of shops. Yes, you can expect the typical clothing and pawn shops, but there are also some new additions. My favorite was Carnegie Books and Games, which has its shelves stocked with tabletop games. This is also where you can go to play the latest popular card game called Vantage Masters.

Previous entries featured the Blade card minigame, where you’d do your best to one-up your opponent by using your mirror and blast cards at the best moments to destroy their progress. Trails of Cold Steel III is all about Vantage Masters. It definitely plays off the popular trading card game scene, where you build your own deck to battle other players to earn stronger cards. From what I played, it looked like a delicate balance between using your attack cards with elemental attributes and special abilities, while activating your magic cards to cause various effects on the field. You only have so much mana and every card has a cost, so you need to use it wisely, but you also restore mana each turn. The more turns that pass, the more you restore, meaning: Plan ahead. Your goal is to get your opponent’s HP to zero. You can get the gist by watching a portion of my match in the video below.

Thors Branch Academy is obviously the main attraction of Leeves, and you’ll spend a great deal of time walking its halls to either socialize with students or run your own errands. The social system is similar to previous games, where you want to use your free time to improve your relationships, as it not only provides cool scenes but will increase their ability to help you on the battlefield. I saw some fun sequences, spanning from Altina trying to figure out which club to join and realizing she’s a natural at swimming to helping Juna with her tennis by being none other than "ball picker-upper.” You can see some of the early interactions in the video below. There’s also a bathhouse in the dormitory, which allows you to hang out with other instructors in your spare time and usually get a free item for doing so.

Cold Steel III has a slew of new characters to get to know, but that doesn't mean you won't be spending your bonding points on your favorites from previous games. Kondo wanted to set the record straight on that: "I'll also preemptively address another concern that was brought up in Japan before the game came out, 'What about those characters who we could previously bond with?' Please don't worry about that, as you will be able to bond with returning characters, as well."

Stepping Into Battle

Remember that familiar-but-slightly-different feel I was talking about earlier for Cold Steel III? That definitely extends to combat, which remains turn-based and still centers on positioning, linking teammates for improved tactics, and using their special attacks and magic spells judiciously. Trails of Cold Steel III's gameplay definitely expands on the series' already-complex battle mechanics with a break system (straight out of the Ys series) to weaken enemy defenses and Juna being able to change her battle style. Juna’s gunner position is great for ranged attacks and hitting groups of enemies, but if you swap her to the striker, it increases her speed, defense, and attack power on close-ranged foes, best used on one target.

Also new is Brave Order, which allows you to enact tide-changing perks in battle. Every character has their own and they can do everything from reducing damage to cutting the cost of magic. You can only use one of these at a time, but they are key to winning boss battles. For instance, in one of my fights against a giant ogre, the creature used a howl attack that had a nasty side effect of reducing my characters’ defense. The only way to offset it was to use a brave order to reduce incoming damage. Kondo proves my theory true about them being essential to winning the bigger bouts in the game: "If you don't utilize this system, you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage, particularly in regards to long boss battles, where skillful use of this system will make a huge difference," he says. You can watch me learn this the hard way in the video below of the intense ogre fight.

Cold Steel II introduced mech – aka Divine Knight – battles and those return here. They function similarly to previous entries, where you must block and use your special attacks while targeting specific body parts in order to unbalance them. Brave Points also apply to these battles, giving you new options to consider. You can get a taste of what they entail in the video below. Yes, in true Falcom fashion, except some flashy over-the-top specials to really sell the experience of piloting one of these big hunks of metal.

Taking A Dramatic Turn

We've seen some crazy things happen across the Trails series and the Cold Steel arc has certainly brought its twists. This third entry should follow suit, but Kondo also said "the series will take a very dramatic turn from here on out," making me even more curious and excited for what's to come.

While we start approaching Cold Steel's ultimate finale (there's still one more game after III), Kondo also made it clear that Falcom is far from done with the Trails series. "While it is true that the Cold Steel portion of the story has come to a finish with IV, there are still many things hinted at in the Trails in the Sky, Zero, Ao, and Cold Steel games that have yet to be revealed," he teases. "We want to tell these stories, and the fans want to hear them, so we are thinking about the best way to do that in a game."

Kondo also confirmed the team is working on an "entirely new tale in an entirely new part of the world not seen yet in a Trails game," and said there would be more information soon. For now, all we can do is wait until October 22 when The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III launches on PlayStation 4. Get ready to be reunited with old faces and also meet some new ones in the process.

August 4, 2019

Hello yojo00,

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 3, 2019

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August 2, 2019

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August 2, 2019

Publisher: Fellow Traveller

Developer: Paranoid Productions

Release: August 2, 2019

Rating: Mature

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Also on: PlayStation 4, PC, Mac

Numerous games have explored what happens when insular societies revolve around cult-like personalities, from the Ayn Rand rhetoric of Andrew Ryan in BioShock to the grassroots gospel of Joseph Seed in Far Cry 5. The Church in the Darkness proposes a more grounded, indie perspective on the subject, with procedurally generating elements to keep things fresh. Unfortunately, shallow stealth gameplay and a lack of interesting ideas cause this movement to stall out far sooner than it should.

While a stealth-action game at heart, The Church in the Darkness takes more than a few pages from the roguelike genre, with discreet, permadeath-enabled playthroughs each lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Your goal of each run is always the same: to surreptitiously enter the cult’s compound (dubiously named Freedom Town) and locate your missing nephew, Alex. The compound layout is static from one playthrough to the next, but most of the particulars change, including item locations, which NPCs you might run into, and, most intriguingly, the personalities of the two cult leaders, Isaac and Rebecca Walker. Like the in-game cult it focuses on, The Church in the Darkness is based on solid ideas. The implementation of those ideas is where things start to fall apart.

From a gameplay perspective, The Church in the Darkness offers a simplified, top-down version of the stealth-infiltration action series like Hitman have been serving up for years. Countless guards patrol Freedom Town, requiring you to skirt their vision cones (visible on the easier difficulty levels), dispense lethal or non-lethal takedowns from behind, or toss stones to lure them out of the way. These well-trodden mechanics (along with the ill-advised guns-blazing approach) make up the totality of the core gameplay. While you unlock new weapon types and can find items like alarm clocks to use as distractions, they are superfluous and less efficient than sticking to the basics. Only disguises, which shrink enemy vision cones, are worth going out of your way to search for in the various cabins and buildings littered throughout the map. Simply put, the gameplay gets dull far too quickly for the amount of replays The Church in the Darkness encourages.

Unfortunately, The Church in the Darkness doesn’t fare much better from a story perspective, either. Because Isaac and Rebecca’s personalities change each playthrough, you need to surmise the threat they pose as you search for your nephew, then respond accordingly. However, these personality differences are mostly binary – either both Isaac and Rebecca are “good,” both are “bad,” or the two are split one way or the other. Which versions you’re dealing with isn’t particularly hard to deduce; various notes and documents you find while scavenging offer clues, as do conversations with NPCs. When you do finally find Alex, his posturing is a dead giveaway; he’ll either want to stay, leave, or be undecided based on which scenario you’re dealing with.

To be fair, these modest permutations do lead to some wildly different outcomes. In one playthrough, I extracted Alex with little concern for the rest of the camp, and afterwards the “bad” leaders convinced the rest of the collective to take cyanide pills, resulting in mass casualties. In another playthrough, after determining I was dealing with the “good” Isaac and Rebecca, I chose to join the cult, and the group went on to enjoy 30 years of prosperity. At first I enjoyed how disparate the endings I discovered were. Over time, however, they undermine any kind of overarching message or contemplation of the intriguing themes The Church in the Darkness attempts to explore. Sometimes group think and hero worship lead people down a bad road that ends in death and destruction. Other times it’s hunky dory, apparently? Regardless, each ending is only comprised of a few lines of text and some pictures anyway, which makes seeking out the rarer endings less compelling.

Because your options for dealing with the cult are limited, it doesn’t take long to exhaust the most sensible solutions. It’s kind of like being handed a few slices of bread, ham, and cheese and being asked to make a meal out of it. A ham sandwich is the obvious answer. A cheese sandwich is also viable, if a little less exciting. But then what? Put the bread in the middle? Going out of your way to discover less-than-ideal solutions to a problem you’ve already solved a dozen times isn’t fun when you’re confined to such simple mechanics. Ultimately, the most memorable endings I ran into were not intentional. On more than one occasion I had a playthrough grind to a halt because Alex cornered me behind a church pew or a tree with no way to bypass him other than knocking him out. It may qualify as emergent storytelling, but not in a satisfying way.

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My biggest beef with The Church in the Darkness, however, is a pragmatic one: Isaac and Rebecca’s propaganda blares continuously over the loudspeakers scattered around Freedom Town, and you start hearing the same repeated diatribes on capitalism, inequality, and military aggression on your first playthrough. Those hoping for a unique take on cult behavior and theology should look elsewhere, as all of the themes are painfully familiar and as nuanced as an angry J. Jonah Jameson rant. These messages aren’t just annoying – they also muddy Isaac and Rebecca’s personalities. While the procedural generation tosses in a few lines specific to their personalities for a particular playthrough, the vast majority are pulled from a far too limited pool of generic recordings, making runs blend together. After several hours of listening to the Walkers’ greatest hits on repeat, I was ready to leave Freedom Town for good.

Despite offering myriad endings and some extra content that unlocks the longer you play, The Church in the Darkness does little to justify sticking around to see it. A half-dozen runs will give you a good sense of the narrative scope and gameplay, without offering anything particularly novel to keep you invested. I went into The Church in the Darkness hoping for a thought-provoking look at how cults operate and entice their followers, but ended up leaving Freedom Town disillusioned.

Score: 5

Summary: Like the in-game cult it focuses on, The Church in the Darkness is based on solid ideas. The implementation of those ideas is where things start to fall apart.

Concept: Sneak your way through an ever-changing cult compound and assess the threat level while searching for your nephew

Graphics: The low-poly look accommodates the zoomed-out action fine, but the HUD elements and menus feel like they were taken straight from a default template

Sound: The voice acting is largely well done, but the repetitive propaganda rants will have you begging to be deprogrammed

Playability: The gameplay never evolves past dodging vision cones and throwing rocks to distract guards. The Oregon Trail-style shooting mechanics are best avoided altogether

Entertainment: Procedural generation does little to bolster the one-dimensional gameplay and lack of a compelling narrative

Replay: Moderate

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August 2, 2019

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August 2, 2019

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Rockstar Games

Release: October 26, 2018

Rating: Mature

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Back in May, we spoke with Rockstar about Red Dead Online's future, which included a bit of discussion about its upcoming specialist roles. Today, the company has given more details about what players can expect from these three progression paths, whether you choose to be a bounty hunter, trader, or collector.

These three roles give players a more focused way to engage with the game, which is something that fans have been asking for since it launched. Regardless of which path you take, Rockstar says you can expect your character to find unique benefits and gameplay elements. You're not locked into a specific role, either. You're able to progress through all three branches simultaneously or focus on one, depending on what you feel like doing at any given time.

Bounty Hunters are perhaps the most self-explanatory role. Players earn cash and other rewards by tracking and taking down targets – including your fellow players, if their bounty reaches a certain threshold. If you like to take bounties alive, an unlockable reinforced lasso will make that easier (or, alternately, make it easier to torment your soon-to-be-dead targets before cashing them in). You can also unlock tracking skills like being able to use Eagle-Eye while you're sprinting, or flashy new gun tricks.

Players who are looking for a more dependable (and safer) way of filling their larders might be interested in the Trader. They're essentially the hunter/trapper class, building their empire through collecting and selling meat, fur, and skins. Do well enough, and your camp can expand into a thriving business, with hunting wagons, weapons lockers, and guard dogs.

Finally, the Collector is perfect for people who like to explore on their own terms, without having to worry about collecting bounties or skinning animals. They're all about finding valuables, using items like a metal detector, improved binoculars, and other new skills.

Rockstar also says some other changes are coming later this summer, too. Defensive players won't take as much damage, and the game will track your preferred playing style between Defensive or Offensive and automatically launch you into that style when you begin a session. There will also be more objects to loot in the world, including gold teeth from corpses.

August 2, 2019

Publisher: Private Division

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

Release: October 25, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Since the initial reveal of The Outer Worlds, developer Obsidian Entertainment has showcased alien landscapes full of colorful characters and dangerous beasts. Now, as the game’s October 25 release draws closer, we got a chance to spend some time exploring these things on our own in a lengthy hands-on session (Though the game was recently announced for Switch, I played it on PC). I was set loose on the planet Monarch, the same place where the E3 demo took place, and given free rein to pursue whatever quests or objectives I stumbled into.

You can see footage of me playing for about 45 minutes – accompanied by an in-depth discussion – on our latest episode of New Gameplay Today. But if you just want some quick impressions, these are the five biggest takeaways that stood out after my time with The Outer Worlds.

1. Your expectations are probably right

This is an open-world, sci-fi RPG. It’s being developed by Obsidian (the studio that made Fallout: New Vegas), and co-directors Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky are two of the minds behind the original Fallout. I don’t want to diminish The Outer Worlds’ own identity by shackling it to another franchise, but ever since the game’s reveal, many enthusiastic fans have expressed an opinion similar to, “This looks like Fallout, but in space!” In my recent hands-on experience with The Outer Worlds, combat, exploration, dialogue, and character progression all had a familiar vibe. Yes, there are plenty of important differences from Fallout, but the general comparison is still appropriate.

2. Combat holds up without time dilation.

You have an ability called Tactical Time Dilation (TTD) that drastically slows down the world around you. To go back to the Fallout comparison briefly, TTD is this game’s version of VATS; it gives you time to assess the battlefield and target specific parts of your foes. Before playing the game myself, I was curious about the degree to which the gunplay relies on TTD. Do you need to use it in every combat encounter? Do the battles feel clunky if you approach them more like a traditional FPS? The bottom line is this: I enjoyed using TTD, but I didn’t employ it constantly, and it doesn’t feel required. I never sat around waiting for my TDD meter to recharge, mainly because I had so many other tools at my fingertips, like sneaky melee strikes and companions’ special moves. Plus, the weapons and shooting controls feel good, so the action can stand on its own.

3. Perks are important.

Okay, obviously it’s important to invest in new skills and abilities in an RPG. However, the perks in The Outer Worlds are especially worth calling out because of the impact they can have on your playstyle. They’re different from skills, because they don’t determine your aptitude in something. Instead, they augment different approaches to situations. For example, if you really like using TTD, you can take a perk that makes it possible for you to stay in that state longer. If you like fighting alongside your companions and want to use their powerful special moves more often, you can take a perk for that. As I was browsing the perks, I had trouble deciding which ones to take because many of them were tempting, so be ready to agonize over picking them when the time comes!

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

4. Choice is no illusion.

When it comes to the consequences of the choices I made during my session, I have an admittedly incomplete picture. I had plenty of chances to make good and bad decisions (I killed almost every quest-giver I met, for example), but I didn’t get to see the full long-term impact of those story beats. Even so, I saw Obsidian’s pursuit of a choice-driven experience manifest in different ways on different levels. You make choices about your progression (“What kind of character do I want to play?”), quest resolution (“How can I achieve my goal?”), and other NPC interactions (“What happens if I kill this person in charge of a cult?”). Some of these questions have immediate answers, and some take much longer to bear fruit. But regardless of what you do, it should be easy to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility over how the adventure unfolds minute-to-minute and hour-to-hour.

5. Humor is everywhere.

The Outer Worlds is a funny game, but not entirely in a ba-dum-ching punchline kind of way. It has an absurdity baked into the premise and characters, which means you are getting a more pervasive kind of humor. The subjugation of humans to the interests of corporations gives rise to many outlandish quests and situations. Various dialogue options have you lying, persuading, or being dumb with regularly amusing results. Also, your ship is called The Unreliable, which is pretty hard to take completely seriously. Of course, The Outer Worlds also has more deliberate jokes (which I’m not going to defuse with out-of-context explanations), but my overall impression is that the team at Obsidian hits a pretty consistent balance of irreverence without dipping too far into pure zaniness. I spent a lot of my play time smiling.

For more on The Outer Worlds, click the banner below to visit our cover story hub filled with exclusive in-depth features.

August 1, 2019

Hello fascistbooch,

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.

fascistbooch joined on the 08/01/2019.

August 1, 2019

Publisher: Epic Games

Developer: Epic Games

Release: July 25, 2017

Rating: Teen

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, Mac, iOS

Fortnite's 10th season is now live, giving players access to a two-seat mecha and a slew of changes to the map. And, of course, there's a new battle pass, which you can now gift to friends.

Take a look at the trailer below to get a glimpse of what Season X has to offer. As Fortnite fans know by now, things are bound to change throughout the season, so you shouldn't get too comfortable.

August 1, 2019

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Gearbox Software

Release: September 13, 2019

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Gearbox is releasing trailers to highlight each of Borderlands 3's vault hunters. The latest focuses on Moze and her mech, Iron Bear, which you can see above.

Moze used to be part of a squad, until they all got wiped out, so now she makes her way as a vault hunter with the help of her giant mech, Iron Bear. Iron Bear is a deadly weapon, but he also functions as a stove and a nightlight of sorts.

You can see the trailer for the previous vault hunter, Zane, right here. For a whole lot more on Borderlands 3, head here.

August 1, 2019

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive

Developer: NetherRealm Studios

Release: April 23, 2019

Rating: Mature

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

NetherRealm Studios has released a trailer for the next playable character in Mortal Kombat 11's DLC Kombat Pack – Nightwolf, whom Pack owners can access a week early on August 13.

Nightwolf appears in the pack with Shang Tsung, Sindel, Spawn, and two other to-be-announced fighters. Also included is one-week early access and skin and gear sets.

The Kombat Pack is part of the game's premium edition but can also be bought for $39.99. The pack's contents can also be purchased individually after the early access period ends.

August 1, 2019

Publisher: 2K Sports

Developer: Visual Concepts

Release: September 6, 2019

Rating: Everyone 10+

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

Roughly a month away from release, we still don't know a lot about the big changes coming to NBA 2K20. Outside of a deep dive into the new features coming to MyGM and MyLeague, we're still waiting for news on the popular MyCareer mode, MyTeam collectible card experience, and the gameplay. Today 2K Games gave us our first tease of what to expect on the hardwood via a new sizzle reel.

So what looks new? Signature emotes look to be getting a lot of love, as we see several new superstar celebrations, flexes, and poses. Another clip shows Warriors guard Steph Curry putting a move on a defender when moving in space, which could indicate off-ball movement has some new mechanics. We see not one, but two players diving on the court to recover the basketball, so maybe the loose ball system is being refreshed as well. We even see the bench players catch Kevin Durant and push him back into play.

The arenas look like they're getting a much-needed refresh in NBA 2K20, as the new United Center scoreboard indicates. We also see Celtics star Jayson Tatum pointing upward in the Boston arena. Is the TD Garden arena finally going to be in the game? That arena just got new lighting last year, so maybe this points to a refresh in the arena lighting as well? It's been a popular mod on the PC scene, so it would be a welcome change.

Expect to hear more about about the gameplay changes coming to NBA 2K20 in the near future.